Words of Wisdom

 

From a Cat

Statistics and Education Meet

Read in my news feed: Most Americans believe in an honest and thorough accounting of history. That just makes the administration's directives that much worse. How sad. We the people understand our country better than those in power.

Seen in the classroom: The past can't be changed but it can be understood.  And by understanding the past, educators can give students tools to change the present into a better future.  

Past, Present and Future Can Collide.

Hope in America, the Younger Generations

Comes the Dawn

After a day struggling with my nefarious nemesis (probably overkill, but I love the sound of it), a broken furnace, and tiredness, today's sunrise reminded me that there's always another day. Furnace working, stomach quiet and a good night's sleep has a way of renewing faith in the world, just as a sunny and bright morning does.

All is well, and that's enough for now.

A New Day

Me

From Word.a.day

Sit down and 

put down everything that 

comes into your head

 and then you're a writer. 

But an author 

is one who can judge

 his own stuff's worth, 

without pity, 

and destroy most of it. 

                                         ~ Colette, author (28 Jan 1873-1954)

Three blogs and still writing, so I'm a writer. But, until I reread them and delete the ones that aren't good enough to keep, which I've thought about doing, I'm not an author. Maybe someday I will, but technology makes that difficult. It'd help if I could find a way to turn my blogs to a first to last format, but alas, I haven't yet. (Nor looked very closely.)

To conclude, not an author nor a technocrat, just a person

 

Who Likes to Write. 

Guests Come to Visit

And bring bad weather, every year. (But for the first.)

We did get to the pool twice so far

put up two stickers

and drink Jameson while watching the Bills, lose. 

Cards, biking (on the little bike!) and music round out the days.

Good Times!

Came for Dinner

Fifth year for Islamorada and the festival. 

On the first full day, we went to the Diving Museum  and then, looking for manatees, to a fishermen's marina. Too windy, no fishing, no fish, no marine life. But, the pelican, it came. Hoping against hope that we'd be throwing something his way, he stayed. 

We enjoyed.

 What a Poser!

 

And another bird, smaller, and with a beautiful song, came to serenade me as I wrote this.

New Word

People's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive.                                                                                                                            ~ Haruki Murakami, writer (b. 12 Jan 1949)

That was the quote on my site Monday. It was the perfect complement to the highlighted word of the day.

What better reason is there to get connected to the world than to make memories? And how do we make memories? 

By touching grass. Every day. 

Let's get off the phones and screens and be alive to the world around us.

Old Idea

Again, Me

 

Wine: wet with alcohol, who knew me and many more form a percentage? 

Wine Talk

Ps. Finding my laugh wherever I can, it's a funny statement coming out of yet another article on the destruction of climate change. Reality strikes even here. Number of deaths per year due to smoke inhalation: a tragedy. 

Incoming!

This drawing is in a staff room at one of the schools I work in. I imagine a student drew that one day when feeling threatened.

The thing is, though, I can relate. There are days, like the other day, Friday, where it seems like I'm being bombarded from all sides. Oh, a lot of it is positive but takes work, like volleyball and women's group notices, and some of it might be generated by me - like starting to organize and plan for our trip next week, but a whole lot of it is incoming from the news. 

The latest? The ICE shooting in Minneapolis. How a woman can be sworn at, given differing directions, and then shot at, and killed, with then the administration (mistermed, as they are idiots, liars and villains) claiming she was an American terrorist, be within the bounds of sanity? It boggles the mind, but also depresses the spirit. It sure did mine.

Safe space? Do we have that any more in America? It's sad how far we have gotten away from what we once believed in. And sadder still is for so many of us (and I'm one of the luckier ones - white, with enough money and not an immigrant) who are against what is happening, we can't do a damn thing, not really. The power is in the hands of people who just won't stand up to all that is happening. 

The closest I get to a safe space is a place where friends can come together and have a couple of beers with maybe some music or sports on and we can forget for a couple of hours all that is happening. 

Serenity in a Beer

Back in the Day

This meme was on my feed yesterday.  I laughed and sent it on to a fellow teacher. We used to hate the term Gifted and Talented. Too many times, it seemed, kids went into that class that were smart, yes, but who didn't do the work. We thought they might need a bit more accountability. 

Then, thinking on this, I've realized that this meme might be more sad but true. I started at Groton in 1984, the time of G & T classes. Thinking on what we know now and what we didn't know then, Gifted and Talented classes might have been in the forefront of coming to terms with students and learning disabilities. Maybe the people who came up with G & T had the right idea. 

Some people think that there's too many labels today, but as a sub, I've seen kids in middle school struggling who become independent students in high school. Giving support in the 90s might not have been perfect, but it was the beginning of realizing what some students were dealing with.

Thank goodness for the dedicated people working with students who need time to grow and learn how to deal with life when different from the 'norm.' 

And to answer that question: I hope they're doing okay!

Back to the Future

Three Days

 

One.

Two.

Three.

With the cats. Gus on the left and Biggie on the right. every time, and me in the middle.

On the Couch

Reflecting

 

This isn't the first time I've clicked on this image. It's the television screen, so one side of the room giving its view of the other side. Because I seldom paid enough attention in science to understand the mechanics of it all, I see the wonder of the world in it instead of the reasoning behind it. 

Reality is like that. Without enough prior knowledge, can we really comprehend the world around us and why people are doing what they're doing?  Hmmm, can we? Really?

Or, to quote a song by Chicago, "Does anyone really know what time it is?"

On a Reflection

Need A Resolution?

No thanks. 

I'm Already a Pro