Category: Local Government

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“Love Hazel”: A visit to Mount Vernon and a Timeless Connection

To: Miss Eileen Doyle From: Hazel Anderson, 1923

Dear Miss Doyle,

I am writing this card as we are going up the Potomac River to Mount Vernon.

Love,

Hazel Anderson

In 1923, Warren Harding was President until his death on August 2, at which time Calvin Coolidge took over. Yankee Stadium opened it’s doors, Roy and Walt Disney found the Disney Company, and 15o are killed and the town of Rosewood destroyed in the racially motivated Rosewood Massacre.

Although Mt. Vernon was not designated a historical landmark until the 1960’s, Americans have been visiting the site since 1860. Though, at the time of Hazel’s visit, Mt. Vernon Highway had not been built yet, nor was there a marker for the enslaved cemetery on the property.

I have quite a few postcards from Mt. Vernon, and all of them are beautiful. If you don’t know, Mt. Vernon is the home of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Washington left behind a complicated legacy, one full of missteps and careful planning. He was a man deeply rooted in the south, but always conscious of the cognitive dissonance of being a slaveholder in a nation that’s built on a founding principal of equality. I’m not a Washington apologist, not by any means. Yet, I give credit to those who change, or attempt to change, and Washington certainly did throughout his lifetime.

But what of Hazel Anderson and Eileen Doyle? Let’s start with Hazel. Yes, I have a first and last name, but since the postmark is Virginia and Hazel is clearly on vacation, it’s difficult to confirm the correct Hazel Anderson in the records, especially as it’s a fairly common name.

Eileen, on the other hand, is a little easier to find. Especially since I have her full name and address. Despite this, there were quite a number of decent candidates. The best fit is an Eileen G Doyle who lived in Milwaukee in 1930. At the time of the census, she was 27 and single. That means that she would have been twenty years old when Hazel sent the postcard.

To be clear, I can’t match the address to any of the Eileen Doyle’s that I researched. However, the Eileen mentioned above was a lodger in 1930, so it stands to reason that she may have been lodging in 1923 as well. If this is the case, Eileen was a public school teacher for at least twenty years (according to census records in 1930, 40, and 50). She’s also listed as head of household in all records — so single.

I’m always a little sad when I can’t for sure find the people in the postcards I research, but I hope that Hazel and Eileen stayed friends for years, and kept in contact.

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History Local Government Postcards Writing Prompt

President Taft’s Visit and Grape Farming: Insights from a 1909 Fresno Postcard

Miss Nettie Snyder, 1909

Dear Friend Nettie,

Your nice set of cards reced. I have not got them and would be glad to get both sets in full. We have had no rain yet, but do not expect till next month. Yes I like celery. I wish I had some fudge. Do you make it or buy it. I like some grapes. We have grapes, more of them raised here than any other fruit. We have several kinds, we have the wine, tokays, malaga, sultana, large black grape, small water grape, Emperors, and many more that I do not know the name of. We have state fair. We have one in (unreadable), and our state fair will open soon. The Sacramento state fair is the largest. Come again. Will you get to see the president. He will be here next month. Write soon.

We have these flowers in our yard.

Lily Proser. 622 C Street, Fresno Cal

There is so much going on in this postcard and I love every bit of it. However, I first want to point out that Nettie and Lily are separated by over 2000 miles. Not only is the friendship important enough to be maintained, but Nettie had somehow managed to visit Lily in California (as indicated by the “come again”). The bonds between these two must have been strong and I have to wonder how old they were in 1909. At times, personal histories can be frustrating, especially since women change names at marriage. So, when given nothing but a maiden name, it’s difficult to trace in the (free) records.

The listing off of grape types is also an indication of how rural Fresno would have been in 1909. Founded in 1872 by the Central Pacific Railroad Company, Fresno was mainly a farming town known for…you guessed it! Grapes. It’s touted as the “raisin capital of the world.” So, while two lines devoted to grapes might seem a tad mundane for two girls to be writing about, it’s actually Lily telling Nettie about her families livelihood.

Furthermore, based on Lily’s postcard, we know that President Taft visited Fresno. She perhaps included it as bait to get Nettie back out to California. Since Lily sent her postcard in September of 1909, we can assume that she was speaking about the Presidents visit to city hall park in October of 1909. You can read a transcript of his speech here.

So, while on the outset the postcard doesn’t seemingly reveal more than idle chit-chat, overall, this one little postcard provides a slew of information about the everyday life of someone living in Fresno, California in 1909. What a great piece of history.

