Speaking Truth to Power

I did not watch the Golden Globes. But, like many of you I'm sure, I saw Meryl Streep's speech yesterday morning upon waking up.

Look, I get why so many people voted for Trump.

They didn't want to vote for someone in the establishment.
They thought, "He does all kinds of business, he could be good for our country."
They didn't want to vote for Hillary.

I understand.

This post isn't about saying things like, "Are you happy now?" or "Look what you did."

This post is to appreciate someone who used her position to speak truth to power.

Can you image if everyone who held power - and by power, I mean people who have a camera on them, people who have a stage to share their ideas to the general public - but can you image if everyone who was in this kind of position called people of power to account for their poor choices?

Remember The Golden Rule? What ever happened to it? How come our president elect, many times, speaks as if he has forgotten about it?

This is my big problem. Lack of respect for our differences. This country is built on the premise that we are all different, that we came from different places, that we value and appreciate different things, but that together, we are so much better. So when the person who is about to take the most honored office in our great country models disrespectful behavior, it is a problem for me.

Can you imagine if teachers made choices as our president-elect has? Can you imagine the kind of students we would be raising? I think my career is a large part of the reason I just could not get behind Trump, and it boils down to something Meryl said...

Please believe me that my students are watching and listening. Many of them are afraid. I guess I'm lucky in that I was randomly born into white privilege, but friends, let's always remember the Golden Rule. Let's watch out for our neighbors be there to listen.

And to those in power, please, use your position to speak up. I hope the press does in fact hear what she was saying. Imagine if every person who had the kind of platform Meryl has could do the same thing. What might 2017 look like then?

I'm on Both Sides

There is a lot on my mind and I have a heavy heart this morning. Luckily I have writing to help me through. I don't know how GMA can still go on with the Kenny Chesney concert right now. How can people be in the crowd cheering when our country is in such a bad place?

I watched this video this morning and feel like I can finally breathe, well, a tiny bit. In this video, Trevor makes the point that if you want to talk about these problems in our society, and you start talking about how Black Lives Matter, that must imply that you don't think Blue Lives Matter. He goes on to say - his whole point - is that both black and blue lives matter. Thank you, Trevor, finally a little bit of clarity for me when waking up to such horrific news. If you haven't watched, take the time and please do.

Can we agree that Black and Cop lives matter? The outrage on social media, today - obviously. I can't believe what happened in Dallas. I don't have the right words to express the depth of what I'm feeling. (Distraction from the Hillary verdict? I feel awful for even suggesting that, but seriously. The plot lines of Scanal are seeming all too real lately...)

Blue lives matter. Black lives matter.

But where was the outrage after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile? The reason #BLM even exists is because of the ridiculous institutionalized racism that prevails in our country that is exasperated by the media (who is conveniently owned by the White elite). The media reports to us, and we tell ourselves, "it's fair and balanced, of course they are reporting truth." Get your news online for a week - follow the trending hashtags on Twitter and read those articles or watch The Young Turks on You Tube. See if you feel any different. Watch the documentary The Brainwashing of My Dad on Amazon Prime. Have an open mind and understand that the media is painting a coordinated picture for us all.

Black lives matter. Blue lives matter.

But back to my point - it's so sad to me when people say, "Michelle, all lives matter!" You're missing the point. White lives have always mattered, and I can best illustrate this with a tweet from an amazing author of Young Adult lit:

My life has always mattered. My opinion has always mattered. No one ever expects me to do any harm, damage, and people will always listen to me. The same is not true for our black and brown brothers and sisters. They face an ongoing narrative in the media that they are the reason for all that is wrong with our country. But then we see two videos - just this week - that show two black men doing nothing wrong, and they are shot and killed, and no outrage. Why? Why is it okay for them to be killed, but then when it's someone who is white, it's a different story?

Blue lives matter. Black lives matter.

I am the proud daughter of a police officer - 38 years of dedicated service. My uncles and my dad's friends are all good people. They put their lives on the line to protect and serve their communities. I hesitate when sharing about things like this because I have such a high level of respect for the people they are and the work they do.

Black lives matter. Blue lives matter.

But I teach kids of color. I hear their stories. I read their writing. I live through their experiences as black and brown youth here in a white America. But still, I teach them about hope and working hard, and when you do, you can have anything you want, because we live in the United States of America.

Except we're not so united lately.

I don't think there is going to be much in the way of change until we have an honest discussion about the problems facing our communities, a conversation about the state of policing in our country. Something needs to give.

Blue lives matter.

Black lives matter.

I'm with you both.

another 4 years of mayor 1%

Umm... I'm sure you know. I'm not a fan of Rahm. They just called the election and he won.

