Ok here’s my story and why I’m walking out. This is my fourth year teaching in Oklahoma and after taxes and insurance I take home $2,311 a month, $27,732 a year. I could make about 20 grand more by moving to Texas or Arkansas, and many teachers are doing just that. Oklahoma is losing qualified teachers every day. These kids deserve the opportunity of a great education but we cannot give them that if all our teachers are emergency certified or completely over worked.
I teach six classes each day. As of today this is how many students I have in art class: 2nd Hour- 30 students 3rd Hour- 27 students 4th Hour- 32 students 5th Hour- 19 students 6th Hour- 23 students 7th Hour- 30 students
This is way too many students for one class. Especially art class. I’ve had to cut back on the fun, ambitious, and exciting projects literally because there isn’t enough room on the table for 32 kids. I literally do not have enough chairs for 32 students. This photo is something every one of my students is familiar with. This chair, or cheek-pincher, is what my students have to sit on. Most of the chairs in my room look like this. Once they get to this point it’s only a matter of time before the bottom goes completely out. Today a student actually carried his chair with him to sharpen his pencil because he got in early enough to get a good chair. I’ve gotten a few new students and had to throw a bottom-less chair away so tomorrow I’m having to bring in a couple of folding chairs I have here at home. That’s why I’m walking out.
These kids deserve so much better than this.
They deserve teachers who are qualified to teach.
They deserve classes that are small enough that the teachers can actually spend some time with each student.
They deserve CHAIRS.
They deserve a quality education just as much as kids in surrounding states.
This is about so much more than a raise. It’s about the future of Oklahoma. That’s why I’m walking out.
And this bill that just passed is no where near enough to make an actual difference. I’m still ready to walk out and stand my ground.
Edit: Wow thank you all for the shares and messages of encouragement! Hundreds of people have asked if they can donate anything so I created an amazon wish list.
Sharing this post which is going around Facebook. Teachers in Oklahoma are striking on Monday to win a payrise for some of the worst paid teachers in the US and better funding for schools in the state. You can also donate to their strike fund here.
SIgnal boosting and adding some details:
In at least some parts of the state, the walkouts have already begun. In my town in OK, they walked out on 4/3 and are still out today (4/5).
And they’re called ‘walkouts’, because – get this – it’s illegal to strike in Oklahoma.
ever notice that the mean voice in ur head that insults u is awful confident for something thats literally never done anything in its life except be mean to you… like… one of us is pathetic and its not me buddy… get a hobby… yikes
self care is roasting the mean voice in your head
Doubt if anyone remembers yesterday about the guy who tried to scam us. Update: security full on caught him and handcuffed him. he came back today and tried to pull it on our coffee shop
I hope he wins the lawsuit, a police officer was finally doing the right thing and they penalize him for not being a racist monster!
his name is stephen mader and not only did he refuse to shoot, he actively wanted to help the man (ronald ‘rj’ williams) because he could tell that he was only acting out because of mental illness. rj williams was suicidal and holding an unloaded gun and, while mader didn’t shoot him, a fellow officer (ryan kuzma) did and murdered him on the spot. here is the source and here’s to hoping rj williams gets justice
“Saying the words ‘Just shoot me’ sent up the red flag that he was just trying to harm himself and no one else … That’s what made me make my decision. He needed help”
I hate this fucking world. The guy was actually trying to do his job by actually desculating the situation the right way (desculating these days apparently just means shoot them) and was fired for “failing to eliminate a threat.”
“Suicide by cop” shouldn’t even be a thing and is evidence that we can all rely on police to kill us no questions asked.
Friend: What would you consider your aesthetic that isn’t commonly brought up?
Me: something between “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” and Goosebumps
Friend: ….yeah I can see that
I looooove when people try to scam me for change. guy asked for two fives to be traded for a 10. I gave him a ten, which is pinkish, and he tries to claim i gave him a one. After counting my till twice it was clear that I had indeed gave him the right change. Plus, sir, I saw you slip that ten up your sleeve and my manager was right behind me.
If you’re going to try to scam a person for ‘wrong change’ try to do it sneakily. And not with security cameras right up on the wall, because guess what pal, you’re now on our security’s wall of ‘do not let in’.
Apparently bergamot is getting popular. I figure now’s a good time to address the issue.
Bergamot is a citrus fruit that smells amazing, so a lot of people like to make essential oils out of it and put it in candles and stuff.
