Friday Five!
The Return of the Friday Five!
I’ve been writing these for years now, but between my fight with depression and my hectic schedule as a teacher, it’s a love/hate - on again/off again kind of thing. So, let’s rehash the rules. I pick five seemingly random topics and riff on them before sending them out into the ether that is social media. The topics could be major or minor. They could have a common theme or be random. They might be funny, sad, or void of emotions. Sometimes they are long and sometimes really short. I’ve even been known to cut corners… like counting this description as number 1. ;)
I’m currently wrapping up my 32nd/33rd school year. That’s because I’ve got this half year of credit from subbing. If I had known it would count towards retirement, I would have taken more sub days … but I was 24 and stuff like that didn’t matter to me. Now, I’ll teach a half year and retire … I’m sure that will ruffle feathers, but I’ve given more than my share and when I’m eligible to go … well, I’m going. I’ve got things to do and I’m more aware than ever of time slipping past. Age has a way of doing that. Every ache and pain is a reminder that our time is fleeting.
That means that I have three semesters left of my teaching career. Three. That’s 6 quarters, about 60 weeks, or 276 official teaching days. I will not teach all of those because I’m having some medical stuff done near the end and that’s what my PTO is for. It’s wild to be this close to the end. My students ask me about it all the time. So do other teachers. Will I be sad? Will I miss teaching? Will I … it’s a long list. The truth is, I will miss kids. Teens are really special people and I’ve loved working with them, guiding them, even influencing a few along their path. But the kids will be the only thing I miss. Our schools are a mess. Education in America is a mess. Let me be clear … This is by design. Public education has been under-funded and undermined for my entire career. It’s nearing collapse. I’m writing a book, folks. There’s so much to say on this topic.
I remember when being caught in a lie would damage, if not end, a political career. Trump has normalized lying to the point where the entire GOP lies out, of course. They lie about their votes in Congress; they lie about things they said on video; they lie about things others said on video; they lie about crowd size; they lie about committing crimes; they lie about the outcomes of elections … then they accuse the other side of lying. We really are living in a “post truth” world.
The greatest weapon the Christo-Fascist Right has in their arsenal is your tolerance. They will use any cracks in that tolerance to condemn you and attack your values. All the while working behind the scenes to use American institutions to destroy your freedom. Using our tolerance against us is an old trick, and it works. Don’t let them. Be intolerant of intolerance. There is no logical reason for you to accept it. Stamp it out at every turn.