MY "JOURNEY" ... UM ... LANGUAGE OF ORIGIN, PLEASE? This year's ABC primetime coverage of the National Spelling Bee finals will be hosted by Chris Harrison of "The Bachelor". Breaking from tradition, the Bee will be Thursday-Friday this year instead of Wednesday-Thursday.
I will begin our annual coverage with news to delight even the hardest-hearted of our readers: this year's youngest competitor will be eight-year-old Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, younger sister of 2009 winner (and longtime ALOTT5MA Fave) Kavya Shivashankar, of whom Shonda wrote in 2008: "Here come the supercute ESPN montaged Behind the Speller segments. Make it stop. Make it stop. I mean, I agree that 5 year old Vanya Shivashankar is freaking adorable. We all do. But she is not in the Bee. She is stealing her big sister Kavya's thunder! Thunder Stealer!"
The final two words in the Thunder Stealer's Olathe final: uh-RON-duh-smuhnt -- a French administrative region -- and ah-puh-RAH(t)-chick, the thing this blog needs more of.
