Right to Soccer

"That's censorship. Don't we have freedom of speech?"

Um, sure. You can discuss what you want. Outside of class. When you don't have an individual assignment to work on.

Today's post goes along with the annual Blog Action Day. This year's theme is "Raise Your Voice". That's an important topic. Many places it's hard to speak out about what matters. We should support those who do speak out in the hopes of improving the world.

Some of the kiddos I see in various classes discuss important topics. They question. School newspapers publish things that get them into trouble. And I support their right to say what they think and to protest appropriately when they see something they feel needs changing. (Sometimes it even helps.)

But these kiddos had an assignment. On the French Revolution, interestingly enough. And I insisted they get back to it.

I suppose I was suppressing their freedom of expression. I wasn't allowing them to discuss what they wanted. So, apparently I fall on the wrong side of this year's Blog Action Day topic. But I'm okay with that.

What were they discussing? Something soccer related.

Those we should support are people like Lauren Batchelder. What she did took real courage. Piling on to people who speak their minds (about things that matter) shouldn't be vilified by the online trolls.  

Different Phone Systems

It's that time of year again. Blog Action Day...

And I've been scrambling about what to write. Some years the topic is easier than others. This year is not an easy year for me. So, apologies in advance...

There are a couple different high schools I sub at. One is in a slightly better part of town than the other. Neither are in "dangerous" neighborhoods, but one has a slightly more "ethnic" population. When the students at either school ask where I prefer to go, I answer that it doesn't matter. What matters is the teacher I'm covering.

(Or, I'll say I prefer the continuation high school. To mess with their minds. And because it's true. If I have to choose solely on school. Because the teacher I cover makes all the difference, really.)

A couple years ago, school A got a new phone system. And these phones are cool. They have caller ID, so I can tell if it's the attendance office calling (because they need a student) or the secretary (because she wants me to cover an extra period). There's even a nice button where I can send the call directly to voicemail (which I'd only do if the call is from the outside, like from a parent. Parents don't want to talk to the sub).

School B--still on the old system.

Just this year, school B got new phones. Which means that they're now on the same system. So, if I want to call the district office from either school, I can dial directly. (I wasn't able to do that from school B until they got the new phones.)

But there's a difference. School B's phones don't have the caller ID. And the teachers have told me that they're not sure how the things work. (I clued them in to some features that teachers at school A told me about.)

Teachers at school B said they're treated differently than school A. So, how they finally got the new phones wasn't a surprise. Or that they got them so much later than school A.

Why would the district treat the schools so differently? 

Remember how I said one school was in a slightly better part of town. Yeah, that's school B.

Parental Diploma Obstacle

It's again Blog Action Day, and this year's theme is human rights. And again this year, I've got nothing. It's kind of sad, really.

I spend a lot of time interacting with kids who don't want to be in school. At least, they act like they don't want to be in school when I'm there, prodding them to get their work done. I wonder how many kids around the world would be more appreciative of such an education.

The story that keeps coming to mind every time I think about today's Blog Action Day post is this one girl I met while covering the reentry class. She was in the morning class, but she had finished up all the credits she needed to advance to the afternoon class, meaning she was very nearly ready to graduate. Just a few more credits would do it. But she couldn't attend the afternoon class.

She explained the situation. She had to be home to take care of her younger siblings. Her father wouldn't allow her to go to school in the afternoon even though that would mean that she would have to drop out of school without obtaining her high school diploma.

Well, the teachers in the reentry program do try to work with the students. They found a way to keep her in the morning class so that she could finish her diploma. And last I heard, the girl had graduated.

Why do some people make it so hard for students to get that high school diploma? Don't they understand how important an education is?

The Power of We: A Special What If

It's Blog Action Day again. This year's topic is The Power of We.

I've been having the hardest time coming up with a post. It's not that I don't believe in the power of people coming together to make change. I do. But my blog is generally more mundane than that, and I couldn't find a way in to the topic.

The last time I had this issue, I posted a bunch of links. But I wasn't willing to do that this year. So, I sat and thought (and watched 8th graders kind of do their assignments), and then it hit me.

This is the perfect topic for a "what if?" So what if it isn't Thursday. It's a special occasion. I can switch up the schedule (my schedule) for a week.

Why did the organizers think that The Power of We was a necessary topic? Because we don't realize our power.

What if we knew how powerful we really were? What if we found a way to band together to make a positive change in the world? Would we be able to do it, or would we sabotage ourselves along the way?  

A Very Picky Eater

I've always been a picky eater. Pickier than normal for a kid. And I never grew out of it. In the last few years, I've gotten even pickier still.

It's that time of year again--Blog Action Day. This year's topic is food.

It was in the late '90s when I was first introduced to the book Eat Right 4 Your Type. The book posits that blood types affect the digestive system and that some foods good for one type are "dangerous" for another. I took note of which foods were "highly beneficial" to me and which foods I was supposed to "avoid", but I didn't go much further than that...for a while.

