NOTE: As I was going through my drafts, this is something that I started last April. While it’s the second week of October, the thoughts are still the same today, maybe even more now! The last half is simply me completing the thought today!

Last Monday (ok, the whole freaking week) was a giant dumpster fire. My students were not stellar, my response to them was not stellar, and I forgot my gym clothes at home. I’d looked forward to spinning class all day long, so I got to do treadmill stuff instead of spin.

#yuck

Oh, tell me about it. I’m finding more and more that if I don’t find some way to be physically active, it affects my own mental health. I’ve been pretty strong about finding that time and watching what I eat, but this last month has taken me a step back. I’ve slipped into bad habits regarding eating and sleeping, not good for the fitness routine at all.

But, that’s not this blog today. After the sh*t show that Monday was, I tweeted a thread about how my Twitter feed had become more political because I just couldn’t sit back and what the continued dismantling of Iowa’s educational system. I love that I can link tweets together. That thread, and several others since then, have struck a chord with people. When talking about a decade of lower funding in Iowa’s educational system, our lack of mental health services, the growing concern about clean water in our state (rivers and lakes), or the fact that our infrastructure is slowly falling apart, Iowans are concerned.

The problem is, are they concerned enough? We hear about the “sinister agenda” that teachers have. We hear the celebrations of a $1.9 billion (with a b) dollar surplus while roads are crumbling. We hear about how Iowa is “open”, but lagging behind in GDP to the rest of the country. But yet, our governor has opened up a sizable lead on her opponent. There was a magnificent editorial by Art Cullen titled, “Well-fed farmers find biting hand that feeds them tastes so good “ where he talks about how farmers tend to vote Republican, yet, when Democats are in control, they tend to earn more. It’s like teachers watching vouchers coming down the pipeline, yet, continuing to vote for the people who have and will fundamentally change our profession, and not for the better.

An education friend of mine, posted a tweet of his where a friend says that his Twitter feed has gotten so “political”. His response:

“Well, they’re taking away fundamental human rights and attacking both our loved ones and key pillars of American democracy. Why hasn’t yours also gotten more political? Silence = complicity.”

This is where I am. I speak from my heart. I speak from the heart. I know I’ve lost friends, both real life and online, because of the things that I post. In some ways, I feel bad and I know I won’t change minds with the things I throw out there. Yet, if I don’t speak from the heart, if I don’t speak out, I’m picking a side, just not the one I support.

And that’s not where I want to be! My family, my students, my country deserve better.