Temperatures have dropped 60 degrees here in 60 hours. I'm still trying to thaw out over a cup of tea.

You'll make it through today, vw, so YAY!

We've already got our plans for Thanksgiving (made with relatively little pain) and the dog sitter is all lined up so I don't have to worry about that.

Today is a friday which is actually a friday for me! WooHoo! I don't have to work on Saturday, and I only have to work four hours on Sunday.

Happy Friday to all!

YAY vw!

ah, I love the smell of kerfuffle in the morning. Smells like.... celery.

I am not surprised it went down like this. The abusive outburst of a few weeks ago has had everyone on tenterhooks; it required resolution.

FTR, I am a product of a nurse mom, a community college professor dad (also the recipient of low edumacational respect) and they were both huge public school boosters, and I probably learned more hard academics in my public high school than I did in college.

I was actually thinking of all the teachers here at b.org last weekend, when I was writing my paper and I opened up a thesaurus I got for my righteous excellence in the subject of English in 8th grade and it was inscribed by all my favorite teachers. I thought it was cool that their work really influenced the kind of person and student that I am today.

It's finally cold enough for me to wear my new wool tights. Sad that this makes me excited for the day.

The kerfuffle may be dying, but I just wanted to make a point that private school does not a guarantee of quality education make. My nephew's private school kicked major ass when he started, but administration wackiness drove out the really good teachers until Amy was forced to pull Kenny out and put the finishing touches on his education herself. The private school administrator saw no need for a computer curriculum because he had no interest in computers. He preferred theatre--which is perfectly wonderful, if what you're running is a theatre-focused school, which is not what he was supposed to be doing.

I'm sorry to see that. Honestly, and snark-free. But this is a community, not a womb. I left a support group because they didn't see the difference. And, hey, even a womb has a mom above it, you know?

It's finally cold enough for me to wear my new wool tights. Sad that this makes me excited for the day.

Not sad! The chance to show of the new nifty thing you have. I get a thrill every time the weather gets cold enough to break out the black leather jacket.

On the kerfluffle: It was something I said in my LJ that caused dw's "burn in hell motherfuckers" post. I wish he'd either flamed me on LJ or emailed me, or if he wanted to address me here to specifically address me, rather than attacking all the Bitches. Failing that, I wish he'd apologized to you guys (whether he thinks I deserve an apology is a different matter). For my part, I'm sorry that something I said resulted in you guys getting attacked; I totally did not anticipate that and did not want it. I'm also sorry that Susan feels that she has to leave because of tension between her husband and other posters.

I've come to realize that dw writes for emotional effect, rather than for factual accuracy. That is sometimes tolerated and even appreciated here, but not usually. Most of us (well, at least I) have opted to resist generalizing and be a little more careful in our posts here. Opting not to means that there will be prickliness; it's the poster's choice, and posters should understand that.

On quality of education: My sister and niece are public school teachers, my father and mother taught in public school and then private school, and my stepmother teaches in private school. I attended public school and taught briefly in private school. The sum total of all that personal experience is:

- The quality of education in US schools, both public and private, is not as good as I wish it was.
- The quality of education in public schools in the US far exceeds that of public schools anywhere else I've lived, and often exceeds the private schools as well.
- The failings of public school education are sometimes, but not usually, due to the teacher. They are far more often due to unresponsive administrators, lack of money, parents who do not support the school's efforts, or some combination.

Again, my personal opinions only. The thing about the educational system is that everyone's gone to school, so everyone has an opinion. But you know, out of the approx. 200 person-years of teaching experience in my immediate family, I can think of two years where the administrators were good and supportive of the teachers and students, or had the money to be as supportive as they wanted to be.

Woah. Timelies.

I didn't know if this belonged in the previous post, so I'ma cereal:

Allyson's comment about Matt upthread - yeah. He's done the same for me - made kind, positive observations when he didn't need to - and for that I would gladly defend him.

I may be a little ferocious on the subject of chosen family and the give-and-take thereof, because people here and elsewhere have been so amazingly generous to me in this time of great despair and upheaval. My gratitude is immense, and therefore my shield and sword is yours. Once I get it unpacked, of course.