Be Safe, a Wish

Just when we thought things were bad, the regime decided now would be a good time to bomb Iran. Because, things weren't bad enough, apparently. 

I mean, now I understand why people didn't flee when fascist governments took over. It's hard to leave behind everything, especially when you have no marketable skills to take elsewhere. I'm learning all sorts of things that I really didn't want to know about living under this sort of government. Sigh. 

In case you weren't aware, Los Angeles has been invaded by ICE, and they're kidnapping people off the streets. On Bluesky, Totoro in a Dodgers Bucket Hat explained how ICE has adapted their tactics due to community pushback. (And here's that same thread formatted like an article.) Pay attention, because they're just starting in LA. They'd like to do this nationwide. 

You know who Stephen Miller is, right? If you're unfamiliar, it's time to learn who he is. Because, he's the one behind the ICE kidnapping raids. The best thing in these times is to bring into public awareness all the stuff various people behind the scenes are trying to do without attracting attention. Let's give them attention. I don't think things will go so well once the public is largely aware of what they are doing. 

Keep calling your MOC and your senators. Even if they're on the side of the regime. Even if they're supposedly not. Remind them that they work for us. Remind them that there's more they can do to resist. They're not acting like we're living in a fascist regime. We need to wake them up to the fact that we are. 

(Reminder: 5 Calls gives you phone numbers and scripts to help.)

Articles of interest:

• How Trump Makes Tragedies Worse, A History
• How ICE is becoming a secret police force under the Trump regime
• He Was Born in Philly and They Tried to Deport Him to Jamaica
• Controversial senator trying to sell millions of acres near Yosemite, Tahoe
• Climate Change Will Bankrupt the Country

Zombie Body

Last week I showed the progress I made on the amigurumi Minecraft Zombie. I got a bit further this week:

This isn't too bad considering I had to rip out and redo a couple days' worth of work. I had used the wrong color for the shirt (a darker turquoise), and then I ran out of yarn. 

But, ripping out wasn't so easy as I had wound in some ends on the inside (from attaching the legs at the crotch) up into where I had to rip out. It wasn't too terrible once I got into it, but it was more work than I expected, especially as I'm on a deadline. Oh well. 

The above is the front view. That's legs and body. It isn't stuffed yet. Then I'll sew up that top flap. A head will go on top. Arms will be attached to the sides. 

Here's the back view: 

I'm not too worried about my deadline as of yet. We'll see how things go this week. 

And here's a link to the pattern I'm using. 

Left Behind

So, um, yeah. Summer school... 

I was not expecting to work, but when a gig popped up in the app, I jumped on it. The adult transition center. That's the school I spent pretty much the 2021-22 school year at. So, while I did not recognize the name of the teacher, I still knew the drill. 

(The reason I spent that school year at the adult transition center was due to retirements, so of course they have new teachers now. And I had a whole week off with no work whatsoever when this popped up.)

Right at the start of the day the instructional assistants (IAs) informed me it was CBI day. That is, it was the day the students left campus to shop in the community (read: buy lunch at a restaurant). But, they were supposed to go grocery shopping as well. 

After a bunch of back and forth, they determined that one of the other teachers had the school credit card (they were buying food for the class with the school's money), and she would be around to do that. And, every single class was going out on CBI this day. 

But, a couple of my students couldn't go. Domingo doesn't go out. And June had forgotten her permission slip, so she couldn't attend. That meant that a teacher had to stay behind at the school to supervise. 

Well, it's not like I was really in the mood to go galivanting around town, anyway. 

(I've been on a bunch of CBIs. While I was a little disappointed not to go, I was also a little relieved.)

What does one do with one student left behind? Movie day. (June wasn't talking, so Domingo's one-to-one and I decided on the older Lilo & Stitch.) 

It was a quiet day with all the students gone. And it was a short day, only four hours. But I got a day of subbing this summer, which is more than I did last summer. 

(Will I sub more this summer? We'll see. If something pops up, and I don't have anything else planned, I will take it.)

13 to Follow on Bluesky

Are you on Bluesky? There's something about scrolling short text posts that appeals to me, and so when Twitter went rancid, I needed a replacement. I've been there for about a year and a half now, and many of my favorite accounts have migrated. I've also found some new ones that I enjoy. 

So, for today's Thursday 13 I'm listing a few accounts that I'd recommend if you're looking to follow some new folks. This is by no means the full list, but it's a sampling. If you're on Bluesky, leave your username in the comments so I can follow you (if I'm not already). 

1. Micah (@rincewind.run‬): Once a day he posts a quote from one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. He posts other things, too, but I follow for the Prachett. 

2. maya kern (@mayakern.com): She designs clothing. Lately, she's been marketing her skirts (with pockets!). 

3. Katie Mack (@astrokatie.com): Astronomer. I follow for the cool science stuff. 

4. Michael Whelan (@michaelwhelan.bsky.social‬): He's an artist, and you've probably seen his work. He did a lot of SFF covers. Lately he's been posting his work and talking about what went into creating some of the iconic book covers that you likely remember. 

5. Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan.com‬): Author. She writes historical romance with an interesting twist. (The obvious thing that she hints at about the main character at the beginning of the story? Nope, it's not what you think. I promise.) But mostly it's fun when someone tries to dunk on her when she talks law. Because, she used to be a lawyer, but people see "romance author" and think stupid. She's far, far from stupid. 

6. Randall Munroe (‪@xkcd.com): For the XKCD comic. If you know, you know.

7. Micro SF/F by O. Westin (@microsff.com‬): I originally found them on Twitter. They post micro fiction (SFF, specifically). They haven't posted as frequently since migrating to BlueSky, but those stories still occasionally pop up. 

8. knitty® | editor, Amy Sadler (@knitty.com‬): I may have mentioned that I'm a knitter. Knitty.com is an online knitting magazine. If you're a knitter, you need to be following her. 

9. Jorts (and Jean) (@jortsthecat.bsky.social‬): There was an AITA involving not bright ginger cats and butter. (You probably had to be there.) They parlayed that into a Twitter account that migrated to Bluesky. Jorts is a ginger cat. He relies on Jean (also a cat). And they're all about labor rights. 

10. Bree (‪@mostlybree.kitrocha.com‬): Half of a romance author pair (who write very erotic books--you've been warned). She has some good TV recommendations (and some not-so-good), and currently she acquired a 3D printer, and she's been making some interesting stuff. 

11. Brett "Solidarity 2025" Banditelli (@banditelli.org‬): I initially started following him because he was local to me. Now, I enjoy the bird pictures. 

12. John Bull (@garius.bsky.social‬): Every so often, he posts interesting history lessons. Fascinating stuff. 

13. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (@lastweektonight.com‬): I have posted clips from him before on the blog. Of course I follow the show on Bluesky. 

The Numbers This Year

It's that time again. This is the post that took an entire school year to complete. My subbing stories all led to this: all the classes I covered this past school year. (I do this post for me. I understand if you don't want to wade through all this data.) 

There are 180 days in the school year. I worked 173 of them. This is up from last year's total of 166, but not quite at my all-time high of 177. Having long-term assignments helped there, especially as I started the year in a long-term, so those first couple weeks, usually a slow time, were booked. 

This total does not include the two days of prep time they allowed me before the beginning of the school year. (As I was opening a seventh grade science class, I asked for and was granted prep time to set up. Which was sorely needed and so very much appreciated.) I didn't catch any other summer school classes. 

I worked 100 days in high school classes, 66 days in middle school classes, and 5 days at the continuation high school (3 of those in the last two weeks of school). I only covered one day at the adult transition center and one day at the alternative education center. 

9 of those days I covered an extra class (including the choir class when the school got notified about the death of a student), and 6 of those classes didn't have a prep period. I used to get a whole lot of these extra classes, but since moving to a block schedule (and after the severe sub shortage of Covid), the schools use the full-time teachers for these more. Part of me misses the extra pay, the other part likes not having to cover classes on prep periods all the time. 

I did work the first day of school, but I did not work the last. 

Before I get to the specifics, some definitions. A "full day" means that's a class I covered all that day. A "partial day" means the teacher taught more than one kind of class (like an English teacher having two periods of 11th grade and one period of 10th). An "extra period" is where I left the class I was covering to cover a different teacher. 

Each subject is listed with three numbers, like 3/8/1. The first number is for a "full day", the second for a "partial day", and the third is for an "extra period". 

