Across The Aisle

May 19, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

Since late December, I’ve been doing my best to profile sitting legislators and introduce education-friendly candidates running for state office in 2016. My critiques of sitting legislators have been diverse, but I’m pretty much only highlighting new candidates I support.

This may not be ‘fair’, but I’m not a news source – I’m an education blog. I advocate. Like a mofo.

Several of you have noticed that this sometimes means profiling or linking to multiple candidates in the same district. Occasionally they’re even in the same party – competitors in the State Primaries next month, on June 28th.

Am I that confused? That unbiased? Pulled that many different directions?

I won’t argue with confused, and I’m definitely biased. But the issue isn’t different directions – quite the contrary. I’m all about One Direction.

I want candidates who are likely to be good for public education. I don’t know all of them personally, but I’ve read through their rhetoric, their promises, their backgrounds, and made the best calls I can. I’ve allowed many of them to respond in their own words to questions related to education and funding – even poodles, if I can draw them in on that part.

Whatever else you can say about the folks trying to kill public ed in Oklahoma, they don’t disguise their intentions very well. Once you get past ‘I Just Loooooove Smurtness!’ their rhetoric screams ‘ALEC Paid Me To Say This’ and ‘I Still Haven’t Realized That Glenn Beck Is Satire.’

It’s certainly possible we might not get exactly what we’ve paid for with every edu-candidate successfully elected this November, but I feel good about my choices overall.

Sometimes there are no candidates in a district about which I feel very much hope. Other times, there are several. After the primaries, there will be fewer. It’s just how things work.

Senate District 37 is one of the districts in which many people are running. Seven, at last count. Of those, I’ve profiled two – Lloyd Snow, Democrat, and Brian Jackson, Republican. I wholeheartedly endorse BOTH of them for purposes of state primaries. If they both make it through – and I hope they do – we’ll go from there.

Why? Because while they disagree on many other issues, they’re both strong advocates for public education in Oklahoma. They both consider it a priority. And they both know what they’re talking about when it comes to teachers, kids, and edu-slation.

So yeah – I support them both. As do they.

See, Jackson and Snow have actually campaigned together a number of times, knocking on doors and talking to voters. Their campaign Facebook pages and Twitter accounts regularly send shout-outs to one another. They’re even nice to each other when no one’s watching.

I realize there will eventually be limits to this warm fuzziness. At some point someone will win that seat and six other people won’t. If they were both in office (from different districts), there would be bills over which they’d disagree – perhaps vigorously. There would be times their parties would play reindeer games in order to accomplish some greasy goal or other. It’s the nature of the beast.

But is it SO crazy to hope that offsetting these differences are areas of genuine cooperation and understanding? Was it SO long ago that legislators were able to debate across the aisle, then drink across the barbeque grill while their kids tore up someone’s yard and ruined their new cargo pants?

Some apparently think so. One of the other candidates from that district posted this on her Campaign Facebook page a few weeks ago:

While I’m normally humble and demure, I found this, well… horrifying.

Barely polite words were exchanged.

I don’t think Ms. Patterson is a bad person. She wasn’t even the one initially responding on her account. But that last phrase really captures something familiar to those of us weary of political realities, doesn’t it?

Supporting public education, or generally agreeing with someone in the other party about even a single priority, is “forfeiting.” It’s “unethical” and “deceiving to the whole community.”

We all know that nationally, partisan vitriol overrides all other considerations. President Obama could discover a cure for cancer tomorrow, made only out of discarded potato peels, and Congress would shut it down out of spite. I have no doubt a Democratically-controlled Congress will be just as contrary when President Trump tries to free us from the ridiculous constraints of the first 19 Amendments.

But surely we don’t have to emulate that at the state level? I don’t want to trot out all the Pro-klahoma clichés that come up every time someone needs a hand from the community, but come on – this is the freakin’ Midwest. Let’s not be dillweeds about everything.

