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Probst. She is the 2024 recipient of the James Squire Award, which is given by the National Council of Teachers of English for outstanding contributions to literacy education nationally and internationally. She lives on her ranch in Waco, Texas, with her husband, Brad, and their dog, Dally. She can be reached at [kbeers@prodigy.net](kbeers@prodigy.net).  \nAbstract: Kylene Beers, well-known for her books Notice and Note with co-author Bob Probst, has taken time to detail in this essay that our times are changing, our language is challenged more than it is accepted, and sometimes we need to take a moment of reflection to think about how we can all make our world a better, more understanding place. Beers uses her characteristic tongue-in-cheek humor to relay a story that may have happened to readers across the United States during the recent election cycle when there seemed to be an “us versus them” mentality. Beers offers insight into what propels people to act contrary to our own beliefs, and she leaves the reader thinking both about the power of actions as well as the power of thinking about your actions first.  \nKeywords: civic responsibility, language, power of words, tolerance, action  \nOne very early morning, before the sun rose, in late  \nSeptember, my husband Brad and I ventured out on  \nour first stakeout. Ever. Perhaps professional sleuth is not our best choice for a next career. The morning went like this    \nBrad: Let’s take the truck instead of the mule.  \nFor those of you who are not rancher/farmer types, this particular mule seats six and comes with cup holders, and instead of eating hay, it drinks gas.  \nKylene: So, you want to drive the truck through the fields to the pecan grove?  \nBrad: No. I thought we would drive on down the road a little past the sign and park a little beyond the cemetery.(Yes, dear reader, there is now a graveyard involved.) Then, we are in the right place to follow her car. The five cameras now pointing in all directions around the sign will catch her at work. So, now we can follow her.  \nThe “her” Brad was referring to is a woman in a silver minivan and the “sign” he mentioned was our newly posted Kamala Harris political sign. The “work” was the woman’s daily theft of our sign. Four days before this one, we had attached a 2 ' x 2 ' political sign to our fence along some of our acreage fronting a gravel road. This gravel road is the main road that connects most of the ranches in our area. We put the first one up late one afternoon. The next morning while driving to town, we saw that someone had ripped it off the fence, torn it into pieces, and scattered it on our land. We pulled over to the side of the road and  \nEnglish in Texas | Volume 54.2 | FALL/WINTER 2024 | A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts  \npicked up the torn pieces. We were angry and disappointed and confused. Who would do this? How angry did someone have to be to decide to break the law? We drove on into town and added “buy another sign” to our list of errands. After purchasing a new sign—now reading Harris/Walz—we then made another stop.  \nFigure 1. Photograph From Kylene Beers’ Neighborhood  \nNote. Photograph was taken by Kylene Beers, 2024.  \nWe visited our local ranch supply store and bought two game cameras. Game cameras are motion controlled and capture movement at night as well as during the day. As we secured our second sign to our fence, we also mounted the game cameras. The following morning, we headed over to that field and were not too surprised when we saw that this new sign had been removed and, this time, was not destroyed but was stolen. We downloaded the video from the cameras to a jump drive and rushed back home to see the thief in action. Our culprit was a woman in a m","cbCaivKyM6y3Gh1v","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivKyM6y3Gh1v","pdf",189474,"English","# Featured Article\n## Abstract\n## Keywords\n## Narrative Setup\n## The Stolen Sign and Follow-Up Cameras\n## Identifying the Thief and Gathering Evidence","[{\"question\":\"Who is Kylene Beers in the article?\",\"answer\":\"Kylene Beers is an author known for books such as Notice and Note with co-author Bob Probst. The text also highlights her recognition for contributions to literacy education.\"},{\"question\":\"What conflict does the narrative explore through the “us versus them” theme?\",\"answer\":\"The essay links changing times and challenged language to the way people adopt a mindset that divides others. It uses the election-cycle story to examine why people act against their own beliefs.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the characters respond after their political sign is stolen?\",\"answer\":\"They buy additional signs and install game cameras to document the theft. They also aim to obtain evidence such as a license plate number to provide information to the constable.\"}]","The Woman in The minivan - a Lesson in The PoWer of Words | PDF",1792031907]