Politics as Usual

Muzzled

March 27, 2012 By The Well Read Hostess 6 Comments

Because of my job there are certain topics I don’t write about anymore.

1. I miss that.

2. I miss the emptying out of thought and emotion from my busy head onto the blank page.

3. I miss inflicting my opinion and voice on whomever might be listening.

4. I don’t regret changing my job.

5. Not at all.

6. So. Most of the time, it seems like a fair trade.

7. I love lists.

8. It’s an election season.

9. Politics, not politics in general but political candidates and which way the election wind is blowing in specific is one of those things I’m not writing about because of my job.

10. Very frustrating.

11. Understatement of the year.

12. I am irked by the fact that I can’t find a news station that just reports the news. Not even CNN, which used to, at least, be more bearable than others. And, yes, I know, there’s always PBS, but YAWN.

13. P.S. That hopey-changey thing is working out very nicely for me, indeed, thank you very much.

Finally, I believe I was dared, so…

Go ahead, give it a shot. How do you think I’m going to fill this in today?

Filed Under: Facts of Life, Politics as Usual Tagged With: Journal, Obama 2012, politics

I’ll Get You My Pretties

March 3, 2011 By The Well Read Hostess 7 Comments

What is up with the vilification of the schoolteachers?

The archetype of the mean old schoolmarm is kind of archaic, is it not?

Let’s be rational about this for a moment, could we? It’s not exactly a career filled with glitz and glamour. We can’t even dress fun. It’s called “inappropriate.” Also, “uncomfortable.” We don’t have free coffee in the teacher’s lounge. We don’t even have a teacher’s lounge – those things are of a bygone era. For real. Go check it out for yourself. We buy most of our own classroom supplies, too. That isn’t even a complaint, just an important fact that I bet most people don’t know. Part of the job. We know this going into it. But we still go into it. Get it?

Salary, not so exciting. I’ve heard people get all twerked up about the maximum salaries teachers make, but when I’m guessing if you look at the years in that most people have on the job and the average amount of education those teachers have relative to other professions, it doesn’t stack up too favorably.

Don’t get me started on the “you get off at 3 and don’t work summers” thing. Just don’t.

Do teachers not contribute to economic development?

Like in all professions, there are employees who are less good than others.

Like in all professions, there are flaws in the system.

Like in all professions, there are people who make it to the “top” who probably shouldn’t be there.

Like in all professions, most employees want to be successful and want their field represented well.

Think. Don’t just react. These education/union/budgetary issues are complicated. Get the facts. And check them twice. And then go see for yourself if they apply to YOUR situation where you live. It is in everybody’s best interests to have a well educated populace.

Filed Under: Facts of Life, Politics as Usual Tagged With: education

Grace in Small Things

February 25, 2011 By The Well Read Hostess 7 Comments

The city of Detroit had to close half its public schools, in some cases raising class sizes to 60.

Maniacal dictators are having their own people killed rather than listen to the voices of history, reason, and popular sentiment and recognize that their time is over.

3.575 million worldwide die annually from water-related disease. Consider that. Imagine not being able to turn on a tap and give your child clean water if he/she were thirsty.

The legislative and executive branches of the United States government are so hogtied by their own devotion to the almighty lobbyist dollar that they can’t see straight. Their politically fueled rhetoric has so inflamed their own egos that they have entirely forgotten their obligation to serve those who most depend on them.

I just saw a headline telling me that all coral reefs may be gone by 2050.

Christchurch, a city I was in for ten minutes before declaring that it was one of two cities on the planet I thought I could ever live in, has been devastated by an earthquake.

The price of gas is about to go up (although, as Ellen reminds me, people in Europe have been paying more than twice what we in the U.S. pay for years and they’re all managing just fine – in terms of producing and driving fuel efficient vehicles, better).

And yet the headlines keep yapping at me about Charlie Sheen’s latest public rant against his producer and how he’s no longer going to be making 1.8 million dollars an episode since CBS has been forced to suspend the show because of his behavior. Somehow this qualifies as big news.

Some days you have to choose to find the things to combat what could otherwise make the average, sane individual (mostly) throw up her hands in despair.

My students (GASP! She’s writing about her students!!!) organized themselves and created “Brownie Thursdays.” They made a schedule and every Thursday somebody is going to bring in brownies to share. First they polled the class to determine whether anyone had food allergies. There was no discussion beforehand about how small gestures and simple acts of leadership and will can build community and foster belonging and therefore elevated self-concept and therefore enhanced learning. I think I’ll let them figure that part out on their own. After all, they came up with the brownie thing on their own, I’m sure they’ll work this part out.

Filed Under: Facts of Life, Politics as Usual, What I Know About Your Teenager That You Don't Tagged With: Brownie Thursday, Charlie Sheen