However, this should NEVER go on your skin. It has the same effects as Giant Hogweed (& some other wild carrots like Queen Anne’s Lace) and will give you nasty rashes and chemically hyper-boosted sunburns by making skin highly reactive to sunlight.
Remember this?
I personally have had friends who were seriously hurt by putting bergamot essential oils on their skin. It sucks.
In case you don’t want to look it up yourself:
Don’t use or make bergamot soap. Don’t use or make bergamot lotion. Don’t use or make bergamot anything that goes on your skin.
Just don’t put bergamot on your skin.
Stay safe beautiful! ❤ And please signal boost this!
THANK YOU! This is exactly what Black Women mean when we discuss intersectional civil rights and the fact that a lot of people don’t actually want equality. They just want the same privileges as White Men and everyone knows in order for White People as a whole to have those privileges someone has to suffer.
Tweet By @ arianathepoet Reads: if u upset cuz black men are being punished for being predators at a higher rate than white men, the correct response is “punish all predators” not “let black men get away with violence”
and are they really getting punished at higher rates? when it took 40+ years?
pokemon spells are on their way, it has been delayed because I’ve simply been pulling doubles the past few days and I am absolutely fucking exhausted! 🙂
NEW MOON Sometimes referred to as the Crescent Moon — when you can see the very first sliver of light in the sky. This phase promotes new beginnings, new endeavors and new relationships. It’s a time for making positive changes, looking for fresh career opportunities and planting seeds of ideas that will be harvested later.
WAXING MOON In this phase, the Moon appears to be growing in size, shifting from New to Full as though it’s gaining strength. This is a good time to focus on increasing things of your own — knowledge, bank accounts and relationships. It’s a time to think about pregnancy, to increase communications of all types — business or pleasure. Deal with legal matters if you want financial gain. This phase promotes healing as well. This is also a good time to cast spells for improving situations or for getting things going if you’ve been stagnant. When life is unchanging, it takes a little boost to amp things up a little and this phase is definitely the best time to kickstart your life. Spells that act faster during a Waxing phase of the Moon are: moving forward from depression, getting out of a rut, passing examinations and tests, finding lost objects, healing a sick animal or finding a lost pet, nurturing abundant, healthy gardens and the well-being of nature, losing weight or trying to quit smoking.
FULL MOON The Moon’s most powerful phase, when we see her entire illuminated face. This is a time of fulfillment, activity, increased psychic ability, for perfecting ideas, getting your act together, celebrations, or renewing commitments to people or projects. For some reason when a Full Moon falls on a Friday, these are the best days for casting love spells. If you try casting love spells during any other day, it doesn’t mean that the spell won’t work, but the results could take much longer. There’s a lot of otherspells that benefit from being cast on a Full Moon too, for instance, protecting property or your home, adding vigor to your life, increasing self-confidence, advancing in career at work, enhancing psychic ability or clairvoyance, strengthening friendships and family bonds, performing general good luck spells.
WANING MOON During this phase, the Moon is decreasing in size as it journeys from Full to Dark. The Waning Moon is a time of decrease, release, letting go and completion. This is an excellent time to begin a new diet or lifestyle, breaking bad habits, breaking off relationships or dealing with legal matters. We all face some type of trouble in our lives that is not in our control. The Waning Moon is a great time to cast spells for getting rid of the black clouds and negative energies that sometimes hang over us. It’s a time when you can draw down the strength from the Universe. If you’re surrounded by difficult people and you can’t cope or if you have to tackle difficult situations head on, you can use the Moon’s power to assist you. By casting spells during this phase, you will gain the power to take control again, strengthen your weak areas, and become more assertive in your actions. This is a good time to catch spells that deal with developing inner strength and assertiveness, banishing enemies, stopping arguments, soothing unruly children, calming anxiety, getting out of tricky situations.
DARK MOON The two or three days when the Moon is not visible in the sky at all. The Dark Moon and the New Moon are often considered the same phase, but for the purpose of this post, I’ve separated the two. On an average calendar, the Dark Moon is usually indicated by a black circle because it actually occurs on the day it is marked as well as one day before and one day after. This is a good time for discarding things in your life that you do not want, contemplating what you have already accomplished and what you want to accomplish in the future. This is an excellent cycle to find time for yourself and an ideal time for seclusion. This moon phase surrounds us with a lot of positive energy and can act as a catalyst for immediate change. Many transitions naturally happen around the New Moon like new jobs, births, moves, but if you need to change your life, casting spells at this time that deal with career changes, moving, traveling, increasing your cash flow, better health – would be beneficial.
