Thoughts unrecovered

Well, I can't recall what I was going to write about but this coldness is driving us batty at Casa Vasa. The only one not sneezing or having trouble breathing is Millie. Allergies and asthma and the wild weather in the northeast do not mix well. I should have moved southwest when I was less tied down, but oh well. I just keep pumping my lungs with the puffer...

It always amazes me that so many parents come to the photo class for Back to School night. And they are so nice. I love how we are getting the really cool kids in the art program. It not classes full of the "I just want an easy A" people.

Then I get a rude awakening about where I teach like when I read the latest on Millie Misadventure. I can't stand how many of the young people at PV are so concerned with looks. It wasn't like that in the other districts I taught in. And I feel like it extends to non-students. I used to have my hair REAL short. It was liberating in many ways that I need not get into. The only people that seemed to be bothered by it were the people at PV. Co-workers made comments about me being butch and students made comments about whether I was a boy or girl. So I decided to do a little experiment. I am growing it out. I can't tell you the out-of-line comments I have gotten from co-workers. Note: It is not ok for you to touch my hair and comment about my "flowing locks!"

So, every day I come to PV and spend my periods with cool kids and think everything is improving in this world...but it's not. I have to fight to get the yearbook polls to not have a category alluding to beauty. And I look at the kids who others label as the weirdos - same as when I was in school - and they are so diverse, interesting, multi-dimensional and just all around cool and I think they are beautiful. And these are the ones who are being made fun of. After 20 years, NOTHING CHANGES! But how do I change this? I try to be more and more myself at work every year, so they know teachers come in all sorts of types, but I don't think it is working enough. I feel like I can count on one hand the number of people at work who are truly different and ok with the students who are. And I don't count those who do it to be cool teachers. The kids aren't stupid...they know what we think of them...and they know when you think they are "freaks." Too many teachers hear comments about race, sexuality and looks in the halls and classrooms and say nothing. This all just gets me really aggravated. And then to read what Jimmy Carter said this week, and the world makes me sad...