I hope Lily got some fudge.

Front of Postcard. Cactus Dahlia

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Current Events Education Local Government Poetry Teaching

A Lack of Teachers

Is not because of teachers

It’s becoming clear

That the teaching profession

Is in some trouble

Put very simply

There are not enough teachers

To man the classrooms

Conservatives say

This is a teacher problem

That “we” are too “soft”

This is not the case

The profession of teaching

Is treated poorly

Teachers have low pay

Combined with high education

Our hours are long

Our work is not just hard

It can also be dangerous

Not only covid

But we have angry students

We have poor buildings

On top of threats of shootings

And high expectations

We are not babysitters

We are professionals with

Very high expertise

And we are also

Often treated like shit from admin

And the public.

It’s not hard to see

Why teachers are leaving quick

With none in the wings.

So, don’t act as though

You’re suddenly surprised when

Your kids’ teacher quits.

Categories
Current Events Haiku Health Care Local Government Poetry

Nearing the Second Year

The way states treat kids is reflective of the shits they give.

As Covid rages

Look to how states treated schools

No masks for the kids?

No testing in place?

The government doesn’t care

About the children

Which also will mean

That they won’t care about you

When you need their help

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Current Events Education Local Government Poetry

An Absence of Knowledge

A free-write on book banning

Nobel Prize in Literature

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Presidential Medal of Freedom

These are only three of the many awards Toni Morrison has won. Yet schools are pulling her books (amongst others).

Why?

Because with every action comes an equal and opposite reaction. Because the path to change is through the next generation. And, at heart, change is uncomfortable. It’s a discomfort that comes with a loss of power.

Let me be clear. These are not valid reasons. Learning should make you feel uncomfortable. You should wallow in your discomfort. You should watch the walls that you’ve built around yourself crumble down.

Why?

So you can rebuild yourself with better materials. Knowledge is not congruent with stagnation. Knowledge is the house that is always under construction.

Because, you see, learning is the action of remaking our knowledge base with stronger materials. Learning is active, you must constantly be building your house with better, and stronger, and newer materials.

And I’m not talking about “information I found on youtube” or “on some website that upheld my already firmly held, and stagnated, belief.” No. Those are bad building materials. They’re the rotted wood that causes your roof to leak. That’s lazy building.

Ok…so what?

Toni Morrison should be required reading. Toni Morrison is the type of author who writes something so gloriously beautiful that you can’t believe you’ve lived without that book, and those words, and that story for half your life.

So why would we want to stop children from experiencing that?

Fear. Adults are afraid of new knowledge. They are comfortable in their house, even if there’s not enough sunlight or the furniture needs to be replaced

There is the problem.

Children are constantly learning. They are building forts and toppling them down to build new ones in trees or on mountains. Adults…well many adults stop learning the minute they are out of school. They have old methods and old information stuck in their head, and they want to reinforce that old knowledge and protect it from new ideals.

So, adults remove choice from children.

Because that’s what this is. The removal of books is the removal of choice. The absence of information is still a method of control. When you don’t give information, it doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. It means you’re hiding it.

Not telling the full story is still a lie.

The removal of books is a method of control – don’t let anyone fool you into thinking it’s “for the children.”

It’s not. It’s to control the children.

Categories
Current Events Haiku Health Care Local Government Poetry

Let’s Do This Thing!

Children over Five

Can now get vaccinated

Do it fast and now

Covid is still here

And there is a solution

It’s…vaccination

Ok…So What?

The pandemic has

Impacted children so much

See, for example:

A loss of parent

Schools with rolling qurantines

And anxiety

To “save the children”

We must vaccinate children

Like…we’ve been doing

That’s why we don’t have

Polio and Chicken Pox

So, let’s do this friends!

He Man GIF - HeMan Thundercats MastersOfTheUniverse GIFs | Pop culture references, Masters of the universe, 80s cartoons
Actual Image of the power of vaccination
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Current Events Education Local Government

Can’t is Different than Won’t

On October 25, the New York Times released a visual story on their Instagram page with pictures and short blurbs of men and women who were making the choice not to get vaccinated. The stories discuss their reasons which ranged from hesitancy regarding the safety of the vaccine to fears about breastfeeding to religious reasons.

However, what they did not include were pictures and short blurbs about men and women who could not* get vaccinated. This is an important part of the puzzle and leaving out this piece of information glorifies the idea of choice, rather than the idea of social need.

Because you see, by choosing for non-medical purposes to refuse the vaccine, the unvaccinated are making a choice for those who can’t get the vaccine for medical purposes.