The conversation continued, more or less civilly, until I wrapped it up with something I thought was both pithy and hilarious.

My wife hates it when I’m so obviously amused with myself like this. That’s unfortunate, because it happens A LOT.

The point I was trying to make, potentially humorously, was that by making claims with which we both agreed, Ms. Patterson (having eventually seized the keyboard from her minions) had violated her own standards of political legitimacy. That’s an absurd measuring stick, of course, which was where the whole exchange started.

The entire conversation was deleted shortly thereafter. Too bad – I thought it was interesting.

I have nothing against Paula Patterson. She’s probably in the majority on this one. She took a cute shot at something her opponents were doing which seemed silly, and this crazy interloper on Facebook (me) made a big thing of it and OMG-who-lets-these-people-on-social-media-anyway?!

Politics and game-playing shape everything at the national level, and far too much at the state Capitol. I’m not a deeply entrenched insider, but I catch enough of the behind-the-curtains shenanigans to know that parties jump ship on their own bills, politicians vote against their own ideas, press releases are press released and statements are stated OFTEN just to mess with the other party or manipulate public perception.

It’s ridiculous. And maddening for the handful of folks up there trying to do real good.

I don’t expect it to stop just because we get a few educators elected. I certainly don’t expect it to change just because I write about it and do my best to rile up all Eleven of my Faithful Followers.

But we can fight it, at least. We can occasionally step away from it and try to model how things COULD work. How they SHOULD work.

It’s not selling out your party or your values to hear what the other side is saying. It’s not deceptive to agree on a few fundamentals. Both parties, for example, are against murdering someone for cupcakes. I mean, I assume – it’s not in their platforms or anything. But as far as I can infer, neither side thinks killing someone in cold blood for baked goods is acceptable behavior.

Is that a partisan issue? An unethical compromise? Is that another example of ‘big government overreach’? Or is it simply something so fundamental that they don’t feel the need to argue about it?

Public education should be a priority for every candidate from every party. We can argue about how to best make it more gooder – consolidation or testing or pay raises or charters or magic. We should be arguing about it – that’s why we have a two-party system.

But how amazing would it be if we could at least all agree that it IS important? That it’s WORTH arguing about? That we’ve not done a very good job on this topic legislatively, and it needs a major revisit?

How awesome could it be if we’d agree that what matters most is helping all Oklahoma students, whatever their color, religion, or income level, and without concern for their parents’ political persuasion? How much good could we accomplish if we started with ‘what are your ideas and why do you think they’ll work?’ instead of ‘what’s your party?’

That’s all Snow and Jackson are doing. They’re not campaigning to conquer their opponents, or to better serve their fiscal overlords, or to lay foundations for their future political careers.

They’re campaigning – sometimes together – because they believe our kids matter. Ethically, economically, culturally, and inherently – our kids matter.

Is that truly so very controversial?

RELATED POST: #OklaEd Call To Action (It’s Time)

Two Kids Need Your Help

May 17, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

This isn’t normally what I do here, but when I realized there was a story to tell, this seemed like the most practical way to tell it in a form easily shared, updated, etc.

Many of you know that an Owasso teacher was killed this past Sunday in a car accident, presumably by an inattentive (or otherwise impaired) driver.

She was a single mom, meaning her kids – who were both seriously injured as well – are now essentially orphans. Their medical expenses will be astronomical – months of rehab and physical therapy, etc. – plus, they just lost their mom.

I’ve been asked to share just a bit of this story from someone who knew her much better, and link to a GoFundMe page to help this family during this worst-possible time.

Bobbi – the teacher who was killed – was a teen mom, who nevertheless managed to work two jobs while raising two kids by herself AND going to school full time. She graduated from NSU with a teaching degree and very little debt – all while saving just enough money to take her kids to Disney World to celebrate graduation as a family accomplishment.

She taught 8th Grade for Union Public Schools (Tulsa) for a year, then moved to Owasso where her kids attended. She’s been teaching 9th grade there for several years.

