It’s easy to think
I’m abstract terms about “struggle”
But much harder
When your child is hundreds of miles away
And crying on the phone
Category: Education
Categories
Lonely Satisfaction
Loneliness
It’s a feeling we’re all familiar with
But have you heard
Of lonely satisfaction?
It’s the feeling of newly unwrapped presents
The chill of first snow
The scent of your lovers sweatshirt
Found, tossed aside, in the corner of your house.
Lonely satisfaction is
Coming home from vacation
Or 501 pm on a Friday
It’s things accomplished
But a future
Not yet materialized.
In America
Kids are always the battle ground
What they read
What we teach them
How we raise them
Yet in our hubris
We allowed 8 million of them
To be stricken with grief
You see
We were too busy arguing
To care about the consequence
We drink our coffee
Skid into our parking spot
Late, by two minutes
The day is a drudge
Much the same as yesterday,
As will be tomorrow
Oblivious to
The obliteration of
An entire culture
That’s what we call progress
It’s never enough
You can work – or stay at home
You can have game nights
And family dinner
You can take an interest
Or give them some space
But no matter what
To a teenager…
It’s never enough
Labor division
Is never equitable
Where kids are involved
The typing of keys
The rustling of paper notes
Soft murmured questions
Intensity’s high
When students are writing
Snow brings the trouble
The kids smell change in the air
Their noses upturned
Minds whirring with plots
It begins innocently
A white rush of air
A splash of cold snow
Suddenly, it’s a frenzy
Mounds crisscross the yard
Showering the kids
All with red noses and smiles
Hands cold and frozen
Rejoicing in the weather
Until the adults swarm in
To end the melee
Please, make no mistake
New laws that attack our schools
Are not “for the parents.
That’s propaganda
Parents are often
Invited into the class
Lessons are often
Already online.
No. These laws show lawmakers
Who they can target
Thinly veiled attempts
To root out the teachers who
Teach real history
Because you see friends…
Education is power
Education is change
Education is discussion
Education is critical thinking.
Being educated
Shouldn’t be easy.
Education is a reckoning
And that should feel uncomfortable.
Categories
Unintended consequences?
The consequences
Of the pandemic
Will be hard to count…
However, it’s clear
That the main victims are kids
They are in shambles
First, online schooling
Then, rolling quarantines and
Sick family members
We’ve expected them
To be strong. Meanwhile adults
Kept failing the kids.
Don’t @ me on this
I know we’ve all done our best
Closing school was right.
Here is my real point
We’ve asked our kids to adapt
While leaving no tools
In their school toolbox
They are alone in the wild
Because schools didn’t adjust
To the trauma of the kids
Hipstory 