All Up In My Instrument

Valley speller reaches Round 6
Tia Natasha-Elizabeth Thomas, 11, makes the final 29 of spelling bee.
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau

(Updated Friday, June 2, 2006, 6:43 AM)


WASHINGTON — Tia Natasha-Elizabeth Thomas spelled. Paul Loeffler opined.

Together, the two San Joaquin Valley natives helped make this year's National Spelling Bee unique.

Now buffed and polished to a fine commercial sheen, the 79th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is a different creature than when Loeffler competed in 1990 as Merced County's representative. Then, there were 224 competitors. Hollywood and Broadway hadn't yet come calling.

This year, a record 274 contestants appeared in an event that was more stage-managed than ever before.

Tia, a home-schooled 11-year-old who lives in Oakhurst, showed her smarts and studious preparation by reaching the sixth round. That earned her $400, plus a $100 U.S. savings bond and the knowledge that she had surpassed her goal of making it through the third round.

"I think I did really good," Tia said.

Her mother, Pamela, agreed; Tia was one of only 29 spellers to make it to the sixth round.

Still, Pamela Thomas added that it was "disappointing" that Tia stumbled Thursday afternoon on a word — theremin — that she had previously encountered. The word, which is the name of an oddball electronic musical instrument most often associated with cheesy science-fiction movies, is found in a consolidated word list provided to competitors.

"With 25,000 words," Thomas allowed, "you can't memorize them all."

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There's more to this article, but it's not as important as what you've already read.

PIRIOTS 6/2/06:

Erin Rose Foley - ERF might be the new Barry. I've run into her a lot in my 'hood, but I think we can owe it to the fact that she lives a block away from my ass.

Dude with a Moog shirt on the F train - After I ran into Erin, we took the same train (F) uptown. I got on the train to find a dude with a Moog shirt and I started a conversation. His name was Bruce and he too plays the theremin. He knows all the peeps from the New York Theremin Society and Issue Project Room. Erin tried to leave the train and xfer to the express, but she had to climb right back aboard and listen to theremin talk when she didn't get on the B/D.

Ainsley Hines - Friend from Camp Merrie-Woode.

This kid who was in my carpool in elementary school - Don't know his name. Red Hair.

PIRIOTS 6/4/06:

Nate Shelkey - Okay, last time I ran into Nate, he was with his band, so I listed the band name instead of listing them individually. That's just the way I roll. This time, I ran into him but sans the rest of Huckleberry Slim. So he get's a INDIVIDUAL HOLLER!