Hello, Week Thirty-Two. Not much to report this week. Life keeps truckin’ on, or whatever the expression is. I did some school work; it went well. I attempted some writing; it went okay. I had more difficult conversations with my nonboyfriend; they went.
I also heard what our district’s tentative plan is for the fall. As it stands, we will have an A group and a B group of students. We will also have virtual A and B groups, as some families will be opting for fully remote learning. The A group will be attending in person on Mondays and Thursdays. B group will be attending on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays are staff-only days.
My neurologist doesn’t want me returning period, which totally sucks. Though he thinks we’ll all get sent home rather quickly anyway. I’m not so sure… the world seems to be over this whole pandemic thing… I want to be with my team, yah know? I want to be there for the students. I want to reconnect with my teacher-identity and my classroom. But… I don’t want to get sick. I can’t — it would be so bad for me with my disease…
The bile on the internet really got to me this week. Never before have I trolled a twitter post and its comments; but I didn’t just dip my toe in the trolling waters, I dove right in. I sort of lost it when I saw a post stating: “All you crazy ass teachers refusing to return to school… Your free meal ticket is over. Go to work or find another vocation. To those teachers who are ready to return… thank you for caring about the kids.” My initial comment was: “Didn’t know following a neurologist’s orders & teaching remotely made me crazy. And didn’t realize stressing about how to best serve kids during these uncertain times was a free meal ticket. I’ll be sure to buy an extravagant dinner with the $27 my salary lets me bank.”
I would’ve just left it there… but the unbelievably ignorant and accusatory comments that followed made my insides feel like they were on fire. Here are some examples (along with my responses):
Them: “I chimed in on a local FB group and a whiny teacher said she didn’t feel safe. Pathetic. I told her to get back to work. She told me that I was rude lol.
Me: You are rude.
Them: This is a great opportunity to weed out teachers… Do they understand basic childhood psychology- the detrimental effects of isolation, instability and fear?
Me: No, my teacher education never touched on child psychology at all. #sarcasm
Them: It’s time to end the 12 months’ pay for 9 months’ work too. Let them work all 12 months or take a pay cut for the 3 months they don’t work.
Me: It is clear you have no idea what you’re talking about, but we all appreciate you adding your two cents anyway. Always helpful to have ignorant voices added to the noise.
Them: Not everybody can homeschool, stop the money!
Me: What money?
Them: 1/3 of the current crop of teachers don’t care about the kids. 20% of that 1/3 hate kids and more interested in actively promoting intersectionality and communism.
Me: Thanks for sharing your completely made up statistics! They’ve really helped elevate the level of discourse.
I don’t know… Responding to them didn’t make me feel a whole lot better. But it did make me feel a little better. So there’s that.
Sunday
I really tried to start my week (and month) off right. Made veggie burgers with sautéed shallots and roasted shredded Brussels sprouts. It was a decent meal, but more importantly, it was me trying to make a healthy choice.
I don’t know why exactly (though I certainly have some theories) it’s so much easier to live a healthier lifestyle when Brian isn’t around. He spent the night at his parents’ house with his brother, and I was left to myself most of the evening. While I’m sure living on my own all the time will be different — burdensome, perhaps — a night to myself gives me space to actually breathe.
Monday
Apparently this week we get two food pics in a row, mostly because I forgot to take pictures of other things… But also because I started the day alone, with Brian still at his parents’ and that left me able to use the blender guilt-free (usually I try not to make too much noise in the kitchen because I don’t want to wake him). Here we see a lovely açaí bowl I made, topped with gluten-free granola, frozen blueberries, and sweetened coconut shreds!
Tuesday
We’ve been feeding this stray cat for at least two years now. WHY won’t he let us pet him already??
Wednesday
My writing companions.
Thursday
More writing companions.
Friday
My mom and I made the hour and forty minute drive out to Judith’s new house. They were having an estate sale and she enticed me with the promise of old books. I give her kudos for the amount of work that went into the thing, and for keeping people socially distanced somehow during it all. She limited the amount of people in the house at once, provided gloves, and demanded masks.
When I dropped my mom back off, I noticed this mama keeping her little ones safe in the vine-covered lattice in front of the barn.
Saturday
This is definitely an oh-shit-I-forgot-to-take-a-picture picture. But that’s okay; it gives me an excuse to talk about Harry Potter. Ever since JKR started tweeting her anti-trans bullshit, I haven’t felt as connected to the series as I used to. I know that sounds a bit ridiculous — not the part about being upset with her for those tweets (and her subsequent responses), but the part about feeling connected to the book series. What can I say; I grew up with the Harry Potter books, and I always felt like JKR and I would be great friends if ever we got the chance to chat.
Alas, I no longer think that.
And I haven’t been pushing people to read the books like I forever was before. I still want Dr. Erion to read them… I’ve been holding onto hope that re-reading along with him will make me remember why I loved them so much before all this crap so seriously tainted them. I also sort of just want him to finish the series already so we can move on to other things. He has had my copies of books three and four for over a year (He is literally the only person I would ever allow to borrow my original, love-worn copies and absolutely the only person who’d be allowed to keep any of my books — Potter or other — for this long without feeling my wrath).
Well, Dr. Erion is working on reading them… but meanwhile, out of nowhere, Lucy (technically spelled Loucy, but that’s less fun) started reading them! After he finished the first two, I jumped into the series with him. Here we see me reading from the illustrated version of the fourth book, since Dr. Erion has my copy and the extra copies I own are sitting in my classroom.
I have to say, re-reading them with Lucy has started to do what I’d hoped re-reading with Dr. Erion would. In any case, re-reading it and discussing it with Lucy has allowed me a new Harry Potter experience, which I never thought I’d have again. So there’s that.