Bobbi wanted a proper house for her kids, but couldn’t afford anything acceptable (Oklahoma teacher). Rather than complain, she bought a foreclosure in dire straits and – over time – renovated it top to bottom on her own. I’m not even sure how you do that with time on your hands, let alone working and raising two kids.

But it was important to her. For them.

The driver of the other vehicle apparently never even braked, and the description of the scene leaves me both heartbroken and angry. Right now, though, I’m doing something I’ve not done very often and asking you to help.

These kids are in 3rd Grade and 6th Grade respectively. One is in ICU with multiple surgeries already and the other has multiple broken bones. They both face months of hospitalization and physical rehab.

You know the clichés, but in this case they’re true – if you can give a lot, please give a lot. If you can’t give a lot, go to the site and give a little.

Legit folks I know in real life are coordinating this, so you don’t have to worry that it’s anything nefarious or otherwise illegitimate. Bobbi was quite loved ’round these parts.

You know how quickly small expenses add up when they just keep coming. It works in reverse as well – when hundreds of people give a little, it adds up.

Of course, when hundreds of people give a lot, it adds up faster – so let’s not overlook THAT option.

Thanks for reading this, and for GOING TO THE DONATIONS PAGE and doing whatever you can. We’ll get back to state politics, and edu-policy, and my brilliant and pithy insights soon. Right now, help these kids. Then, before you get back to whatever it is you do, stop and hug your loved ones, and tell them how amazing they are.

Maybe twice.

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy… (5/15/16)

May 14, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

Sometimes your mind and your emotions reach a point that they click ‘off’ as a sort of survival mechanism. That’s what happened to me this week as I sat at Mom’s Family Diner (41st & Mingo. Oh My-Baby-Elvis-in-a-Manger IS IT GLORIOUS!) catching up on the week’s news.

Clearly I should have been drinking something stronger than coffee. Then again, it was 6:30 in the morning.

A film about Oklahoma oil giant and later governor E.W. Marland is coming out this week. An earlier version was scrapped after the Marland Estate discovered the filmmakers had juiced up the plot a bit.

For those who don’t know, Marland had made and lost a fortune before coming to Oklahoma in the 1920s. He negotiated unheard of concessions from local tribes in order to drill, controlled 10% of the world’s oil supply for a time, built a mansion on the Oklahoma praries, brought fox-hunting and other upper-crust vanities to the plains, instituted health coverage and other worker benefits decades before anyone DID that, and then fell prey to a hostile takeover by J.P. Morgan and his financial machine, losing everything. He later came back as the Governor who brought the New Deal to Oklahoma.

Not intriguing enough? I left out that he and his first wife adopted the son and daughter of her sister. After his wife died, Marland had the adoption of his daughter, Lydie, annulled so that he could MARRY her. It was quite the scandal. Not Kardashian enough for Hollywood, though. *sheesh*

The new one is apparently much more on target, for those of you hung up on facts and reality. Unlike, for instance…

Our State Legislature, which is having trouble coming up with a solution to having so much of the weird crap they pass declared unconstitutional.

No, no… they’re not going to start writing constitutionally viable legislation – don’t be stupid. They’re trying to change the process so that the current bi-partisan Judicial Nominating Committee has only a symbolic role, and the legislature itself gets to pretty much pick appellate judges across the state.

Which would be, arguably, unconstitutional. Our state constitution has this whacky idea about three branches of government, balancing one another in some convoluted way. It wouldn’t matter, though, because – well, you get the idea.

I realize the courts and all those civil liberties are a nuisance. How are we supposed to get anything done if we have to remain consistent with our founding values? Speaking of which…

Sally Kern gave her farewell speech this week. She’s term-limited, along with dozens of other current legislators. I don’t know if they all make dramatic exits, or just the most loathsome of them.

Kern wanted to make sure to emphasize one last time that gays are worse than terrorist. That the ‘gay agenda’ (also known as ‘The Bill of Rights’) has destroyed more lives than, say, Timothy McVeigh.