Here's what's not cool about this election: The dollar has spoken. Rahm had millions and was able to control the narrative that was going on. He had the ability to post tons of attack ads on Chuy that were all over the media for the past four weeks. This is not democracy. What's it going to take to limit the donations to election campaigns? Same thing with our upcoming presidential race. How much of it is democracy and how much of it is the rich controlling our leaders to have their interests met?

Here's what is cool about what happened: Chuy Garcia, who doesn't have the financial resources that Rahm does worked so hard and garnered 46% of the vote with his limited resources. He forced our first runoff election in our city's history! He forced Rahm to get out and knock on doors and talk to people, and tone down his attitude. Hopefully, he's taught Rahm that he should listen to more people than just his friends making campaign donations. He showed all of us that grassroots organizing can be done, and we can really have an election that reflects a true voice of the people.

And, if you ask my dad, here's what he'd tell you about this election:

And so there you have it - another four years of Rahm dealing favors to his buddies...

What's your take on the runoff election?

april currently

I know I'm late to this par-tay, but I have had no time to even think about doing a Currently until this moment! Work is so crazy busy right now...well was, because I'm on Spring Break! I totally need this, too. Not going anywhere, and I'm happy today to just do whatever I want to do!

So let's get to it - what am I up to Currently? Check it out!

Listening to....Ed Sheeran's whole album
The whole thing is great. I love all the songs on that album.... Thanks Holls for the recommendation! Currently I love Afire Love. I don't know, just love it. Check it out -->

Loving that I'm not at work!
I am sitting here, listening to Ed Sheeran, watching Live with Kelly and Michael, and writing a blog. Cup of coffee right next to me and no where to be and no where to go. A cruise would be nice, but I'm also fine just staying home, relaxing, catching up, and cleaning my apartment. I do have lots to do for work - it will only put me ahead going forward, but I want to work on a product for Book Clubs for my TpT store and I need to get ready for our Family Writing Project which begins the week I get back. Be sure to check out BigTime Literacy for deets about that school stuff!

Thinking...Scientology is nuts
I didn't really know much about scientology until last night, but I watched this HBO special on it and it's crazy. I mean, it isn't even a religion but they pressed the IRS and basically filed all these lawsuits against them - inundated the IRS with lawsuits so the government would declare them a religious group and exempt them from the $1million + that they owed the government. And the Scientology "church" won! Again, I have about an hour and a half worth of knowledge about this, but it's crazy!

Wanting a new mayor in Chicago
I don't think Chuy is going to be able to pull it off, but it would be awesome if he became mayor. He wants an elected school board, he wants to collaborate with the people of this city, and it doesn't seem like he has quite the agenda that Rahm does. It's a crazy time to be a teacher right now - Pearson is ruling our profession and the state departments are bullying us into taking standardized tests (by telling us they will withhold our funding if we don't administer them). It's even gotten to the point where it's being proposed that Colleges of Education will be judged on the test scores of the children who are sitting in the classrooms of their alumni. Read that again. Colleges of Education will be judged on the test scores of the children who are sitting in the classrooms of their alumni. Ridiculous. I know I'm getting slightly off topic here, but it's just insane that our profession is being run over by money (Pearson and whomever else is profitting on our students and their data) and and as a collective whole, teachers aren't speaking up. Having Chuy as a mayor in Chicago would at least be one step in the right direction to do what is right by teachers and students.

Needing to fix my car
Last saturday I smashed my car into the posts of the El Tracks. My car is a hot mess - cracked windshield, smashed back bumper, and my front bumper also has some issues. Plus it's a mess inside. So embarrassing....this is one thing I have to get attended to over this break. 

EGGS-plain your name
This was actually my first blog - before BigTime Literacy. I named it after that song Good, Good Life by One Republic. I do have such a good life and wanted to keep a record of all the awesome things that this life has to offer me. Some personal stuff goes on my literacy blog, it's most of that stuff will be here. Now that the March Slice of Life Story Challenge is over, I'm hoping to write on this blog at least once a week, in addition to the writing I do over on my other one!

Alright well that's all for today. If you like what you've read here, be sure to follow me! and Happy Easter! I hope you have a great weekend (and that it's a long weekend!) and thank you to Farley for hosting us once again!

currently

Well hey there! It's time for my fave linky of the month, Farley's Currently! It's such a great time to share what is going on with each of us and make new blogging friends!

Good, Good Life is new to Currently, but the blogger behind it isn't. You may already know me from BigTime Literacy! What you don't know is that my blogging roots started here - I began writing as I was completing a Whole 30 food challenge. I loved blogging, but after the challenge ended, I struggled with what most writers do: What do I write about now? I realized I wrote a lot about teaching, which is how I started BigTime Literacy, but I wanted to continue to write here too, sharing my personal stories and pictures of my family and friends. And honestly, writing with less of a filter. My teaching blog is linked up with my school district so I need to keep that much more professional, but sometimes I just want to be funny and drop an F-Bomb - I did get my beginnings teaching in middle school, after all!

