(Source: getawaywithgifs, via ifeelbetterer)
If you are the 10th largest company in the world, why is it that your only mission is to be the 9th largest company in the world? Why isn’t it about the value for your customers and making sure your workers are getting paid fair wages so they don’t have to be on welfare? Why aren’t you looking at the quality of life that you’re creating? There’s only so much you need to have and you’re not taking it with you when you’re gone. You’re passing down values to your children and the values shouldn’t be more, more, more, more; it should be about what we’re getting together and our collective humanity. I’m a humanitarian, so this is why I’m speaking out for Bernie. Because he’s a humanitarian.
- Rosario Dawson x
(via fireflyca)
Monsters in the Classroom
The marker squeaks as I drag it across the board. My students are poised behind me, pencils and papers ready. They have a simple assignment: write down as many words as they can think of that describes who they are. While they write, I write. Tit for tat. Lead by example. I begin my list:
Teacher
Woman
White
Appalachian
Poor
Educated
I pause and look around the room. My students now get the idea and have started to write their own lists. I take a deep breath and keep going.
Feminist
Liberal
Fat
Depressed
Atheist
A few students go ‘huh’ at the last one, but then go back to writing. I see a few of them jot down Christian on their list. One student writes down Muslim. Another student writes down something, then erases it and replaces it with a question mark.
One more beat and I raise the marker again. In a steady hand, I finish my list.
Queer
I look at the word on the board, black standing out against white, and carefully erase the smudge I made of the ‘Q’ and rewrite it. I’m wasting time, but I am about to discover something heavy, weighty about my students. When I turn around, I will see who trusts me and who now doesn’t. I place the cap back on the marker, count a beat of five in my head, and turn around. The students now have a clear view of the board.
I see one student in the back smile, grin wide and teeth showing, before ducking their head back down to their list. We’ve shared a secret, something between the two of us, a mental handshake. I see you there, we both say without words. I focus on their grin instead of the student now looking at me in disgust.
