Basically everyone I know and love is grateful for the same thing today: the defeat of the orange monster. Maybe if all of us grateful folks work really hard to be extra civil and professional and compassionate and well-spoken (when possible and called-for), we can remind the rest of the population that good behaviour toward…
Category: Politethics
Sometimes, you have to get to the nitty-gritty.
Anti-Racist Book Club – Gratitude Day 4
I’m grateful for this book today. I am also really grateful for the meeting and discussion we had this week, the first of several we will have as a group of educators unpacking this book together. Especially on a day like this, it’s a source of solace… Talking with a whole bunch of people who…
My Canadian Citizenship – Gratitude Day 3
Tonight, whatever the outcome (/fallout) of the US election, I’m grateful to be Canadian. My parents were both born and raised in the United States, and moved here shortly after they married. Although the decision never felt like a choice to them, I know it wasn’t easy. (There’s a big ol’ blog post brewing about…
Indigenous Knowledge and Generosity – Gratitude Day 2
Today I’m feeling very grateful for the generosity of Indigenous knowledge keepers. This is Treaties Recognition Week in Ontario – a province that is covered by 46 treaties and other agreements between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. The treaties, which guaranteed that land would be shared and that communities would live peacefully alongside one another, were…
A Message to the Anti-Masker
To the anti-mask woman I encountered recently in Shoppers Drug Mart, You don’t know me. We haven’t had a conversation, even though I was tempted to start one. I simply witnessed you entering a busy Shoppers. I was right behind you as you came through the automatic doors, breezing past the hand sanitizer without slowing…
Here’s why Ontario teachers’ unions are still “fighting” Doug Ford
If you’re hearing Doug Ford saying he loves teachers in one breath and bashing teachers’ unions in the next, here is something you should know. He is an actor, telling his audience a made-up story. He’s working hard to get the Ontario public to believe in – and condemn – the faction he’s chosen to…
Back-to-School Thoughts from a Teacher/Parent
A week ago, as you know, it became official in Ontario: we’re going back to school this September. In the days since then, there has been an outcry from parents, staff, unions etc. who feel that the Covid-19 measures announced by the government do not go far enough to keep students and staff safe. I…
National Indigenous Peoples’ Day – Let’s Learn Something
Today is National Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Canada. As people all over the world engage in discussions of racism with renewed intensity, it seems like a good opportunity to learn something about the Indigenous peoples in our respective areas of the land we call Canada. It is easy to find news, most of it very…
7 Things This White Person Has Learned About Racism
On November 9th, 2016, the day after the US election, when even my elementary students were freaking out about Trump, I pictured chaos in the United States. Society – which may never have truly earned the term “civil” – crumbling. Now, I feel like that moment has arrived. Pandemic, hospitals overflowing. Unemployment and poverty off…
An Average Person’s Advice about COVID-19: Vegetation and Self-Deprecation
The news just came out yesterday in Ontario that, after March break ends next week, there will be two more weeks of school shutdown in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. This makes good sense. Schools are places where social distancing is just not possible – it’s a crowd situation every day. So…