Kidical Mass in Richmond! (Virginia)

1/ Thinking about how the house across the street is for sale for 419k when we bought our house a few years ago for 165k…and how it’s like that everywhere in our once affordable blue collar neighborhood AND

It’s a bad idea to drink and browse ThriftBooks. 💸

Adopted this guy in 2017. He was super skinny, covered in dozens of ticks, and a little annoying. One of the best decisions I made over the years. Thanks, Prince George County VA Animal Shelter!

Snow day for this science teacher. Taking bets on how many of my 75 students today actually join the Google Classroom video meeting. Spoiler: my school chose to not give Chromebooks to a student population that is majority economically challenged.

I feel for folks that rake up and bag their leaves. Not only are they wasting their energy and destroying vital habitat, but they’ll never see the extreme adorableness of a brown thrasher tossing leaves like a newsie or white throated sparrows kicking up swirls of leaves like little dust devils. 😍

I started teaching science at a Title 1 RVA public school in August. I thought I was prepared for the worst (behavior), but I was naive. I was shocked and shook. I thought I’d quit at the end of each day. Though I’m 6 months in and I’ve adapted. It’s amazing what is not shocking to me anymore.

Also:
“A stupid person should keep silent. But if he knew this, he would not be a stupid person.”
-Saadi Shirazi

How apropos.

“Many stupid things are uttered by people whose only motivation is to say something original.”
-Voltaire

Have to balance the troubling posts with some spirit-lifting posts. It snowed here today. Not too much. My kids happily made a snowman by themselves. I’m glad that kids still love to do this. May our winters always have a few good snows!

I'm sad to share that the trans vet that took her life outside the VA last week was apparently Elisa Rae Shupe.

She's someone many of us know - she was responsible for the mass email leak that let us know how the ADF, Heritage, etc planned to enact trans eradication we see today.

RIP Elisa.

#3E #Protest #StandUp #Activism
🧠I want to share some knowledge we've collectively gathered on what's happening, why our actions are so important, as well as why we need to do it en masse.

This will be a thread.
Feel free to share this if you see value in the advice, or add your own to it.

🧵[1/8]

Vernal pool season begins!

Kicking myself to do the simple things that fill my cup but that I just stopped doing over the past few years: gardening, biking, reading, simple activities with my kids.

I have decided to abolish the Department of Human Beings.

Thinking again about what I have to give now and as things become increasingly more difficult w/climate change and American collapse. What do I focus on? My work w/children & in education? My knowledge of the land & sustainable practices? What skills do you have that might benefit your community?

In my self-defense classes I focus on how most people are socially conditioned to follow the norms of a civilized, polite society — and there is a MENTAL SHIFT required to use violence to defend from violence.

I'm reminded of this while watching our elected officials dithering and delaying. 1/

I never did Twitter, because who would want to read my ramblings and why would I want a public record of them. But here I am.