I just had the blog redesign done by Kassie at Designs by Kassie and I love it! I hope you'll follow my more personal stories here at GGL!

And now, without further ado, let's get on with Currently!

Listening to...Sugar by Maroon 5

This video has made me absolutely LOVE this song. It's so so so so good (and how how cute is Adam Levine with those glasses?) Last weekend Hektor showed it to me and I seriously watched it like 10 times before the weekend ended. Check it out, I promise you'll love it too!

Loving my new blog redesign!
So I love Kassie - and now that she's done two blogs for me, she totally knows my style! I love the pink and gold, I love the Chicago reference with the little heart, I love glitter - totally cute! What do you think?

Thinking about hosting a book club!
So I was thinking about hosting a virtual book club - it will probably be over on BigTime Literacy, but I heard about this great book at a conference a few weeks ago - Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. Hattie, the author, did a huge analysis of 1,000s of studies and found the highest-yielding strategies that teachers can use to maximize learning. So, anyone interested? I am doing the Slice of Life writing challenge all of March, but maybe in April or May? Or perhaps summer break? I was thinking we'd all read, and then I'd host a linky every week so people can join in with me!

Wanting Chuy Garcia to make Rahm a #OneTermMayor
It's no secret that Rahm is a 1%er guy who doesn't think with the middle and lower class in mind. Kinda like a lot of the people running our government and it's particularly clear with education in mind. The reformsters want to do away with public schools (Rahm closes 50 and then has plans to open 22 charters in their place?) If you've done any reading of Diane Ravitch, you know all about the downfalls of charters and beginnings of the hopes to privatize public education. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, get Ravitch's book, follow her blog, and look up the Badass Teachers Association. And check out Chuy's education platform here!

Needing the weather to warm up!
I'm so over the cold and crappy weather. Days of no sunshine and grey skies - I want them behind me! February in Chicago has been so cold, so I'm hoping for a warm up in March. I feel like spring and summer are so far away...how will I ever make it to Spring Break (which doesn't start till Easter!)

Spring Break Plans
No plans to travel - so I'm happy to be home and relaxing and spring cleaning! Just found out that I'm going to Spain in 2017 with a former student and my best friend and her students - so as far as travel plans, I'll take that!


And before I go, just have to share a super funny meme I found on Instagram:

If you don't follow @teachermisery, get on it. Whoever runs that account posts the most hilarious things! Seriously though, what a complete waste of web space and news! Did you know this made World News last night? Really....there's nothing better going on?

I hope you'll follow my blog! And make sure you head over to Farley's blog and link up your Currently!

Happy Sunday!

Friday 6pm and Pajamas

Well, you can't be here without noticing the new design...what do you think? Do you love it as much as I do? I've been wanting to write more here on GGL but I didn't love how it looked, so I had Kassie, who did my literacy blog, give it a makeover! It's very pink and glitterly - both of which I love! What do you think?

The rest here is going to be a lot of randomness...

Friday & Pajamas
I've been having some crazy busy weeks. So much so, that I'm ecstatic to be on my couch in my pajamas well before 10pm. The boyfriend is out with his friends, and I'm home with mine - the blog, a book or two, and maybe a movie. I would say I'm more introverted than an extrovert, so having time to myself gets me geared up for another week. Who's with me?!

Sorry Rahm
Did you hear? I'm so happy that Rahm didn't win the mayoral election in Chicago last Tuesday! He's not good for education.... he doesn't have (or support) a democratically elected school board, he supports the creation of more charter schools, and he can't work collaboratively with the teacher's union. I just think it's so amazing that he spent $14 million on a campaign and even had Obama here last week endorsing him - and he still didn't pull it off. It gives me hope that we really are still living in a Democracy...the voice of the people has been heard!

And now, on to April and a new mayor! Here's a little video so you can get to know Rahm's competition, and check out his education platform here!

No fb for Lent
You probably didn't read my last post - because I couldn't post it on facebook, because I gave up fb for lent. Yeah, it's been a week and a half and I'm constantly getting emails saying how much I'm missing out. But I'm going to stay strong! So, if you're going to say something about my blog, leave me a comment here, or I won't get it until April! (I have since figured out how to have Blog'Lovin post on fb for me!)

One Wish
I wish I was in AZ this weekend - hanging out with Katie, sunbathing in the....shit, what's it called? When you sit on the grass at spring training games? I've clearly been gone for too long! Anyways, I wish I was going to AZ sometime soon - I miss my friends, some former students, and the beautiful weather!

I will be writing every day in March for the Slice of Life writing challenge with Two Writing Teachers! Those posts will be over on BigTime Literacy - make sure to follow if you're not!

What are you doing this weekend? Hope it's great!