Nothing To Do

toned-tanned-fit-andready:

I assume that all Boston runners, all runners anywhere, do as well.

This.

(via runnstyle)

Yesterday morning 8:00 AM - weather.com has a winter weather advisory 6 AM Wednesday-12AM Thursday for winter weather and snow accumulation.

This morning 8:00 AM - winter weather advisory in effect. Snow accumulation anticipated 2-4 inches plus rain and wind.

8:30 AM - Get in my car to go to work a preschool, which has not opted to close for the day. It has been raining heavily overnight and there are a few inches of water in low spots on the road.

9:00 AM - Arrive at work where snow has already accumulated about an inch in the parking lot and is coming down fast, blowing in sideways.

10:00 AM - Announcement comes around the building that we will be closing at 11, parents are being called to pick up their children.

11:00 AM - A handful of parents have yet to arrive, snow has accumulated 3-4 inches in the parking lot and not been cleared, making it difficult for anyone to get in or out.

11:15 AM - Driving home on roads that have not been (and probably will not be) plowed and get stuck at an intersection in a pile of slush/snow. Manage to back up and plow through the snow and arrive home safely.

Please someone explain to me why, with plenty of advance warning, my school was even open today. This storm was not a surprise. This is not 1913. We knew it was coming, we knew it would likely be bad, we knew that the city doesn’t have the resources to appropriately handle a snow situation. There are not enough plows or road salt to ensure an even moderately safe drive anywhere. It is not safe for parents to be coming to pick up their kids in blizzard conditions, even if it was safe enough to get them to school in the first place. We should have anticipated that and prevented the problem of putting families in danger by forcing them onto the dangerous roads. Teachers should not have had to risk their safety to get to school and then home again in order to get anywhere near normal hours to ensure a paycheck to cover their living expenses. This should be considered reckless endangerment.

Except that because of the policies that protect businesses and their interests or something, my boss’s boss’s boss can have a policy that UNLESS WE CLOSE FOR THE WHOLE DAY UNEXPECTEDLY, WE
ARE ONLY OWED PAY FOR THE HOURS WE WORKED THAT DAY. So, I will be compensated for my 2 hours of work today. If we had opted not to open, and keep everyone safely off the dangerous roads, I would have been compensated for 8 hours because of an unscheduled cancellation. And to make the whole thing worse, the tuition parents pay to enroll their kids is only refunded in the event of a full day cancellation. To simplify that math for you, this means that my boss’s boss’s boss will receive the SAME amount of income from tuition because we were open part of the day BUT he does not have to pay teacher’s salaries for the hours they did not work. In economic terms, this is called making a profit. In my terms, this is called shady.

How is this even legal? What kind of moral compass says that this is ok? I made it home safe, but how many teachers and parents and children didn’t?

I did this activity with my students and it really helped them to see what it means to treat others how you want to be treated and what it looks like when we don’t.
I had all my students sit around one table and each student received a piece of paper. They wrote their names on the back. I told them that we were all making pictures together and at the end everyone would have a picture that all their friends had worked on. I explained that they would have 30 seconds to draw and then we would pass the pictures to the next person and continue the pattern all the way around until each person’s picture came back to them. Each student chose one marker and I have them opportunities to change in between rounds if they wished to. When given permission to begin, they went about drawing whatever they liked as I counted to 30. Then tops were put on markers and papers were passed counter-clockwise. Some students announced to others not to mess up their picture. This continued with students taking various strategies from drawing the same little character on every paper to scribbling all over every paper. Once all papers returned to their owners, most expressed some degree of sadness or anger that their picture had been “messed up” by others. We put all the drawings in our cubbies and sat down at circle to debrief.
First, I asked them to share their feelings and followed up with further questions to get at why they were having those emotions (I am sad that someone scribbled on my paper because I was drawing a pretty princess for my mommy). Then we talked about what we drew on each paper. We noticed that most people had scribbled on at least one other paper and most were not happy that someone had scribbled on their own paper. This transitioned wonderfully into the golden rule. If you do not want someone to scribble on your paper, why would you scribble on someone else’s? We discussed the idea that whatever you put out in the world will come back to you. If you put out kindness, kindness will come back to you.
My students seemed to grow immensely from this hands-on activity where they could see and feel their actions having an effect on others without anyone being seriously hurt.

You learn a lot about the human condition when you work with preschoolers.

Excuse me, but are they actually wearing TWO sports bras?? Isn’t the POINT of a sports bra to only need ONE? Nike, come on. You are not going to get women to buy your products if the skinny mini models need to wear TWO sports bras to keep their chests under control. 

(Source: )

ourrightsarehuman:

I’ve heard a lot of ladies say they want to look like a princess on their wedding day. They want to look prettier than they’ve ever looked before. I’ve also heard a lot of women look back on their wedding day self as their ideal: the hair, the make-up, the outfit, the body, and so on. I see…

“On my wedding day, I will be myself, I will be in love, and I will be beautiful. When my children look at my wedding photos, they won’t see a princess or perfection. They’ll see the beauty of their moms overwhelmed by joy.”

thedailywhat:

Meanwhile in Sweden of the Day: Gender-swapped Children’s Toy Catalogue

The latest holiday catalogue released by Sweden’s toy retail chain Top Toy is making some buzz for breaking the gender-role stereotypes in its product pages, which features girls with Nerf guns and boys with doll houses and Hello Kitty. According to Jezebel, Top Toy’s gender-swapped catalogue may have been inspired in part by the widespread debate over the issue of gender equality that has been ongoing for the past few years in the Scandinavian nation. Hat tip goes to The Mary Sue.

I need this catalog in my classroom. My children would lose their minds in such a wonderful way. I am tired of reminding them that there are no “girl toys” or “boy toys,” there are only toys that everyone may play with if they enjoy them. Heteronormativity has become a pet peeve of mine. It’s a tough sell with 4 year-olds who are told by advertisements, media, and, often, their parents that certain things are off-limits because they are “for girls” or “for boys.” 

(via positivelypersistentteach)

loveyourquotes:

http://loveyourquotes.tumblr.com

(via under-thelatinmoon)

ojpappin:

View of the library tower from the Clapp tower room. Love my campus.

This brings back so many excellent memories of intellectual discussions with women I have so much respect and admiration for… I can’t even say.

(via gifmebeor)

Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War One to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Remembrance Day is observed on November 11 to recall the end of hostilities of World War One; these hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”.

Let us not forget those who sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom and rights and of those around the world. For if it had not been for their bold actions, we would not be living in the freedom based society we live in today. But, let us also remember those innocent civilians who lost their lives during battle and even the lives lost of our so-called “enemies” that fought against our soldiers, for they too were fighting for the freedom of their own countries.

LEST WE FORGET.

(Source: gregorypecks, via luckyseventeen)