I had a problem with the book. My "avoid" list includes beef and chicken. And corn (including popcorn). There were other things on my "avoid" list that I didn't have a problem with such as coffee, lima beans, and ham, but getting rid of beef and chicken (foods I ate all the time) was too much for me at first.

I had to start it gradually. First I switched from orange juice to pineapple juice (oranges are a no-no for me). That was about as far as I got until a couple years ago when I was reminded of the book. I decided to take another stab at it.

I can have turkey. And many types of fish. Slowly, I started to eliminate the stuff on my "avoid" list. I'm still working at it.

I don't know why I bother. It's not like it's doing anything for me.

Although, I have noticed that it's gotten easier for me to get up in the morning. I'm less tired all the time. And my headaches, while still appearing from time to time, aren't nearly as painful as they used to be. Of course, that could be due to other things I've been doing as well...

Or it could all be working in tandem.

I can do better. There are still foods I should eliminate (getting rid of ketchup is hard). And there are foods (ahem, vegetables, ahem) that I should eat more of.

(If anyone knows a good way to prepare broccoli, I would appreciate hearing about it. Besides slathering it in cheese. I've never been too fond of cheese.)

The book has its detractors and critics. It's an interesting idea, and so far it's worked for me. Anything that helps to improve diet (which is a major factor in maintaining good health) is a good thing. Even if it means I can't eat corn anymore.

In the Shower

It's that time of year again: Blog Action Day.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I'd approach this year's topic: water.  I'm not sure what I have to say.  Then, while in the shower, it hit me.  (I do a lot of my best thinking in the shower.)  My shower has a "pause" feature.

I bought this shower head on purpose, because of the pause.

I live in Southern California.  We're in a perpetual state of water shortage.  (That's what we get for claiming so much desert.)  We're always hearing about various ways to conserve water.

One way is to take a navy shower.

Showers are my worst water wasting offenses.  I saw (on a show called I Want That!) a shower head with a pause feature.  I thought it brilliant.  Get wet, hit pause, soap up, turn water back on, rinse off, and repeat.  I had been on the lookout for one ever since.

Fairly recently (this year), I figured out that I had sort of a pause feature on the shower head I already had.  One of the spray settings was "off".  I did this for a while, but slowly it got harder and harder to switch the spray setting during the shower.  Then it broke entirely.  It wasn't made to do that, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

That's when I went out looking for a new shower head (it was a bit of an emergency then), and I chose the one with the pause feature on the packaging.

I'm not terribly impressed with it.  It's not so much a pause as a 50% reduction.  But at least it is some reduction, and every little bit helps.

Climate Change Questions

Yes, it's that time of year again. Today is Blog Action Day. This year's topic is climate change.

About the time they announced this year's topic, I was subbing in an environmental science class at the continuation high school. Coincidentally, the chapter they were studying was about climate change. (I already mentioned this day here.)

One girl raised her hand. The question had to do with the effects of climate change on the planet. She asked me if polar bears not finding ice was an effect of climate change. I said that it was, and I moved on, surprised that she knew of this.

Then later in the day, a boy was answering a question about what individuals can do to stop climate change. It really didn't take a lot of prompting from me for him to come up with three. Recycling was the first thing he thought of. He also came up with conserving water (especially since we're in a drought here). I had to prompt him to have him come up with driving less.

Sometimes what they know surprises me. Teens do pay attention. It may not seem like it sometimes, but they do actually care.

Blog Action Day Links

It is once again Blog Action Day. This year's topic is poverty.

This year's topic was announced in August, and since then I've been trying to come up with my contribution. Unfortunately, I can't think of a nice, pithy story that'll go along with this topic (last year it was easy).

So, all I can do is call attention to Blog Action Day, and post a couple links:

Stand Against Poverty
Our Day to End Poverty
Make Poverty History
...and other resources here

Shopping and Bags

It's Blogger's Blog Action Day. This year's topic is the environment.

Isn't it interesting how concern for the environment has become so mainstream these days? It wasn't too long ago when concerns about such topics as global warming were relegated to the "left-wing fringe". It seems to me like things reached critical mass around last Earth Day. That must have been when we got our hundredth monkey.

So, it was about April, and I was grocery shopping. I frequent my local Trader Joe's, but they don't have everything, so I must also venture out to the grocery store. Anyway, I was thinking about reusable bags.

Bags that are used once and thrown out are so wasteful, so to stop that waste, I started using bags that I can use over and over (Trader Joe's has several options). But that was only at Trader Joe's. I was still wasteful at the grocery store.

Anyway, this April day I was thinking about this waste. Being the kind of person I am, I wasn't about to use one retailer's bags at a different establishment. So, I made a "promise"--as soon as this store offered bags, I'd use them.

Same shopping trip, ten minutes later. It was time to check out. What did I find at the checkstand? A large display of reusable bags.

Well, I had made a promise, hadn't I?