down with homework!

"An intriguing entomological experiment shows that a male butterfly will ignore a living female butterfly of his own species in favor of a painted cardboard one, if the cardboard one is big. If the cardboard one is bigger than he is, bigger than any female butterfly could ever hope to be. He jumps the piece of cardboard. Over and over again, he jumps the peice of cardboard. Nearby, the real, living female butterfly opens and closes her wings in vain. -from "The Writing Life" by Annie Dillard