DEAD MOON Three days before the New Moon is what is known as the Dead Moon. It’s considered to be the most magical and potent of all the phases. I have read that some witches will not cast spells during this phase because some believe that people who practice “black magic” do so at this time which in turn could influence any spells or rituals that they might be performing resulting in confusion or a spell not working at all. (Sorry horrible sentence, I’ll try to fix that later)
If you ever find yourself interested in studying the moons patterns, you will probably find that your demeanor will change depending on what the Moon is doing. I experimented with this once for a few months, by keeping a diary about how I felt or what I noticed in the people around me. It was really fascinating to find that during the Dark Moon I was very irritable and absent-minded but once that phase passed, I cheered up and begin to feel a lot more grounded. Certain situations naturally occur during certain phases too. For example, the cable guy came to repair my cable on the first day of a New Moon, which has happened before and ended up being really frustrating. Since it was happening on that day, I instinctively knew that he would do a good job and he did! NO DRAMA!
Try to find out during which phase you were born on because this will also give you insight as to why you are the way you are. Animals are also affected by the Moon, especially during the Full Moon and can become a bit more rambunctious.
RANDOM FACT: The moon used to be worshiped in many early religions as a goddess and it is always been seen as a feminine symbol. On average, are big, beautiful moon orbits at a distance of approximately 230,855 miles from earth and takes about 28 days to complete its orbit interestingly, the same as the average amount of time between female menstrual cycles.
When burning anything always keep a glass of water near you, unless you are working with burning oils, then keep a fire extinguisher or baking soda on hand.
When working with essential oils(EO), do not burn them they are highly flammable
Never leave anything burning unattended, be it a burn bowl, candle, incense. DON’T LEAVE IT!
Please remove anything flammable such as paper or string from the candle, it will ignite and you will be alarmed.
Make sure that what you’re burning your candle in is fire safe, metal and cast iron are good bets. Do NOT burn in a glass, if you have to put it out and dump water on it, it will explode.
Make sure you tie back loose hair and don’t have any floppy sleeves or necklaces to get in the way.
When putting out a candle it is best to use a candle snuffer and do not use water.
Don’t burn kitchen sage, it gives off a toxic smoke. Not something you wanna inhale.
Essential Oil Safety
Please, please dilute them properly. I have a chemical burn scar I can never get rid of due to undiluted cinnamon bark oil. The proper dilution is one drop per teaspoon.
Never ingest EO, there are some that are now generally recognized as safe by the FDA, but the quality of EO are not regulated. Who knows what a bad quality EO could do to your internal organs, not something I wanna test.
Essential Oils are photosensitive, meaning they deteriorate in light store them in a dark area to prevent them from spoiling.
DO NOT put them near on your skin and get in the sun or a tanning bed, especially citrus oils, they will blister.
Water will not dilute essential oils, only other oils(canola, olive, sweet almond, olive will all dilute). If you want to use them in a bath it is one drop per a teaspoon of oil.
Please seek medical attention if anything seems off after using EO, they seem harmless but can be very dangerous
Pets can be very sensitive to essential oils(particularly cats) and it is almost impossible to cover all my bases here. The sources provided below have some great resources.
Always go by the scientific name, German and Roman chamomile are very different products.
Kitchen Magic Safety
Wear shoes if you’re doing anything, I nearly lost a toe the other day cause I dropped a knife. I got lucky I was wearing boots.
Wear correct clothing, and tie back hair. No matter if you have a gas, electric or induction stove, I’ve caught a lab coat sleeve on fire thanks to a torch while making a creme brulee.
Use your knives correctly, learn about the pinch grip and use the correct knife for the job. Using a paring knife for chopping potatoes is asking for trouble. There are tons of videos online, I like the ones from Alton Brown and Jamie Oliver.
As a side note use sharp knives, a blunt knife will do more damage than a sharp one.
Don’t leave knives in the sink, someone could begin to wash dishes and cut themselves.
Watch the steam. Steam can give a worse burn than dry heat, open pot lids away from you and don’t stick your face and phalanges in steam.
