a letter to Air America's Ring of Fire

Today on your show, John Morgan was talking about Bush and the fact that media pretends he has what they call "loyalty," when, in fact, if one of his guys is no longer useful or, even worse, disagrees with one of his whacky policies, Bush turns on him--- Morgan said "turns on him like a pit bull." Hey! Pit bulls do not typically turn on people. Pit bulls are loyal, people-loving and trustworthy. While I agree whole-heartedly with your assessment of Mr. Bush, I have to object to your characterization of pit bulls.

Like a pit bull

Last week there was a retreat for the staff at the school where I work. I think a retreat should always include a pedicure, but it didn't. Ours was a bonding retreat. This is a pit bull blog, so I won't go into my feelings about activities designed to artificially create bonding in the workplace. One of the less irritating things we were instructed to do was to create a metaphor.

When I am teaching at my best, I am like (insert your metaphor here.)

(Which is, by the way, the very same activity a friend in Massachusetts had to do at one of her university-staff bonding retreats.)

At any rate, I said, "When I am teaching at my best, I am like a pit bull: eager, enthusiastic, fun-loving, good-natured and exuberant.

I think it's time to create new metaphors for pit bulls.