I'd like to invite California members of this list to attend the 50th yearly Asilomar teachers' conference at Pacific Grove (near Monterey), Sept. 22-24. The conference usually is full by this time, but this year we have spots still open. The conference focuses on innovative as well as tried-and-true methods, techniques, and topics in language arts teaching. The conference is a wonderful opportunity to spend a weekend with your colleagues from around the state. Each attendee signs up to spend the whole weekend in conversation with one group of up to 25 teachers on a particular theme. This year's themes (34 of them!) include opera, art, Steinbeck, short story-writing, standardized testing, 'How to teach high school and still have a life', and, of course, grammar (a workshop conducted by yours truly). Room (in a wonderful, 1920's conference resort among the dunes on the Pacific Coast) and board are included in a price of about $225 (depending on room preference). For more details, contact John Cotter at 510-357-5425 or Brad Shurmantine at 707-257-7127. Your district may well grant you professional development credit for attending! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259 • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ** "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose, but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank Oppenheimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~