There are 19 undersized chairs not far from where she gave this speech representing families who might disagree.

She trotted out the usual “public schools spend all day every day trying to turn your kids into trannies” argument. No wonder they resent funding us.

I particularly liked this bit:

“The problem is we’re trying to change the definition of what sin is, when God is not changing the definition.”

That, in a nutshell, is the mindset of far too many of our elected leaders. But it’s not their job to define sin and write it into or out of law. There is no scenario in which a governmental body in the United States has any business claiming to act on God’s behalf; our legislature does it with such regularity that it hardly even registers.

I’m telling you, religious folks – it’s not doing your faith any favors to sign it over to a bunch of small-town rodeo clowns. Surely the Lord made some sort of provision for you to find your eternal way besides the legislative brilliance of Josh Brecheen or John Bennett?

While Kern & Co. are condeming the gay community in the name of the public good, one prominent lesbian was instead doing public good. Ellen DeGeneres checked in with her favorite librarian this week – Kirby Mackenzie at Union’s McAuliffe Elementary – to learn more about the slashing and burning of public ed in Oklahoma.

Yes, once again we’re making national news for something horrifying.

Ellen gave McAuliffe $25,000 to help keep their summer reading program going. Of course we know what’s really behind this – liberals and their *shiver* books. Books are worse than terrorism.

You know the rest of the news.

We’re cutting teachers. We’re cutting activities. We’re cutting support positions. We’re destroying what was a struggling educational system to begin with, all so we can maintain the cascading series of cuts for the wealthiest across the state – cuts which are still deepening as the pillaging and burning increase.

In case you haven’t noticed, the prosperity hasn’t yet “trickled down.”

Don’t worry, however, that our state legislators are feeling the slightest burden or concern over the destruction they’ve wrought – because American Ninja Warrior is coming to the Capitol!

Thank God Oklahoma is currently so prosperous and problem-free that our legislature – with very few days left in the handful they’re actually expected to work – has time for this. I’d hate for there to be any, like… issues distracting them right now.

And yes, I am hostile about it – thank you for asking.

From The Oklahoman:

The show got a free permit to use the public grounds outside the Capitol. A state tax credit will help defray some of the production costs. There are about 200 people involved in the shoot.

We’re paying them to come here and shut down the Capitol for a week to use as a playground. What a comfort to all of those kids who can no longer take art, band, or athletics – at least SOMEONE still gets activities and playtime at taxpayer expense. They’re just much older.

“This brings a lot of people and a lot of investment into Oklahoma City and that’s good in itself, but I think the real value is the exposure this continues to give our city around the country,” Holt said.

I’m trying to think of a nice way to put this. A professional way. A family-friendly way. One that doesn’t start with a ‘B’ and end with an ‘ullsh*t’.

Public education is an “investment.” Infrastructure is an “investment.” Time spent actually dealing with the issues you were elected to deal with is an “investment.”

This is a state-financed circus for legislators who’ve destroyed the economy and refuse to take the least bit of responsibility, instead shifting the fallout onto children, the elderly, and the poor, in order to maintain their groveling obeisance to their fiscal overlords. “Investment?”

I got into a bit of a Twitter argument with Senator Holt over this. He was a bit condescending, but not everyone sees me as the lovable, provocative, voice-of-the-people type I really am.

He insists a few shots of the Capitol in the background will make people want to vacation here and stuff. He then told me if I’d read the papers I’d see that our legislature is working plenty hard to revive the economy without doing so almost entirely at the expense of the weakest members of society.

He and I must read different papers.

“There’s no down side to the show being here,” said Sue Hollenbeck, director of sports business for the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s a family friendly, positive show. It’s about good quality competition. It’s about fitness.”
She said it even feels a little “Land Run-ish.”
“You’re running as fast as you can to get what you can.”

Did we seriously just compare this Ninja Warrior TV show to the Land Runs? I mean… I suppose there are a few similarities.

