The Spam Folder

In December a fellow blogger asked how to find their spam comments folder. And as it is rather hidden, I thought it would make a very good blogging post. 

(You should be checking the folder regularly. There was a point when Blogger marked at least 500 of my comments spam, going back several years. While it took a while to get through that backlog, it was better than letting them languish in spam prison. And since I check the folder daily, I can keep up with rescuing many comments that don't belong there but get sent there for vague reasons.) 

You'll click on your "Comments" in your sidebar. Sometimes Blogger hides the sidebar, so if yours is hidden, first you'll need to open it: 

Click on the "hamburger" in the top left hand corner. That'll open up the sidebar: 

Comments is the third thing in the list. Click on it, and you have a list of all the comments to your blog, in order of posting. Next, you'll go to the arrow next to "All":

Click on that:

And on that pop up menu, you'll click on "Spam". As you can see, at this moment I have zero spam comments: 

Yay!

But not every day is like that. Sometimes I open up that pop up menu to find: 

I click on "Spam":

And there's two comments that are not spam. (I redacted them so as to not call out the commenters.) See how one says "4 hours ago" and one is from December? I've had times when the comments that were in the spam folder were from 2014. And I'm not even exaggerating a little bit. 

Move your cursor over the day or date of the comment to get:

The trash can is to trash the comment if it's actually spam. (Sometimes it's spam.) But mostly things get caught in the folder on accident, so click on the check mark to publish the comment to your blog:

Verify that you want to publish, and it's done. The comment will now appear on your blog. 

If you don't already, get in the habit of checking your spam folder. I don't know why it happens, but with some regularity Blogger sweeps comments into the spam folder that do not belong there. 

How often do you check your spam folder? Is there another blogging topic you'd like me to tackle?

On Ice

How goes the invasion?

🚨 SOS FROM MINNESOTA: "WE'RE BEING INVADED... NOBODY SEEMS TO BE SAFE" "Everyone's scared to go to work," Todd Dahlstrom of Minnesota AFL-CIO tells @therealnews.com. "They're scared to send their kids to school. They're afraid to go to lunch..." Please watch & help amplify!

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— Maximillian Alvarez (@maximillianalvarez.bsky.social) January 19, 2026 at 1:01 PM

And they'll come for your area, too (if they haven't already). So, watch and learn. You'll need to know how to resist when it's your turn. 

Some news from the state: 

• MN ICE Watch
• Queer trans ICE protester in small Minn. city recounts agents' violence and humiliation
• DOJ investigating Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents
• ICE’s Tear Gas Sent a 6-Month-Old to the Hospital, the Latest in an Alarming Pattern

It's so bad that Minneapolis issued this statement:

Vehicles that are abandoned due to an ICE detention and towed to the City's impound lot will be released to their owners or a representative at no cost. Learn more: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/getting-around/parking-driving/impound-lot/#d.en.200746

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— City of Minneapolis (@minneapolismn.gov) January 16, 2026 at 12:11 PM

But while it's Minnesota's turn, there are some things we can do to help them. There's a phone bank event on Wednesday to call voters in key states to ask them to call their senators. (And you can keep calling your electeds, too.) You can donate to CANMN for mutual aid, especially for those who have to remain indoors due to the threats of being kidnapped off the street. (Like there's a group that's doing laundry for those who it isn't safe to go to laundromats for.) 

And here again is a link for finding groups to help in your immediate area. 

After getting through all that, how about a giggle. ICE thugs slipping on the ice in Minnesota. It's a thing people are now filming and uploading for our entertainment: 

Sleeve Two!

Sleeve one (complete):

Sleeve two (started):

Sleeves together:

So, progress. Once I complete sleeve two, I then add the ribbing onto the bottoms of both (without the detour into Kitchener stitch). And then I put them all together. To finish, I knit the collar. 

In other words, it's getting there. Will I finish before the weather warms up? Well, before the weather warms up in Ohio, as that ship has already sailed for SoCal. (It's January, and yet as I write this at 4 PM on Sunday, I'm sitting in shorts and a short sleeved shirt with my window wide open.) 

I'll keep plugging away on it. 

(It's been a few weeks since I linked to the pattern, so here it is in case you want to knit yourself one: When Harry Met Lucy.) 

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One

Easy Tipping

After winter break, I covered three days in a mod to severe special ed class. (Read: high school aged kiddos who read at an elementary school level.) For the last period of the day, they worked on "life skills". 

The students all had workbooks. Some were working on things like street signs and writing out their home address. I ended up sitting between two girls who were working on activities related to dining out. 

I was later told that Audrey was very anxious and needed lots of assurances. She started with a page that showed various steps in ordering food via phone app, and she had to put the steps in order. Which she did, fairly easily (once I confirmed that she was, in fact, doing it correctly). 

Then we moved on to tipping. 

Explaining how to figure out the tip on a restaurant bill is a challenge even with general ed students. (Everyone hates percentages.) With these special ed students? But I dug in and was ready to work it step-by-step with her.

(And yes, there are shortcuts that are easier in the actual restaurant. And yes, most places now print how much a tip could be on the receipt. Or, it'll automatically add it if you're paying via kiosk. But when it's an actual lesson in an actual workbook, working the actual steps is expected.) 

But then Ms. S, one of the instructional assistants, pulled out her phone. There was an app for that. 

(If you click on the link, the screenshots show just how easy the thing is.)

Oh my. So, so, so much easier. 

Audrey understood what we were doing. Fiddling with the math was the challenge. But the app? She easily could input the total of the bill, slide the percentage to what it needed to be, and have the tip right there. 

