Congrats to JZ and Hec! Bless! Doesn't time fly?

VW, that sounds ghastly. Bloody hell. Go Team Emily! You both sound to have dealt with it heroically.

So, in breaking news: I am racist. Apparently.

Huh.

Go figure.

So, in breaking news: I am racist. Apparently.

If only you'd known, earlier. Think of all the time you've wasted.

What happened, Fay?

Fay, we all knew that. You big racist you. No, wait...WTF?

Happy Anniversary, Zmayhem!!! As it's your paper anniversary, then my wish for you is that your life together is as beautiful as really swanky expensive stationery -- the kind with a heavy weave and a deckled edge.

What? Paper anniversary is hard!

Fay, WTF? Did you suddenly realize that those weren't bedsheets, they were really KKK robes? You are possibly literally the last person who comes to mind when I think "racist."

I'm assuming it has something to do with the Holocaust vid?

thwump.

You remember the parents who complained about my teaching? Who asked, after their child watched a DVD about Anne Frank, why I was teaching Jewish propaganda, and why I didn't teach the kids that Jews were the most cruel people on earth?

They came in today to complain to my boss.

They think I'm racist.

They think this because "I like Jews".

For the record, I'm not a big fan of any of the organised religions. I mean, I respect people's right to believe the world is put together in any given way, because we've all got to make our minds up about that stuff. And I respect people's right to worship their God in whatever way seems best to them, so long as it's not involving harm to another person. But beyond that? I pretty much think religion has a tendancy to put a whole slew of shit and conditional acceptance into stuff, and that it screws people up a lot, if they let it. The whole social aspect of religion is, to me, about society, and about secular priorities, rather than about one's own soul and one's own relationship with one's creator. Too much keeping up with the Joneses/Goldsteins/Hassans involved a lot of the time. But basically 99% of people are all trying to get along with their lives, look after their kids and improve their living conditions, regardless of what relgion or sect they belong to. Surely. I haven't said any damned thing about Judaeism one way or another. But I have covered the fact that Jews (along with gypsies, mixed race German kids, people with physical and mental disabilities, Poles, Czechs and any damned other person who wasn't the Aryan ideal) were the victims of Nazi attempts at 'racial purification' type of deal. And that this is A Bad Thing.

As to Israel - well, I pretty much feel about Israel the way I felt about South Africa during Apartheit. But the handful of Israelis I've ever met have been very nice people, regardless of the atrocities their government may be responsible for. Which figures. People are people.

So it particularly kills me that with these attitudes (which would undoubtedly have me branded anti-semitic in plenty of bits of the US) I'm being told that I'm a racist who's teaching pro-Israeli propaganda.

Also, they think I'm making the children smell my feet as a punishment.

!!!!

Which - needless to say - is not the case. I do threaten them with The Stinky Feet Of Doom from time to time - I have horrifyingly stinky feet, and I sometimes say something like "right, if you're not all lined up in alphabetical order by the time I've counted to ten, I shall unleash THE STINKY FEET OF DOOM and you will all die a horrible Death By Stinky Foot!" which is generally the cause of hilarity and gets them to do the thing they're supposed to be doing in a good-humoured way. I also occasionally threaten to feed them to monsters, or to chop off their heads. I'm reasonably sure they do not think I am actually going to feed them to monsters or to chop off their heads if they don't get on with performing such-and-such a task. They're being terribly giggly and blase about it, if it's a genuine fear.

I'm just - I'm still gobsmacked. Fucking hell.

I'm a racist who tortures the kids in my charge. Who knew?

SMELL MY FEET! SMELL MY FEET!

Bwhahahah! That's horrible for you, but...BWHAHAHAAH!@

Oh, my. And the foot thing is just too much. My word. Will this have a bad effect on you getting the new job? When does this term let out for you, Fay?

Fay, that is such fucking bullshit. You have parents who are objecting because you aren't teaching HATRED? Bad Fay! Bad!

Just fucking bullshit.