The Land Runs were promoted as events of amazing opportunity, when in reality they primarily served those already in power. Much of the best land was pre-claimed by surveyors, soldiers, and other government employees who used their connections and power to beat the system. We don’t celebrate that part as much, other than adding ‘Sooner’ to ‘Boomer’ in that song, but 3 out of 4 people who ran went away empty-handed, often thwarted by those who’d never broken a sweat. They didn’t need to – they were already hooked up by the folks making the rules.

As The Lost Ogle documented, our Congress is similarly giddy over the chance to use even more of your tax dollars getting private tours of the set and meeting sweaty people in tights. If there are a few leftovers, they’ll allow a few members of the public to somehow benefit from this spectacle.

Like the show, the Land Runs celebrated the fastest and the strongest – but especially those willing to step over anyone between them and what they wanted. They were in some ways the ultimate homage to the Social Darwinism of the times – to hell with the community, I’m getting MINE.

That’s fine for a game show, or a sporting event, or whatever this is. I wish it weren’t such a celebrated norm for the folks supposedly representing the rest of our state.

The Oklahoma Constitution (Part Four)

May 10, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

I’ve been working my way through the Oklahoma Constitution, and it’s as much work as I’d feared. We may have to fast-forward a bit so I can be finished before the elections!

You can read my Introduction in Part One and my brilliant analysis of Articles I & II in Part Two. We made it through Articles III, IV, and V in Part Three – mostly talking about the powers of the Legislature.

Time for the other two branches, and then some.

Section VI-1: Executive officers enumerated – Offices and records – Duties.
A. The Executive authority of the state shall be vested in a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Auditor and Inspector, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Labor, Commissioner of Insurance and other officers provided by law and this Constitution, each of whom shall keep his office and public records, books and papers at the seat of government, and shall perform such duties as may be designated in this Constitution or prescribed by law.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction is specifically mentioned in the very first paragraph of Article VI, the Executive Department. There are only eight other offices called out by name here, two of which are the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

That suggests that public education is not only a potential function of state government, but an expected, demanded, prioritized function of this state’s government. It’s not charity, or governmental overreach, or some sort of New Age liberal plot to subvert the REAL values of the state. It’s one of SEVEN functions, along with things like State Treasurer and Commissioner of Labor, to be named specifically in the State Constitution as part of the Executive Branch.

We’re SUPPOSED to prioritize public education, along with those other things. It’s in our constitution, unlike many of the things people undercutting schools are prioritizing instead – often in the name of ‘fidelity’ to founding values.

The rest of Article V is about the logistics of elections, vetoing or signing legislation, and creating a few other commissions and positions necessary to keep things running. Nothing too exciting.

Articles VI & VII establish the court system and how judges are chosen. This one has changed quite a bit since the original, but none of that is particularly relevant here. So let’s move on, shall we?

Article VIII is about impeachment of state officials. Entertaining, I know, but also not what we’re looking for at the moment.

Article IX is about Corporations. It establishes a sort of ‘mandatory cooperation’ between completing railroads, pipelines, telegraph and telephone companies, etc. – things which might be considered essential public services.

There’s a real ‘love/hate’ relationship with railroads which is amusing. Article IX, Paragraph 13 prohibits railroads from giving free rides to anyone (presumably to prevent buying political or business favors this way), EXCEPT…

…its employees and their families, its officers, agents, surgeons, physicians, and attorneys at law; to ministers of religion, traveling secretaries for railroad Young Men’s Christian Associations, inmates of hospitals and charitable and eleemosynary institutions and persons exclusively engaged in charitable and eleemosynary work; to indigent, destitute and homeless persons, and to such persons when transported by charitable societies or hospitals, and the necessary agents employed in such transportations; to inmates of the National Homes, or State Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and of Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Homes, including those about to enter and those returning home after discharge, and boards of managers of such Homes;
to members of volunteer fire departments and their equipage, while traveling as such; to necessary caretakers of livestock, poultry, and fruit; to employees of sleeping cars, of express cars, and to linemen of telegraph and telephone companies; to Railway Mail Service employees, post office inspectors, customs inspectors, and immigration inspectors;
to newsboys on trains, baggage agents, witnesses attending any legal investigation in which the railroad company or transportation company is interested, persons injured in wrecks, and physicians and nurses attending such persons… {or anyone} providing relief in cases of general epidemic, pestilence, or other calamitous visitation…