This is what we talk about when we talk about accommodations. The student can understand what needs to be done. They just have issues working through the steps to get it done. Take away the fiddly bits, and they can exist in general spaces just fine. 

Audrey needed just a little guidance, and then she was calculating the tips all on her own. 

Phew. That could have been a way harder activity. 

(And if you need such an app, now you know it exists.) 

Working Hard (or Not)

"Could you cover a sixth period..."

Wednesday. Sixth period. Eighth grade English, co-taught. Which meant that the general ed teacher was there. All I had to do was follow her lead. (I've covered Ms. C and I've worked with Ms. C many, many times.) 

Ms. C started with an apology to me and a warning. The room was infested with fruit flies. Someone had left bananas under all the desks before they left for winter break...

Eighth graders... 

They were taking a standardized test (one I've given many, many times), and one of their teachers was there, so I just sat back. The room was filled with familiar faces. Several of them had been in that seventh grade science class I started the year in last school year. (Like Simon.)

At one point Orson called me over. As I search through my previous posts, I see I did not mention Orson before, so let me explain. 

Orson is weird. Probably autistic. I recognize his concerns. Anyway, he speaks very deliberately, and he likes to make sure things are situated as they "should be". He's not a bad kid, but he doesn't fit in well with his classmates. Which sucks, really. 

We're about a half hour or so into the test. The two other boys at Orson's table are clearly not applying themselves. But they weren't talking, so I leaned in to Orson so he could ask his question. 

"Some students are only on question number four," Orson told me. 

I looked down at Orson's test. He was on question 37. The boy next to him was on question four. 

At that point, they totally should have been on at least question twenty. Orson was making decent progress. 

Me: "That's not anything you need to worry about." (I said it kindly. It wasn't his problem and it wasn't anything he needed to do anything about. I was aware the kiddos weren't applying themselves, and when they're still working while everyone else is finished, they'll realize how they wasted their own time.) 

Shortly thereafter Orson informed me he had finished. I told him congratulations. He moved to a different seat and started playing a video game. (There wasn't another assignment after they finished, and the computerized test just closed when he finished, so there was nothing I needed to do.) 

Orson's neighbor? Still working on the test. 

Orson had quite a bit of time to play his game before Ms. C called time. Several students had not finished, so they would be testing the next class period. Including Orson's neighbor. 

And I am not at all concerned. The ones that weren't applying themselves have to keep working until they finish. Those that were got free time. The punishment fits the crime.

Describing the Gifts

Winter break vacation over, and I caught a special ed job. You know, in one of those classes. For three days. 

Actually, things went pretty smoothly. Most of the class had one-to-one aides, and the teacher had clear routines in place. 

Third period, Tuesday. The class had a standing lesson with the speech therapist. As it was the first day back after the break (they had a professional development day on Monday, so no students), the speech therapist did an activity about the break. 

She asked them what they got for Christmas, but they couldn't just tell her. They had to give two hints, and the others were to guess what it was. As an example, the speech therapist said, "I got something that I wear on my feet and it has three white lines on it." 

They easily identified the gift as Adidas sneakers. 

She demonstrated with a couple other of her gifts. Then she left them to figure out how to hint about what they got for Christmas. 

The activity went fairly well. Most of the students got right to work and were able to hint about their gifts. Mostly, I was asked how to spell things. 

Calvin, who likes to smudge his work after he completes it, was having a time writing anything down. His one-to-one aide was trying to assist. He asked Calvin what he got for Christmas. Calvin said he got a violin. 

A violin???

That seemed odd. But then the next day I learned he was in a strings music class, and suddenly a violin made more sense. 

They finished up the lesson with the speech therapist having them read out what they wrote and having the class guess what they got. 

You'd think a speech therapy class would be more about having them work on how they talk. At least, that's what I assumed when I first heard of it. But no. It's more of them discussing things. Whatever works, right? 

And now I have an interesting activity I can apply if I ever have need of it. (I love watching others work. I steal liberally from them.) 

Think Local

How many major news events have happened since my last Tuesday post? Too many. 

How many major news events happened between when I wrote my last Tuesday post and when that post went live? There was a whole Venezuela thing that happened. 

So, between now (Sunday evening) and when this post goes live, what are the chances something else awful has happened? Pretty high, I would say. 

But as of this writing, it's all #ICEoutforGOOD happening. Because ICE murdered a woman for the whole world to see. And people are defending them! 

Of course, they've been murdering people all along. It's just not getting out into the wider news apparatus. And they're hiding it better in those concentration camps. If you don't realize that atrocities are happening there, you're not paying attention. 

Where to begin? What to write about? I've been bookmarking things on Bluesky. Let's see what I collected:

• The Psychiatrist Who Warned Us That Donald Trump Would Unleash Violence Was Absolutely Right
• Experts Warn U.S. in Early Stages of Genocide Against Trans Americans: Genocide scholars say policies targeting transgender Americans match early warning signs of mass atrocity.
• ICE custody deaths
• A great place to find your organizing home
• Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators
• At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday. DHS has established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.
• You Have What Trump and Musk Want: And you have the power not to give it to them.

But the main thing I was noticing this past week was how to help. And there was a whole thread of where to help locally. The national apparatus isn't doing anything. They've all surrendered in advance. It's the local level that's putting up the fight. 

They don't have capacity to terrorize more than 2-3 cities at a time. Which means they rotate teams to new cities without relief. Which means consistent resistance by fresh activists in each new city will break them over time. Which means if you're city's not occupied, rest up and get ready.

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— borderless (@borderless.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 2:17 PM

(Link to the NY Times article, but it's behind a paywall, so unless you subscribe, you won't be able to access it.) 

And finally, some videos: