World Autism Day
I’ve come up for air from this crazy year of teaching for World Autism Day – and I’m a day late. Many autistic people find April an awkward time because…
Marie Snyder
Stop the Lucrative Cruelty in Yemen
There was an online rally with some impressive speeches about the war on Yemen today, What Yanis Varoufakis referred as a form of “lucrative cruelty.” Here’s the full video and…
Freedom at Any Cost
I believe it’s not a coincidence that the UK, US, and much of Canada – the trio that promoted neoliberal free market politics – are not doing enough to restrict…
Painting for Community
I did these fun little puzzle pieces as part of a local community initiative, “Belonging Together,” with the aim of an ever-expanding mural from people across the region. I based…
Gertz’s Nihilism
A year after coming out with Nihilism and Technology, Dr. Nolen Gertz wrote just plain Nihilism, an “examination of the meaning of meaninglessness: why it matters that nothing matters.” It’s…
2020 Year in Review: Teaching Under the Banner of Covid
Dr. Jennifer Kwan put out a call on Twitter for messages we wished to have sent ourselves a year ago. Then she added, And Ryan Imgrund, provider of daily stats…
Hedges on American Psychosis
Chris Hedges just put out a short video about American Psychosis, in which he explains, We have blissfully checked out. Most people have no concept of how fragile their environment…
On Cuties, Euphoria, and Promising Young Woman
My social media feed is full of political scandals that I have no ability to affect, so I’ve immersed myself in movies and shows. Bechdel test for the win for…
Ten Climate Change Items That Need Wider Reporting
Out of the frying pan, into the fire. A vaccine is here, hooray! But now let’s actually take a good hard look at climate change mitigation. This is from a…
Unforeseen Custody Issues: Who Could Have Predicted THIS?
I’m generally a worrier. If my kids don’t text back after a few minutes, all sorts of images bombard my brain. Sometimes they don’t text back for hours, and it…
Hannah Arendt in Lego
@EthicsInBricks posted this lovely tribute to Hannah Arendt on Twitter last October, in honour of her date of birth, October 14, 1906, and I want to save it in the…
How Is Hybrid Teaching Going?? It’s Complicated.
We’ve recently been told that next semester, starting in February, will operate the same way as this semester did: running quadmester terms with in-school students attached to each school in…
Mental Illness in Covid Times
For me to stop teaching in a physical classroom, because I don’t feel safe in there, I need a note from my doctor indicating that I have a mental illness…
If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another
I had a very sick kid here on the night before the last day of the last quadmester. My little one felt shaky and dizzy and came downstairs to get…
On Critical Race Theory
Conservative British MP, Kemi Badenoch, insisted that Critical Race Theory is somehow illegal, so I’m just going to save this rebuttal here: This is a Twitter thread from Kojo Koram…
Michael Sandel’s Tyranny of Merit
I haven’t yet read his newest book, but Michael Sandel is everywhere these days promoting his new book. An excerpt from a Guardian interview: Sandel charts the rise of what…
Imagine If Teachers Made the Decisions that Affect Teachers
So now the government has overruled regulation 274. I wrote about it ages ago, again firmly planted on the government side!! I’m really very, very pro-union, honestly, but some things…
Does Teaching Effectively Legitimize Ford’s Plan?
What Doug Ford’s team is doing right now reminds me of Bojack Horseman, from the end of the first season on, when absolutely everybody just starts saying “Hollywoo” after the…
Putting Your Own Mask on First
Teachers are a hardy bunch. We have self-trained ourselves to remain polite and calm in the face of abuse. On my first day of teaching, ever, I wrote Miss Snyder…
The Fogginess of These Times
I had laser surgery over a decade ago and love not wearing glasses, but I’ve started wearing my sunglasses regularly, even on my walk to work just as the sun’s…