OK, this has nothing to do with public education. But it amuses me nonetheless, for at least three reasons.

1. Our state constitution has a long list specifically delineating precisely to whom railroads are allowed to give free rides. That’s messed up in ways I can’t even elucidate properly.

2. I had to look up “eleemosynary.” It means “of, relating to, or dependent on charity.” I wonder what distinguished “eleemosynary institutions” from “charitable societies” in the language of the day? It’s also interesting that we used to value taking care of people, albeit through the filter of private companies giving them free transportation. It’s at least indirectly promoted via foundational legalese.

3. I love the phrase “general epidemic, pestilence, or other calamitous visitation.” Not sure what they had in mind, but at least we’d be able to ride the train for free.

“Calamitous visitation” – *shiver* – !!!

Article IX goes on to establish the state Corporation Commission, which regulates industries determined to be ‘public services’ – utilities, transportation, oil & gas, telephone, etc. When we study the Populist Party of the late 19th Century and I ask about lingering impacts, this one counts as a really good answer.

There are a lot of details here. The Commission is given substantial powers, and even its own internal court system for punishing wrongdoers.

It was a very regulate-y time, one of substantial distrust towards both government and big business. The authors of our state constitution wanted to do whatever they could to provide protection for individual citizens against money and power.

The very existence of a Corporation Commission – written not simply into law, but into Oklahoma’s freakishly detailed Constitution – strongly suggests that a primary function of state government is to regulate and supervise industry in such a way as to ensure that profits and growth are balanced by the public good.

Let me say that again.

Written into our state’s founding document are extensive guidelines seeking to ensure that big businesses don’t use their power and status to take advantage of the little people. Granted, the primary concern was that they’d overcharge for poor service, but it nevertheless runs contrary to the sort of ‘free market’ ideal we hear trotted out ’round these parts lately. In it, Adam Smith and his Eve, Ayn Rand, are tempted by the Serpent of Giving-A-Damn-About-Anyone-Other-Than-Yourself to partake of the Fruit of Socialism, from whose juices flow only sweet, sugary destruction.

But… in such a brutally laissez-faire ideal, problems like those the Corporation Commission was created to address are self-correcting. If you don’t like the conditions at the train station, don’t take the train. If you don’t like the taste of the water, don’t drink the water. Unhappy with fracking and earthquakes? Dip into your secondary 401K and spend more time at your ancestral villa in Rome.

It seems our state’s framers knew that sometimes the power of capitalism, for all its wonders, requires a balancing power looking out for the collective good. Sometimes the market which is so good at producing amazing phone options or gluten-free Oreos doesn’t do a very good job of making sure there’s nothing weird in Tonya’s gas, or that the electric company doesn’t charge more in areas which tend to have more outages due to weather. So, they tried at the foundational level to balance growth and profit and corporate freedom with the practical needs of a thriving populace.

That’s not Socialism. That’s a primary function of state government. Capitalism can flourish without morphing into unfettered Darwinism. If we can avoid creating mobs of the Factionless and Disenfranchised, it might flourish BETTER.

“States’ rights” isn’t about the elimination of all functions of government; states’ rights is an argument that the states can and should be doing many of those functions better than the federal government. Historically this has led to some major problems related to civil liberties, but that in no way eliminates each state’s obligation to maintain a DMV or support public schools. The current faux patriotism of ‘to hell with basic government functions’ is misguided at best, and delusional beyond measure.

There’s even a hint that government oversight and protection has room to grow:

Section IX-25: Reports and recommendations.
The Commission shall make annual reports to the Governor of its proceedings, in which reports it shall recommend, from time to time, such new or additional legislation in reference to its powers or duties, or the creation, supervision, regulation or control of corporations, or to the subject of taxation, as it may deem wise or expedient, or as may be required by law.

Growth of government as a founding Oklahoma principle. Who would have guessed?

Here’s a bit from Paragraph 34 I found interesting:

The provisions of this Article shall always be so restricted in their application as not to conflict with any of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and as if the necessary limitations upon their interpretation had been herein expressed in each case.

It should go without saying – whatever the subject covered in a state constitution – that subsequent supporting legislation cannot conflict with THE Constitution.

I’ll spare you my rant on THAT for the moment.

Section IX-40: Influencing elections or official duty.
No corporation organized or doing business in this State shall be permitted to influence elections or official duty by contributions of money or anything of value.

How did we NOT include out-of-state “think tanks” in this?! Oh, right – those weren’t a thing back then.

Next: Revenue & Taxation, State & School Lands, Homestead Exemptions, and – finally – Common Education. I know, right?! GET READY.

RELATED LINK: The Oklahoma Constitution (Part One)

RELATED LINK: The Oklahoma Constitution (Part Two)

RELATED LINK: The Oklahoma Constitution (Part Three)

RELATED LINK: The Blaine Game (Updated)

Blue Serials (5/8/16)

May 8, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

Why, yes – I AM a bit behind on the weekly wrap-ups lately. It’s just that, with the time of year, and state elections, and some uncertainty regarding, you know, how much anyone – I’m genuinely sorry. I should try to stay more… I mean, not that it’s any reflection, I just –

DON’T JUDGE ME!

Not to get all deep and meaningful, but that same dichotomy – recognizing our own faults and shortcomings, while at the same time feeling rather hostile towards anyone from the outside who wants to point fingers – is the norm for many of us in education.

I don’t think it’s unique to our profession. Watching my Dallas Stars struggle their way through Stanley Cup Playoffs, I read the frustration and targeted criticism alongside the celebration of faithful fans on social media. If Coach Ruff says our performance in a game was embarrassing, we nod and agree and love his honestly. If one of our own analysts points out weakness in our defense, we tweet our validation because we said that EXACT SAME THING only with more cuss words during the game.

But let those hacks from NBC say the same things in their game recap and our venom and defensiveness will FLY – because WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT YOU OLD RETIRED SUCKY LIAR PEOPLE?!?

It doesn’t help that they can’t seem to get any of our players’ names right, or keep their facts straight, or demonstrate any real understanding of what THIS team is about. It doesn’t help how clearly they favor some of the other teams in the running. So yeah – we’re probably a bit defensive, but that doesn’t mean they’re not also full of $#@&.

This is the season during which, as educators, many of us are simultaneously beating ourselves up for yet another year in which we didn’t manage to do or be all the things we’re sure we could do or be if we’d just get it right. There were a few small wins along the way, but sometimes it seems there are fewer and fewer each year. We didn’t cover everything we meant to cover, or fix all of the things we tell ourselves we’ll fix next year… every year. Not that we’re all that sold on the system itself, you understand – it’s just that no one’s come up with a better one that doesn’t cost 10x as much to run.

At the same time, when those from the outside think they should have something to say about it, well… let’s just say we can get a bit touchy. It doesn’t help that they can’t seem to get our kids’ values and essential natures right, or do a little basic research on good pedagogy. It doesn’t help how clearly they favor some of the other systems which could be tried – systems with entirely different goals and priorities. So yeah – we’re probably a bit defensive, but that doesn’t mean they’re not also full of –

Well, you get the idea.

Nevertheless, there are some moments from the world of edu-bloggery over the past few weeks which you simply SHOULD NOT MISS. Hang that ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the back of your laptop or tablet and get comfortable.

What Do Teachers Want? – Rob Miller, A View From The Edge. Miller has been on fire lately, covering state edu-politics, explaining national reformy-type issues, and writing inspiramotivatemotional essays about kids and teaching and feelings, warm and broken. If you’re not reading him regularly already – no matter WHERE you live in this corrupted world – then you’re doing it wrong. All of it.

In this piece, he tries again to explain what the rest of us know but no one outside the profession seems to understand – yes, the money matters, but it’s not just about that. It’s about marginalization and agency and expecting professional results from fast food treatment. We’re not claiming to be miracle workers or martyrs, but we DO have degrees and stuff. Some of us even read. #oklaed

Redouble Our Efforts? You Go First. – Rob Miller, A View From The Edge. “Subjecting millions of American children to a regime of test, rank, sort and punish has simply turned many of our public schools— particularly in urban areas— into joyless, drill-and-kill test factories completely disassociated from real learning and the development of meaningful employment skills. Yet, the message we are supposed to read from these NAEP results is we need to “redouble our efforts” one more damn time! Maybe we should start giving 110% while we are at it.”

I’m so thankful for people who can make me laugh through my perpetual state of dark, defeated outrage. Follow @edgeblogger on Twitter and have thoughts and feelings with him. #oklaed

VAM: Better Never Than Late – Rick Cobb, OKEducationTruths. The problem with teacher evaluation rubrics is that people use them to evaluate teachers. All they manage to do is muddle how insanely subjective the entire concept is and must be. Cobb explains both the mindset and status of this particular inanity in Oklahoma edu-slation – AND works in a dead parrot. So there’s that. #oklaed

Two Things: As You Like It (and a hey, nonino) – Rick Cobb, OKEducationTruths. Of Romeo, and Juliet, and oil prices, and edu-budgets. This time we get a double-shot of Willy Wonka old school. There’s no knowing where we’re rowing… but you might as well boat along with @okeducation on Twitter and enjoy the ride. #oklaed

You’re Not Alone, Teacher – Jennifer Williams, JennWillTeach.com. Depression, Confession, Expression, and Acceptance. I don’t normally do, you know… FEELINGS and stuff, but this is solid. And essential. If not for you to feel better understood, than for you to better understand. Good stuff.

Follow @jennwillteach on Twitter, but be prepared to keep it fluff-free. It’s her thing. #oklaed

I Used To Be A Fun Teacher – Pernille Ripp, Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension. Ripp drifts from her joy and strategy-sharing for a very brief, honest reflection on how teaching a different grade – and a TESTED grade – has changed some of the things she values most about herself as a classroom teacher. Follow @pernilleripp on Twitter and reflect with her. I promise you, this one is a good use of that little blue bird icon.

ICYMI: Some Edu-Reading For The Day – Peter Greene, Curmudgucation. I realize that linking to a page of links you shouldn’t miss as part of a page of links you shouldn’t miss is akin to using one of your wishes to ask the Genie for more wishes, and could lead to revoked lamp-rubbing privileges. But you should be reading Greene anyway, and – like myself – he’s golden when it comes to highlighting great work from others.

You should already be following @palan57 on Twitter and keeping up on your own – but don’t stop coming here as well. He knows more, and is consistently pithy and hilarious, but I have that certain adorable something…

Finally, a piece from the Washington Post this week – It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. Why some teachers don’t exactly appreciate it. This link was sent to me by someone who noticed one of my tweets was quoted, which of course amused me to no end. It’s a good piece overall, though – especially for legit news. Take a moment and check it out.

Say what you like about the Post, @valeriestrauss is one of the best edu-reporters out there. Follow her so you don’t miss the good stuff like I almost did.

I’ll close with this video from Supt. Joy Hofmeister for Teacher Appreciate Week. She goes a little easy on some of our state legis, but, you know – politics and pragmatism. I will say that WE appreciate HER more than I can express here…. but I’m not making a video about it.

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