*The Times did release an opinion piece that went into more detail – but let’s be real, people get their news from social media

Barriers and Misinformation

Before I go further, I want to note that I’m very aware of the barriers that prevent people in the United States from getting the vaccine. Not having a car, living in a rural space, communities mistrusting medical providers for various reasons – I understand these. Additionally, there’s been a raft of misinformation – largely for political purposes – regarding the Coronavirus and Vaccines. I get it. Don’t at me.

Can’t is different than Won’t.

Recently I had a student break down in my class because his mask broke. He’s a student with underlying medical conditions already. As he descended into panic mode, he told me he was afraid he was going to die because he was only able to get one shot. He had a bad reaction to the first one, and the doctor said he couldn’t get the second. This wasn’t a choice that he and his family made – they tried to protect him. However, he’s only partially vaccinated because of necessity, not a choice.

Ok…So What?

The conversation regarding vaccination often revolves around those who are making a choice to remain unvaccinated. I think this is in an effort to humanize and understand the various reasons so many refuse the vaccine. However, there are people who actually can’t get vaccinated. Up until recently, that meant any child under the age of 12. It also means those who had an allergic reaction to the first shot, those who are undergoing chemotherapy, or those who have other underlying health conditions.

This is important because vaccination provides a shield for the most vulnerable people in the nation. While an unvaccinated person may feel comfortable taking risks with their own health and their family’s health; those who can’t get vaccinated are forced to remain in isolation. Telling the stories of the vaccine-hesitant glorifies that choice, and leaves out an incredibly important piece of the puzzle.

The unvaccinated are preventing children from going to school, preventing families from seeing their loved ones, and very literally may cause the death of another person.

The voices of the medically vulnerable deserve to be heard. Large news outlets like The Atlantic and The New York Times should do better, and flip the narrative.

And, if you aren’t vaccinated. You should get vaccinated.

Cute Animals Snacking Away Gifs - Animal Gifs - gifs - funny animals - funny gifs
It’s a serious post, so here’s a dog eating pasta.

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Current Events Education Local Government

Carrying the Banner?

Wisconsin’s Senate has passed a bill that will allow 14-year-olds to work until 11 PM in the evening. They’ve done this in an apparent attempt to “fix the labor shortage” during a pandemic that’s seen the loss of over 700,000 men and women, many of them within working age.

I want to note, this bill has not been passed as a law, however, I want to talk about it because if it passes, this law will have ramifications greater than just “the parent for this kid is up late picking them up.”

First, let’s break down the bill.

On a school night, the bill would allow a 14-year-old to work until 9:30 PM, on a non-school night, the child could work until 11:00 PM. Federal law mandates children stop working at 9pm during the summer, and 7pm for the rest of the year. Children could still only work three hours on a non school day – but Federal law currently allows teens to work eight hours on weekends, and up to six days a week.

Why Teens?

Apparently, proponents of the bill (in tourism no less) think that putting teens to work will solve the labor shortage. Obviously, they’ve never worked with teens.

In practice, what this means is they want children to fill low skill, low wage, menial jobs that adults don’t currently want to work, and they want to continue to pay the barest wages possible. For the record, I don’t know full motivations, however, I think the idea that it would “plug the labor shortage” is laughable. I love teens, I work with them, I have 4 of them myself, but getting them to do anything well is a labor of love. Might as well just do it yourself (or pay better wages and have an adult do it).

Ok…So What?

Obviously, this bill targets teens most in need of work. This means financially disadvantaged teens, or children who are working to help support a family. Yes, this happens, especially if students are citizens, but parents are not.

In practice, keeping a teen until 11 PM, or allowing them to work as early as 6 AM, will impact them socially, emotionally, and academically. They’ll be prevented from completing homework, lose sleep, which will affect their academic performance, and lose valuable social opportunities with friends and family.

All for what? So some hotel can pay a 14 year old 7.25 an hour to clean rooms? So that some restaurant can split tips with a 14 year old bus kid?

There are deep ramifications on an individual level for teens, but also on a societal level. Privileged students already don’t have to work, and if they do – they don’t have to start at 14. They have access to opportunities already. Putting 14 year olds at work until 11 PM will degrade the laws already in place that protect literal children from the greed of corporations. This means a widening of the gap that’s already created between rich and poor.

This is important, and it could set a precedent. It should be noted, and you should fight in your community for labor laws that protect children.