• My big winner for this year is English, of course. As it is pretty much every year. (Last year's 3rd place finish was an anomaly.) 45/0/2
• Most classes covered: ELD (English language development) with 0/34/0. Not really surprising as the long term English class had two periods of this, plus the other ELD classes I picked up along the way. It seems that no English teacher only teaches ELD.
• For 2nd place, again, no surprise: 11th grade 0/31/0. Because the long term was 11th grade the rest of the time.
• 3rd place is: 8th grade 3/0/0
• The rest in no particular order:
• 7th grade 1/3/0
• 9th grade 1/2/1
• 10th grade 1/2/1
• 12th grade 0/2/0
• Study skills 0/0/1 (taught by an English teacher, so housed under English)
• 2nd place, unsurprisingly, goes to science. I opened the school year with a long-term assignment in science, so I'd've been surprised if it wasn't in the top three this year. 41/4/1
• As the long term was 7th grade science, 7th grade science is the most worked 31/5/1
• The other classes are negligible, so in no special order:
• 8th grade 0/3/0
• Health 1/1/0
• Biology 0/1/0
• Chemistry 0/3/0
• Physics 2/0/0
• Anatomy/Physiology 0/1/0
• Forensics/Criminalistics 0/2/0
• Environmental Science 0/3/0
• Patient Care Technician 0/1/0
• I'm going to list math next, even though math and social studies... Well, you'll see. Math 21/27/0
• IM2 (integrated math 2) is the big winner here, due to two different classes, one vacant, one not 7/31/0
• Then IM1 0/14/0
• 7th grade 0/8/0
• 8th grade 1/4/0
• Math analysis 0/1/0
• Statistics 0/6/0
• I'm listing social studies last, even though it's kind of a tie with math. That special ed long-term I did for the vacant class was both math and social studies. 12/24/1
• 10th grade world history wins here as it was the topic of the classes in the long-term 0/21/0
• 8th grade U.S. history is next 1/13/0
• Geography (one of the classes in the three weeks' assignment in January) 1/9/0
• 7th grade world history 0/5/1
• 11th grade U.S. history 0/1/0
• Psychology (which I list here as it's usually taught by social studies teachers, as it was in this case) 0/6/0
• Special ed is next. Many of these days overlap with the above as I might cover the special ed co-teacher in a math class (where I also count that as a math day). Or, as was the case in February, I might be covering an SDC world history class. 31/3/2
• SDC (special day class) 19/6/0
• Co-teach (where I covered the special ed teacher in a two teacher class) 1/16/2
• Learning center (a one-period assignment where I monitor the room where kiddos can take tests in a separate setting) 0/5/0
• Mod to severe special ed (the really "low" groups) 2/0/0
• The rest are the various elective classes, in no particular order:
• Computer classes 1/2/0, with business (read: typing and such) 1/0/0 and graphic arts (doing art on the computer) 0/2/0
• Art 2/0/0, including photography 1/0/0 (the basic usual drawing class is just plain art). 
• AVID (advancement via individual determination) 0/1/0
• Success 0/1/0
• Credit recovery 0/2/0
• CTE (career and technical education) 3/1/1 (there are a couple classes that were hard to classify, so they ended up here). 
• Woodshop 0/2/0
• Auto shop 1/0/0
• Spanish 1/0/0
• French 6/0/0
• Athletics (any sport) 0/3/0
• Music (only choir this year) 1/0/1 (I'd list band under this umbrella too, but no band classes covered this year).
• TV/Video production 0/2/0
• Leadership 0/5/0, which includes ASB 0/1/0, WEB (middle school "we all belong") 0/1/0, and Link Crew (older students mentor younger students) 0/1/0
• And one roving day 1/0/0

That's another year in the books. Now it's time to enjoy my summer break. 

And here's the stats from previous years:

• 2024
• 2023
  
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010

After the Protests

Saturday was the day of the No Kings protests. And it appears that they were well attended. Good job, all. (I didn't go. Sorry. I hope if you were able you did go and have a good time.) 

Something some people are doing is making noise at hotels where ICE agents are supposedly staying while conducting their kidnapping operations. 

I found another thread with things you can print out and distribute. This time it's zines with info to give to people who might not know. 

Remember the Charlie Chaplin movie, The Great Dictator? It's relevant again. Here's a link to the final speech, that may resonate with us now. 

And finally, from the Onion, but seriously, I detect no lies: Trump Claims He Can Overrule Constitution With Executive Order Because Of Little-Known ‘No One Will Stop Me’ Loophole

Article links: 

• Fear Is the Goal
• ‘I can't fight back; I'm pregnant': U.S. citizen detained by ICE in Hawthorne
• Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump's Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance
• ‘No food, job or phones’: Afrikaner ‘refugee’ family ‘stranded’ in US

Zombie Time

I am going to visit my brother and family in Ohio at the beginning of July. And this week it occurred to me that it might be time to finish the third Minecraft critter. If I can get it finished before I leave, I won't have to mail it later. 

So, last week I managed to get the legs complete: 

Considering that I started this Thursday, I'm quite content with my progress. I'm only worried that the relative sizes are so wildly different. (Each critter was made using a pattern by a different designer.) But this wasn't well planned out anyway. 

For context, the first Minecraft critter, the Creeper, was a joke with regards to a Christmas present from my brother. When asked, the twins said that rather than getting a second Creeper, they would like an Enderman and/or a Zombie. I found the pattern for the Enderman, and I finished that in February. And then I set everything aside. 

Well, it's not like I'm really working on anything at the moment...

So, I found this pattern for the Zombie. And I'm making do with the yarn I have on hand, sort of. (I had to break down and buy some green yarn as I don't have enough green shades.) The blue in the pic? Yeah, the blue was supposed to be navy blue. That is not a navy blue. 

It'll do. It's something to keep my hands busy while I figure out what I'm going to do with my dragons and my tote bag idea.