2016 is my year of working more than hoping. I'll drink to that.
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My latest excuses for not blogging
In yet another attempt to make blogging a more regular habit, I will outline the regular habits that have all come before blogging for the last month. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right? So here are the top five activities and habits that most frequently come before blogging in order of how hard …
The question I didn’t know pool toys were the answer to
"Even when everything's going your way, you can still be sad. Or Anxious. Or uncomfortably numb. Because you can't always control your brain or your emotions even when things are perfect." Jenny Lawson in her new book, Furiously Happy My brain decided it was about time to remind me of this truth last week, even though I had …
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There’s more to “The Environment” than climate change
The overarching narrative of climate change cannot replace the localized stories of environmental degradation being written all over our Earth. Climate change is such an extensive problem that even many who acknowledge its causes are too frozen to act on it. All of us are responsible to varying degrees, and there is currently no one capable of forcing the …
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So I’m back, and here’s why
I started Wandering Aloud almost two years ago for many of the same reasons I have returned now. Put simply, learning, reading, and writing are what fulfill me. Especially now that I've caught up on all the episodes of Bob's Burgers. When I first started blogging, I found none of these things in my work …
A Not-So-Bad News Roundup
You know what I realized recently? Even though I complain about the abundance of bad things happening every day, from Donald Trump's continued presidential candidacy to actual crimes against humanity, there IS good news out there. But when I come across it, I don't bother to read it because it's not "important." The refugee crisis …
Feline Friday Returns
My little one and I now live in Chicago, and she doesn't get to spend as much time outside in the wilderness (aka nana's backyard) as she used to. Fortunately, she still encounters some forms of wildlife, even from inside on the 10th floor. I'm delighted to link in to Michelle's Weekly Pet Share, which I …
Feline Friday: Game Night Edition
Playing board games with cats adds a whole new level to the challenge - you have to physically protect your pieces from feline intruders AND remember where they were on the board when your catty competitor inevitably succeeds in relocating them. Great fun is had by all!In other news, Lt. Pumpkin and I may …
Toddlers: the next frontier of the gun debate
A two-year-old sitting in a shopping cart next to his mom's purse reached into it, as children, cats, and pickpockets alike are wont to do, pulled out something to play with, eat, or throw on the floor, and killed his mother with it. Whether or not you're from a town where carrying a loaded weapon …
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It’s a GOOD newsem!
As in a good-news poem, not necessarily a good news-poem. Obama made an executive call To give America's Cuba policy an overhaul. Some Republicans in Congress are pretty pissed, But soon enough I doubt the embargo will be missed. Global temperatures are still on the rise, But more of New York's gas will remain where …
Back in the saddle!
After months of silence my fingers are itching to get their keystrokes back out there, and my inner rhymes are begging to be released. So much has happened and is happening and will happen, and Wandering Aloud is going to stay true to its name. It's time to get movin. These things happened: Some of my favourite …
The Substitute
Check out my essay on Vox Populi, a forum for discussion of contemporary events and politics! We would really like to hear from everyone who has a thought, theory, or experience related to today’s youth, especially if you have suggestions for improvements to the social and educational spheres we bring them up in!
I am not a teacher. I haven’t taken a single class on education, let alone made it through the testing and observation required to be a public school teacher. I am an underemployed BA-clutching young woman who paid the bills working as a substitute teacher in Pittsburgh when I couldn’t take another day at my call center job.
People who spend enough time with children can attest to our young’s ability to brighten a rainy day, to say something that makes you laugh out loud every time you remember it, to give you hope for the future. This isn’t about those moments.
Every day as a substitute teacher was an exercise in overcoming my aversion to things like crowds, loud noises, and disrespect. I can proudly say that I have not hidden in a bathroom between classes since my first day teaching in the city, but the way students as…
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Tonight, the thunderstorm overtakes the moonshine
My virtual being has been quiet for the past month as the flesh and blood version moved between three states, the intellectual matter started a new job, and the emotional remnants tried to hold a broken heart together. I’m trying to tease the opportunity out of the adversity and reunite those disjointed pieces into the …
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I don’t ache the same
My neck aches without you. It ached with you too, but now each and every pang continues on a grander mission. They throb and echo into the misshapen heart that is mine and used to be ours. None of me lets go.
Why the schoolgirl kidnapping was not high on the Nigerian government’s agenda, and what’s going on now
In the middle of the night on April 14th, hundreds of militants descended on a girls’ school in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok. After killing the guards and setting the school ablaze, the parade of pickup trucks and motorcycles disappeared into the Sambisa forest, and with them nearly 300 young girls. The girls had …
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: Are we sending our kids to increasingly fatal schools, or are school homicides on the decline?
I have yet to come across anyone who claims that violence in schools is something to be proud of - and I would run the other way if I did. Students, teachers, school administrators, law enforcement personnel, and the general public would all like to see less of it. Great! We agree, so now we …
Feline Friday: Lieutenant Pumpkin Goes to the Park
Last weekend was Pumpkin's first trip to the park, and her first time outside (apart from drives and vet visits) since we adopted her from the farm! There were several children running around near us, and that seemed to put her on edge a little bit. I think she gets that from me. D. said …
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Newsem of the Week: US and Global News That Rhymes
In Weather: 34 have been killed across the US By several tornadoes causing phenomenal distress. In sports: a recording of Donald Sterling left the NBA dismayed By the outright racism the LA Clippers owner displayed. Vermont is poised to become the first state to require That genetically modified foods be labeled for the buyer. California's governor links …
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Feline Friday Special Edition: How To Pack Your Kitten
This week Lieutenant Pumpkin shows us her favourite ways to travel! The car is way cozier from inside a tote bag, she advises. When preparing your suitcase, always pack your socks before your kittens. And don't you dare put that suitcase away when you're back! It's mine now. We left the suitcase on the floor …
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Shakin’ up this week’s Yeah Write Gargleblaster
Tell me something, old friend: why are you fighting? You want the best for me, too, I know you do. You call me untalented at each deleted keystroke, but your fear overshadows that shallow indignation. Look at me. You have nothing to fear. The mirror will never reflect me without you. In tribute …
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