a modest proposal, really: donating a globe to a school in Sherri Shepherd's hometown

Some folks got onto the forum of Sherri Shepherd's website to discuss her comments about the world being flat. Needless to say, it's pretty harsh.

Looking back on what I wrote this morning, I felt a bit guilty.

But this gave me an idea. I wanted to actually donate a globe to a public school. I was recently introduced to a fantastic site, DonorsChoose, which lets teachers create proposals for micro-philanthropists to fulfill (thanks, Joel).

I searched for projects including "globe" in Los Angeles (Mrs. Shepherd currently resides in L.A., according to her MySpace page) and didn't come up with any results. But I wouldn't be thwarted that easily, so I searched Chicago (the city of her birth, according to Wikipedia).

There I found an elementary school teacher who needed funding for a project called Mapping Our Way To The World! Perfect, this teacher wants to buy a globe and "hands-on mapping activities" -- hopefully that means Risk.

The whole process only took a minute and hopefully these kids will now graduate knowing the world is indeed round. Or at least they won't have an excuse not to.

Thanks, Sherri Shepherd (I donated it in your name).