Happy Forced Affection Day!
Yet another faux consumerist holiday built on male terror of ‘getting it wrong’ (or is that just me?) To be fair, it’s also a wonderful opportunity to belittle those without a ‘significant other’ and suggest they’re in some way inadequate or doing life badly based on our cultural need to demand reproductive rituals of all 320 million of our neighbors right damn now!
I’m rather blessed to have found a really good one and trapped her early. It’s been long enough now that it’s not worth the trouble of sheddin’ me, so she stays. I don’t usually do personal nods here, but since I’ve been exposed to the world as a vitriolic issue-blurrer, I might as well say “I love you” on Valentine’s Day.
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Sorry you’re stuck with someone ruining the children, honey. Oh – and can you pick up cilantro on the way home? The bunnies are out.
But Let’s Talk About Love and Commitment, and Voices and Power.
They’re not so unrelated, are they?
Identity, Power, and Education’s Algorithms – Audrey Watters, writing on Medium.com, starts off talking about changes to Twitter and ends up wrestling with the many ways power and the dominant narrative force and reinforce themselves in education and other realms. This one made my brain and my soul hurt at the same time – usually a good sign I need to pay closer attention. Follow Watters on the newer, more capitalistic Twitter at @audreywatters.
Burn It Down – Tom Rademacher, of Mr. Rad”s Neighborhood, tackles a similar theme much closer to home. “Whiteness is f***ing up schools. Whiteness is creating failure. Whiteness is blaming the victims of racism and genocide for being victims of racism and genocide, and suggesting what they really need is to be around a lot more white people… Yes, the system is failing them. Because it is supposed to.”
I know, right? The thing is, if it makes you mad just reading that bit, he’s already hit a nerve. So read it all. Several times. I triple-dog-dare you. *makeschickennoises* Follow Mr. Rad on the Twitters at @MrTomRad.
Risk and Rules – It’s not every week that we turn to Curmudgucation to LIGHTEN the mood, and this one isn’t exactly a knee-slapper, but Peter Greene has written a great post about the tricky and ever-shifting balancing act between rigid expectations / mandated outcomes and all of the instinctive, seat-of-the-pants, people-serving guesswork we do with it, through it, or instead of it.
Beauty, the Rip, and Expectations – While we’re at it, a more recent post also from Curmudgucation about expectations and messages. IF YOU SKIP EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS WEEKLY WRAP-UP, READ/WATCH THIS ONE. Later, of course, you’ll have to deal with the shame and self-loathing which naturally result from missing the other amazing things shared this week – but at least you’ll have this one. Follow Greene on the new, more Facebooky Twitter at @palan57.
And Now I Simply Must Talk #OklaEd.
The House Edu-Committee hears the first of the eleventeen or so Vouchers/ESA/Tax-Supported-White-Flight bills put forth this session on Monday (2/15/16).
As you call, or write, or visit, please remember – we’re trying to convince them we’re professionals and stuff like that. Be clear, concise, polite, and precise. They’re busy this time of year – the good ones, the bad ones, the useless ones, and the ones with tons of potential. Modify your strategies accordingly.
We need to woo them, not earn spots on Maury Povich with them. Oh, and read these before you begin:
10th Amendment & #OklaEd – David Burton of Idealistically Realistic explains why “states’ rights” implies and intends “states’ obligations.” This one should be celebrated across the edu-nation, especially in states who – like ours – proudly seek an ignorant, incarcerated, and impregnated populace with all their lofty might, because… federalism! Follow Burton on the Twittering at @psalmofdavid. #oklaed
Please Stop Digging! – Rob Miller, A View From The Edge. The public at large may not realize that while some are still calling for teacher raises or better support or whatever, most of us at this point are simply in fetal positions wrapped around as many of our kids as we can shield, begging power to put the whip down for awhile. We get it! You gave all the money to your wealthy donors! You hate us because… equity is communism, or something! Put down the shovel and step away from the bloodied remains of what was already a broken system…
Miller puts it more professionally, of course – he’s not as unreasonable as I am. Just between you and me, I don’t think he even deserved to be slandered in that MiddleGround piece. I’m WAY more destructive to the youth of America than he could be on HIS BEST DAY. If you don’t believe me, follow Rob on Twitter at @edgeblogger and see for yourself. #oklaed
Two Things: Call Me A (Civil) Naysayer – Rick Cobb, aka OKEducationTruths, the third member of the #OklaEd issue-blurring, vitriolic trifecta of hurtful commentary, brashly and unprofessionally uses partisan political ideology like facts, quotes, figures, and a hair metal video from the 80’s, to question the sincerity and practicality of all these faux calls for ‘teacher raises’ and this sudden ‘support’ for public education in Oklahoma. And he’s doing it on a forum to which CHILDREN have access! The rest of the internet is so pure, and he has to go ruin it for everyone. Be corrupted by Cobb on the Twittering at @okeducation and decide for yourself which of us is the MOST evil. (Hint: ME.) #oklaed
The Blaine Game, Part One (Information) – by Me, The Unbearable Blueness of Cereal. I don’t normally link to myself here, but this is my best shot at explaining the background issues to the ESA/Voucher debate starting up again on Monday (2/15/16). I’ll also keep updating the #OKElections16 page related to ESAs/Vouchers, which reminds me that I have a few things to add even today. #oklaed
Meaning I Gotta Go!
Happy V.D. The day is what you make it – choose to love someone in some way, or yourself better than you have been. Then go teach the %#&* out of those little @#%$ for the same %#$*{“|= reason – stubborn, reality-free, idealistic, chosen love. They need you now more than ever – that’s not feel good motivation-talk; it’s simply so.
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RELATED POST: For far more updates to the #12345 challenge than I ever anticipated, check out last week’s Blue Serials (2/7/16). They just keep coming in – and they make me feel SO much better to read.