Dear Friends,
Monday (yesterday) was a nice day. Nothing particularly amazing happened, but it was just pretty darn good all the way around. Got the car checked out and all is well for our upcoming road trip. Good people over there at Jake’s on Bethany and I-17. Highly recommend them.
For years, I took my cars to Pit Stop on 7th Avenue. I really like Vitaly over there and I think he is basically a straight shooter. The last few times we took vehicles there, though, it really seemed like they found a lot of things that seemed fairly drastic and quite expensive. It wasn’t necessarily Vitaly who was making these calls and dudes that worked for him, but still. I think I will give Jake’s more of my business when it comes up.
Prior to that, it was a good day with the students, and we got some work done. They are really coming along. I’m seeing a big improvement in some of their reading and that’s super gratifying. I know I’ve said a lot about teaching in the last few weeks but seeing that spark of belief in themselves is why I do what I do. There is nothing better for those of us who work in classrooms.
Well, at least when we are not indoctrinating students into the fascist lifestyle.
I jest, of course. That crap that right wing fear mongers are spewing is so offensive to me. I happen to take a lot of pride in keeping my personal beliefs outside of my classroom and offering my students historical facts if they have political questions. In the 25 years I have been working in and around schools and spending a great deal of time with other teachers, I have never witnessed or heard anyone say anything that would even remotely put a child in a situation where they would be influenced to change their sexual identity, religious beliefs, or any of the other bullshit “they” say that teachers do.
In addition, I am always happy to speak with parents, have them get involved, or answer questions they have about what is going on in the classroom. I have never seen any situations where a parent was discouraged from being part of their child’s education. I wish more parents were more interested in what happens in school. Truly.
As I said, though, it is super offensive to see all the negativity that is put out there about educators. Sure, there are bad apples, but there are bad apples in every profession, and even more of them in politics. I shudder to think about how accountability and responsibility are being damaged by all of the lies being put out there in the name of defending that fucking criminal named Donald J. Trump. When he plays the victim card, it makes me try harder each day to teach kids to ask questions and think for themselves. What they do with that ability is up to them, not me, and more power to them.
It just becomes more and more clear that tons of people out there do not think for themselves or have the ability to ask simple questions like “Why” or “What the fuck?”
I’m getting off my soapbox. Today we will solve other problems like the story of how a kid named Billy who really likes to run learned to accept that others had talents, too. After work I will be working on some things at home. Yay! Progress.
See you tomorrow.
She fell asleep watching me read my book yesterday.
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