Categories
Education History Poems Poetry

Women’s Work

It’s amazing, you know.

The extent to which women’s work is undervalued.

Take the Bayeux Tapestry

A stunning piece of work, handmade circa the 11th Century.

The tapestry tells a tale of knights and battles and victories and failings. A tale of kings and their conquests.

What remains? Steel and Armor?

No. Cotton and linen. Threaded and knotted and spliced and faded. It’s stalwart against the greedy hands of time.

Men. They are the ones remembered. Odo and Harold and Hastings probably. A tale of men, created by women. A history where the historians are forgotten.

Not the skills passed down from the old to the young. Not the time and effort and artistry. Not the artist(s) and historians and knowledge makers and holders.

Not the women. They are…overlooked.

But the tapestry remains. And so too does their memory, if you choose to look.

Categories
Current Events Education Haiku Poems Poetry Teaching

8 million

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

Categories
Current Events Education Haiku History Poems Poetry

Progress

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

Categories
Current Events Haiku Poems Poetry Teaching

The great resignation

A simple reminder:

Toxic relationships are

Not just reserved

For lovers

They can be an entity, a corporation

A job

Even a Vice

Before you leave it’s like

Sucking all air through a straw

Colors are muted, and gray

But once you’re free…

The world is as bright as a birthday cake

And equally exciting.

Categories
Current Events Haiku History Poems

Sorry to interrupt your program

The wake of horror

Brings with it calls for action

There’s a problem though.

Politicians don’t

Listen to the peoples will

….they’ve gerrymandered it

“Thoughts and prayers” we’ve heard.

For a decade now

Long ago they chose to favor

Guns over children.

So. Pressing forward seems…hard.

But it’s not.

Outrage is the start…but…

Vote local.

School Board

City council

County council

Fuck, make sure you know who the PTA President is.

These local yokels

Impact your life

And in the wake of horror

It’s the start of change.

(I hope)

Categories
Education History Poetry Teaching

Essays

The typing of keys

The rustling of paper notes

Soft murmured questions

Intensity’s high

When students are writing

Categories
Climate Current Events Haiku Poetry

Rising

Everything’s Rising.

Coastal waters are rising

Taxes are rising

Inflation…rising

My age is rising too, but

That’s not your problem

But, it has been said

With every action comes an

Equal reaction

If everything is rising…

Will we rise as a community?

Or, will we all fall?

By which I mean fail

To acknowledge hard truths

and take action?

Categories
Climate Education Poetry Teaching

Snowballs

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

Categories
Education Haiku Poetry Teaching

Reckoning

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
Current Events Education Haiku Teaching

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