Bee Season

If you're a fan of the documentary Spellbound or a fan of reliving your awkward junior-high years, the next two weeks are all you.

First off, we have the National Geographic Geography Bee, which takes place today and tomorrow in D.C. and will be televised Saturday at 9 am on KCTS (channel 9). The GeoBee is similar to a spelling bee--rounds of questions and you're out if you miss one. It's hosted by none other than Alex Trebek, and the winner gets a $25,000 scholarship and lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. Washington will be represented by Max Sugarman, a seventh grader from Pine Lake Middle School in Sammamish. We're rooting for Max not only 'cause he's from Washington, but also because he's obsessed with otters, just like us.

Next up is the grandaddy of 'em all, the 78th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. It airs on ESPN on Thursday, June 2, from 7 am to 12:30 pm (set your Tivo!). This is the one that inspired Spellbound--the drama, the glory, the tears, the kids all dressed in polo shirts and khakis. Washington has four spellers in the competition: Travis Stephens, 14, home-schooler from Bremerton; Ginny Butler, 14, of Mount Vernon; Andrew Lokomaikai'keakua Kaleohano, 13, home-schooler from Wenatchee; and the Seattle-est of them all, Claire Grace Nieman, 13, home-schooler from Bothell.

Seattlest's spelling-bee career was short-lived; we bombed out on "unusual" (we spelled it "unsual") at the public library bee, thus losing to a kid named Lowry Sweeney. If only our mom had home-schooled us.