Today's Transcript contains added value with the annual Discover Norman publication. Normally, the special section comes out just as students are arriving on campus. This year, we pushed the publication back a few weeks to allow school, football and family routines to begin.

The 48-page section contains features and lists detailing our community's festivals, schools, sports and artistic venues. Newcomers will find a wealth of information. Lifers like me may even learn a thing or two. (Who knew Little Axe had its own Frisbee golf course).

The special section is meant to be a keepsake. Pull it out when relatives visit and ask what's there to do in this city. Or don't wait for relatives to explore. Pour yourself another cup of coffee and chart your own course of discovery.

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More than 40 years ago, my spelling talents were challenged. As St. Joseph's School grade 4A champ, my husky head was wider than normal as fellow contestants prepared for the schoolwide bee. The championship was my next quest.

A sixth grader, Sue Thompson, swiftly took me down like a June bug in a Tyson hen house and was crowned the champ. My runner-up trophy occupies a special place in my home.

Those spelling talents, or lack thereof as some readers would insist, will be tested Friday at the inaugural Assistance League of Norman adult spelling bee. Thankfully, my task will be as a judge, not a contestant.

The project benefits the organization's Operation School Bells campaign to provide schoolchildren throughout our community with new clothes as they begin the academic year. Teams of spellers will compete for the inaugural trophy. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. and spelling begins at 7:30 p.m. at the chapter house, 809 Wall St.

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The University of Oklahoma's favorable mention in a national newspaper last month merited much attention. The New York Times proclaimed OU as one of the 20 up and coming academic leaders selected from more than 2,500 colleges and universities.

Another national publication, The New Yorker, gave OU some ink this past week but it's wasn't as flattering. The magazine's "Talk of the Town" section, under the heading, "No Mercy," recanted the saga of Rhett Bomar, formerly the Sooners' starting quarterback. The writer used the Bomar example to illustrate our nation's allegiance to no tolerance policies.

Malcolm Gladwell cited then graduate student Robert Oppenheimer's 1925 prank of dousing an apple with noxious chemicals from a lab and placing it on the desk of his tutor as evidence that probation works. Mr. Oppenheimer was placed on probation and sent to London for regular psychiatric sessions.

"Even in Oklahoma, people seemed to think that kicking someone off a football team for having cut a few corners on his job made perfect sense," Malcolm Gladwell wrote.

Andy Rieger 366-3543 editor@normantranscript.com