Actual image of teens forming unions

Categories
Current Events Education Local Government

Pronouns Matter

There’s been a lot of discussion in political circles about whether teachers ought to use a student’s preferred pronouns. There have also been a number of news articles about teachers refusing to use preferred pronouns, along with proposed legislation that could make it illegal for teachers to use any other identification other than the name and gender on school records.

For my part, I’ve never met an educator who outright refuses to use requested pronouns. I live in a red state and teach with conservative educators. However, I do know students who’ve encountered prejudice from their teachers when coming out, and many will only tell a few teachers while asking that the other teachers are kept in the dark.

Ok…so what?

I could focus on the dialogue surrounding teaching and the restriction of what we can and can’t teach and what we can and can’t call students. I’m not going to. I’m simply going to offer my opinion on the subject and hope that you’ll agree and/or be swayed.

School is a time that kids explore and define themselves. Home is sometimes unwelcoming to different sexual and gender identities and I believe school shouldn’t feel that way. My job is to be kind and make the students feel welcome. It costs me literally nothing to call someone by a preferred name (mark rather than Michelle) or pronoun (they rather than her).

This trend, to not call students by their preferred name or pronouns, is simply implying that students and children are undeserving of respect. Except- of course they are. They are humans with hopes and dreams, exploring their identity. They spend most of their waking hours in school, and it should be a place where they are respected.

I know many parents and conservative school board members would disagree. However, it will cost you nothing to respect a child. They may drop the pronoun later, or they may carry it with them their whole life. If it’s the later – then they’ll remember that you provided them a safe place by simply calling them “they” rather than “her”. That’s what matters.

Categories
Current Events Education Local Government

School board De-Cline

Although this is a post that is specific to my personal state, I suspect that characters like the one I’m going to talk about today are present in every school board in every state. If you don’t already know, school boards are elected officials, with quite a bit of power to dictate what students learn – and don’t learn – in school.

And, in the wake of the pandemic, school boards have a lot of eyeballs on them. Over the past five weeks my state school board alone has heard arguments over masks, voted on anti-CRT legislation, and recently the most contentious school board members posted anti-LGBTQ propaganda.

That’s right, I’m talking about Natalie Cline. I’ll tell you this, I had to really be thoughtful in making this post, as well as consider whether it’s worth it. Natalie Cline has a track record of personally targeting educators. When she chooses to target someone, she has a mass of far-right followers who threaten, harass, and scare the individual she’s targeted.

Well, she’s been censured by the state, but I’m not sure it solves the problem. She was elected in the 2020 election, which means she’s been in her post for less than a year. During that time she’s caused controversy after controversy, and seemed to lob insults at every community who is not her own, insular, far-right, religious community.

OK…So What?

Although Biden won the presidential election, locally elected posts have been filled with Natalie Clines: far right conservative politicians that scrambled their way into local politics. While the Democrats were focused on the Presidency, the conservatives were winning locally. This is a problem because local politics matter and local politicians are much more likely to make an impact on your day to day life.

Cline, for example, is part of a board who decides what your child does and doesn’t learn in school. If Cline had her way (and she didn’t) I wouldn’t be able to say the word “systemic” in my classroom. In fact, because of Cline, a fellow teacher straight up asked me if I taught CRT. Why? Because I was the history teacher. No other reason.

Politicians like Cline do nothing more than put stress on an already burdened system. Their cult of personality requires that they use incendiary language to inflame their cult of followers, causing local politics to spend time on ridiculous amendments and demands.

It’s like that one kid in class who always shouts out because they think they know the answer, but they never do. Except this time, it’s an adult who’s in an elected position with absolute power to bring the class to a screeching halt over nothing.

Our own local politician, Natalie Cline, is currently under censure. However, she’s elected and with us for the next three years. So far, Cline hasn’t succeeded in pushing through much of her agenda – but when the arguments over CRT wane that’s when she’ll strike, affecting the education system in Utah for years to come.

This is why I’m constantly screaming about local politics on my blog. It impacts you, your children, and the citizens your children grow up to be. Education matters. The Conservatives know it, and they’re targeting education laws because of it. We can’t let censorship into our schools. History, real history, deserves to be taught. If not, we will continue to perpetuate the very things we’re fighting against.

Don’t let the Clines of the world make you fear speaking out. Stand up for what you believe is right. Stand up for educators, stand up for children. Do it in your home, your office, your schools, your gym. Be vocal. This is no longer “feel good” politics. Disagreement is natural and correct. In fact, it’s only wrong when viewed from a lens of partisan politicians who believe any criticism is an attack on their character.

Local boards could vote to bring these suckers back, because kids should “learn what it’s like to get burned.”