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uncool2pillow

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Posts posted by uncool2pillow

    Those of you in the path of the derecho...

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    Lots of people without power around the Des Moines area. We were driving back from the North Shore of Lake Superior to Des Moines on Monday, well after the storm. There were at least 10 semis blown over in a 20 mile stretch north of Des Moines. Every corn field in that area was decimated.

     

    I had a couple of big limbs downed, but a friend with a chainsaw and I made very quick work of it. Lucky!

    First concerts?

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    5th grade, fall of 1980. The Commodores at Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa. I can find no evidence on the Internet that this or any other Commodores concert ever occurred in Ames. I'm pretty sure they played there at least twice.

     

    Second concert is a bit more impressive. The Police. Fall of 1983. UNIDome, Cedar Falls, Iowa.

    Today

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    We are a smaller independent district in an urban neighborhood.   Approx 800 students K-12, essentially one connected  building taking up about a city block,  no bus service...very, very close knit community. Working class community where if there are two parents they are both working most likely. We pushed our start date out to August 26 and the superintendent rightfully so imo felt it important to establish a baseline plan early and get it to the families and then modify it accordingly in mid-August if necessary. Desks are 6' apart, lunch is to be served and eaten in the class rooms, masks are required, water fountains turned off etc.  That plan is to have Mon-Thur 1/2 day on campus 1/2 day virtual. Friday is 100% virtual for all students. This gives us 72 hours each week for sanitization and the buildings sit empty Fri-Sun. It also brings each student into the school four days a week which is the safest and most structured environment for many of our students. Families are given the option of mornings or afternoons and students from the same family are all automatically put into the same time slot to ease logistics on the parents. Each student will be given a meal at school and one to take home. We are trying to work out some auxiliary spaces for primary students who would be going home to an empty house. It is a horrible situation. Teachers and students need to be safe...parents need to work...employers need their employees on site. There is no silver bullet and unfortunately we live in the era of constant social media scrutiny so no decision will appease everyone.  Another interesting angle is the students that are cancelling or going virtual are losing student and students equal money for schools. Many of the parochial schools feel obligated to open because their parents are paying thousand of dollars for that education and paying that money to do the teaching yourself at your house isn't going over well. 

     

    I really feel like my district is dropping the ball. I read these detailed, reasonable plans and feel like our district is basically saying, "You're creative. Figure it out." Their hands are somewhat tied by the governor, but I look around other districts in central Iowa and wonder what's going on in mine.

    Sturgill Simpson

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    I saw him summer 2018. It was a serious power trio rock show. Lots of extended solos, furiously loud rock and roll. Not at all what I expected, but it did seem to set the stage for Sound & Fury.

     

    Would love to see him again.

    Today

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    So I am curious because I am on the school board here in our district and while it isn't our responsibility to create the model for this school year we do have to approve it. I have been talking to a lot of parents and teachers....I also have three kids in the district and while there are obviously tons of concerns being voiced there are very few if not any solutions or even recommendations  being offered. We did do a district wide survey around a month ago with about an 80% response rate which I thought was pretty good. Roughly 75% of that 80% both parents and staff were in favor of coming back to in person instruction with safety standards in place(masks, temp checks, sanitization etc). I believe if they did this survey today those numbers would be less in favor of in person instruction. It is obviously a very fluid situation but unfortunately these superintendents need to make a call now and give teachers, students and staff as much time to prepare as possible for increased child care or informing  their employer among other variables.  As a teacher do you think there is a happy medium between a quality education(keeping in mind the primary grades) and a safe environment? Btw I am totally not trolling here. I think our decision makers are struggling to get honest feedback from teachers because they don't want to be the squeaky wheel. 

     

    No trolling assumed. I think in many cases teachers are afraid to speak out. A few years ago, a colleague and I were admonished for contacting school board members who were also parents of students of ours at the time for not following the proper chain of command protocols. Unfortunately, many superintendents treat school boards as rubber stamps for their initiatives rather than the elected reprsentatives they are.

     

    There are no easy decision here, so good luck! I know that many parents, including me, have depended upon school to provide daycare. We can't deny the economic reality that many parents depend upon that. Our district surveys showed that being 100% back in the building was the least popular choice among staff, but that's about where we are. We will have a number of families opt for virtual learning, but based on survey results, I think it will end up being less than 20%.

     

    Ideally, we would do some sort of every other day rotation, but our governor has all but eliminated that. My biggest concern is my specific project-based learning program. I co-teach a hybrid social studies/language arts class. We're double-blocked so typically have about 60 students in a double classroom.  My co-teacher and love this program, but not during a pandemic. We'll have 60 kids and us sharing the same air for 90 minutes at a time. Further, kids are ALWAYS in groups. Small tables of 4 facing each other about about 2-3'. Granted, coverings will be required, but hard to enforce. The district could, with the flip of a switch a mimial expenditure put our program on hold for a year, put a curtain where a wall used to be to give us 2 separate classrooms, and allow us to NOT group students constantly. There are so many other concerns: Absences are hard when always doing collaborative learning, switching to virtual and trying to mainaint project-based, collaborative learning, worrying about increased online bullying and harassment and decreased engagement in this virtual collaborative environment. And I'm just scratching the surface.

     

    I've said enough. I truly applaud you serving on a school board. Please listen intently to the voices of the teachers. Seek them out if you feel like you're not hearing them through official channels. 

    Today

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    Today, I am freaking out about returning to my teaching position. Both because of what my governor (Kim Reynolds, Iowa) has done and how my local district is shaping things. I feel like I'm going to be spending 40-50 hours/week in a huge fucking petri dish. I just hope I'm one of the lucky 50 year olds who has a mild reaction.

    Long Gone Summer

    in Just A Fan

    Posted

    I kind of wish I hadn't seen his name in the opening credits (or this post) to see whether I could have guessed it was him. Some very Tweedyish sounds. I heard some stuff reminscent of Summerteeth and his more current stuff, but mostly I got a big Loose Fur vibe.

    RIP George Floyd

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    I felt like we needed a thread to honor Mr. Floyd. A life taken too soon and far too tragically. I weep for Minneapolis. I spent a few years of my childhood in the Twin Cities and it's always been close to my heart. I love the culture, the music scenes, their sports teams.

     

    So sad to see a city I consider my home away from home on fire.

    Live(stream)! Tonight!! ... a while-we-wait-it-out-thread

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    Jason Narucy, Chicago musician (his own current band is called Split Single and he is the current bassist for Bob Mould and Superchunk) had a musical based on his teenage punk band Verboten at the House Theatre of Chicago. I was hoping to get there to see it. Obviously, that's not happening, but they did make a stream available for a pay as you wish ticket (min. $15). I just bought mine after being reminded that this is the last day tickets are available. You have one week after your purchase to view it.

     

    Here's the Chicago Tribune review:

     

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-verboten-punk-house-review-0130-20200129-2nfujsvnnneivlbdv4fvlxwblm-story.html

     

    Here's the link to buy a ticket:

     

    https://thehousetheatre.secure.force.com/ticket/#/instances/a0F6g000000sGpMEAU

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