Saturday, May 23, 2009

SATURDAY NIGHT SPELLER SPECIAL: A few more to add since our last update:
  • The remarkable Yulkendy Valdez (Ferguson, MO), who spoke no English when her family moved here from the Dominican Republic in 2005. See also this NPR story.
  • Three-timer Andrew Lay (Stanley, NC), creator of one of the best reaction shots in Bee history.
  • Daniel Rosenberg (Marblehead, MA), who's blogging his exploits.
  • Émilie Lafleur (Saint-Lambert, QC), a returning part of the Canadian invasion.
  • More on Shonda fave (and four-timer) Keiko Bridwell (Duncan, SC), who says she can spell meningoencephalomyelitis and also won first place in the state Youth Bible Drill this year.
  • Liam Twight (Redding, CA) wasn't allowed to leave the school assembly in his honor on Friday until he spelled a certain word from a Mary Poppins song. Of his chances this year, he says "I'm not expecting to win. I'm just going to enjoy the museums and the sites."
  • Gina Liu (Charleston, IL) considers herself to be "one of those far-off people," claiming she does "stranger things by other people’s standards, like obsess about Tolkien and quote ‘Pride and Prejudice’ with my friends." Oh, Gina, wait until you find blogs. You'll fit in just fine.

And as in years past, there are sites on which you can make wagers on this year's Bee, including the gender/sibling status/glasses-wearing of the winner, length and part of speech of the final word, and a "who goes farthest?" between returning prime-timers Sidharth Chand (+180), Kyle Mou (+150) and Kavya Shivashankar (+125).

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