This essay is excellent! I became so excited reading this in part because the core issue you discuss is one I've regularly encountered while working at an "independent" school. Such an institution will only go so far with its acceptance of certain ideas, and some people from parents to colleagues voice horrific beliefs, but it's still a job, and no place of employment can be perfect and pure. I also maintain the hope of incremental change, a slow push for the better, of convincing people even of a couple new ways of seeing the world. It will never be perfect (should it ever?), but we can still make space and offer more forgiving narrative arcs than our media will allow.
Thank you! Even though I don't always comment, I've been enjoying your essays - you find fascinating ways of tackling each topic!
Thank you so, so much for this kind comment, and your presence with so much of the work. I love seeing your name pop up, even if we're often two very busy ships passing in the night.
I hope this year has found you in a good place, even if nothing we do takes place in perfect systems. If you can try to improve the parts within your purview, that's a gift to the world - and I don't doubt your students are very fortunate to have you. Thank you for everything you do.
Big hugs, much love, and may the new year be ever so kind to you and yours.
Merry Christmas to you too, ML! (And an early happy birthday!)
No matter what one does, it never feels like enough - there's always another fight around the corner - but it helps to step back and remember how flawed our systems are, and indeed have been since before we existed (we did come into being in an exemplar year for flawed systems falling apart). Like you always remind us at the end of your newsletters, we just need to keep being kind and seeking justice where we can. We can't "win" every fight, but we can chip away at it, bit by bit.
Take care of yourself and I wish you the best of new years! Big hugs!
This essay is excellent! I became so excited reading this in part because the core issue you discuss is one I've regularly encountered while working at an "independent" school. Such an institution will only go so far with its acceptance of certain ideas, and some people from parents to colleagues voice horrific beliefs, but it's still a job, and no place of employment can be perfect and pure. I also maintain the hope of incremental change, a slow push for the better, of convincing people even of a couple new ways of seeing the world. It will never be perfect (should it ever?), but we can still make space and offer more forgiving narrative arcs than our media will allow.
Thank you! Even though I don't always comment, I've been enjoying your essays - you find fascinating ways of tackling each topic!
Merry Christmas, Susan!
Thank you so, so much for this kind comment, and your presence with so much of the work. I love seeing your name pop up, even if we're often two very busy ships passing in the night.
I hope this year has found you in a good place, even if nothing we do takes place in perfect systems. If you can try to improve the parts within your purview, that's a gift to the world - and I don't doubt your students are very fortunate to have you. Thank you for everything you do.
Big hugs, much love, and may the new year be ever so kind to you and yours.
Merry Christmas to you too, ML! (And an early happy birthday!)
No matter what one does, it never feels like enough - there's always another fight around the corner - but it helps to step back and remember how flawed our systems are, and indeed have been since before we existed (we did come into being in an exemplar year for flawed systems falling apart). Like you always remind us at the end of your newsletters, we just need to keep being kind and seeking justice where we can. We can't "win" every fight, but we can chip away at it, bit by bit.
Take care of yourself and I wish you the best of new years! Big hugs!