Don’t leave food products unattended.
Use your damn pot holders, they protect you and your counters.
Store raw meat on the lowest shelves, and never store cooked meat on the same shelf
Wash your hands before, wash your hands after handling raw meats, wash your hands after.
Don’t leave food that is meant to be cold or hot out for more than 2 hours, this is to decrease foodborne illness.
When using the store turn handles in, to keep yourself from bumping them off the stove.
Cook meats to proper temps(there is a chart in the sources)
If you are using herbs be sure to use kitchen grade herbs, those that are not kitchen grade are not held up to the same purity standards and could have more pesticide residue.
Herbal Safety
Please be aware a lot of herbs can work against prescription medications, or should only be taken in very specific doses( St. John’s Wort I’m looking at you.) Check in with your doctor or a licensed herbalist or naturopath before ingesting herbs.
Crystal Safety
Identify your crystals, some are water solvent some are not and it matters
Some that aren’t safe in water include malachite and selenite. They have copper and if aren’t sealed they can become toxic. There is no way to know for sure if it was sealed or not keep -ite crystals dry as a good rule of thumb.
Some crystals fade in sunlight like rose quartz, amethyst and citrine, in order to prevent fading try cleansing them with sound, flower petals, moonlight and energy.
After pulling a double for a department you dont work in and getting called two hours later asking if you can come in because the agent of the day called in sick:
this is the funniest gif i’ve seen all week what the fuck is going on
the best part is this isn’t even HALF the relentless bullshit insanity that goes on in robot sumo wrestling, a sport where the contestants are all hyperfast robots with scoop attachments and preprogrammed moves.
(this one wants to be a beyblade when it grows up)
the idea is to include as many unique moves as you can, to make your shrieking deathbot difficult to counter
or dodging. that works too.
also, some of the speed demons have… unorthodox attachments to fool other bot’s sensors
WIIINGS MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRR
robot sumo is also a sport where spectators may end up taking a small robot to the shins if they aren’t careful.
FLYYYYYYY
I hope you enjoyed our foray into madness!
IT GOT BETTER!!!
Y’all. Looking at professionally made sumo robots is great. You know what’s better though? Looking at extremely UNprofessionally made sumo robots.
Here enjoy.
oh my god please watch this video
“she gave up looking for the robot and sent us a photo of her having a beer. the crowd applauded this act of supreme crappiness.”
one robot is just a kleenex box with a bunch of dildos on it, one does nothing but shake a packet of instant soup, i love humanity so much right now
This is the kind of thing I tell people when they go off on me being anti-captivity towards marine amusement parks. Zoos and “amusement” parks are totally different things.
Zoos help animals by having breeding programs like those mentioned above, marine parks harm animals by treating them like circus animals and forcing them to do tricks under incredibly stressful conditions and breeding for profit not for saving the species.
men that annoy women to the point of anger and screaming and then laugh because they think its funny are uh fucking demons
do you know how many stupid fucking responses ive had to see on this post? do you know how many? just be quiet
I especially hate it when fathers do that to their daughters and then wonder why their daughters seem to hate them.
Anyone know why a bank in a state youve never lived in would call you?
I got a call from a branch of my bank in Montana? I called the main customer service and fraud line. Both said my account is fine and the number was a valid one. Im just really unnecessarily anxious. The voicemail just said to call back. I feel dumb but any ideas why?
Baby bird season is incoming and I’d like to remind everyone that birds do not have a significant sense of smell. Bird parents will not reject birdlets because you have handled them.
If you see smol birbs with few or no feathers on the ground, you can safely put them back into their nest, bird parents will still care for them.
If you see smol birbs with some or most feathers on the ground, please leave them there, as bird parents are probably nearby watching and feeding.
nakey bird = accidentally fell out, is cold and scared, put back in nest! if you can’t reach the nest, try to put it on a wide branch or fork so predators can’t get at it as easily.
scruffy feather bird = starting to try the fly thing, not very good at it. only put in nest/branch if predators abound, i.e. you have four outdoor cats and they’re licking their chops.
fluffy feather bird = smol fly guy! do nothing. can probably get away from predators and will flip its shit if you pick it up.
I have not watched all of the videos listed below. If there are any videos that are problematic for any reason (offensive, false information) please let me know. I will note whether the resource is a channel, video or playlist.
Willow Wisp's Witching Corner 