With a week off of school, terrible snowy weather, and self induced isolation, I've found a farm to purchase. My brain has been imagining my farm life for quite a while, and I've been a bit vocal, but not so vocal that people will gasp at my impulsivity. You see, it doesn't seem impulsive to me, because this has been a imagined heaven on earth. The hesitation is, and has always been, fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of criticism.
The last straw came on November 22, 2019. My school had an early release scheduled, well early for students. We, teachers, had meetings in the afternoon, and were anxious and antsy to start Thanksgiving Break, a week off around here. At this 2:00 pm meeting (which seemed a little power trippy to me), my Principal decides to inform us that "our" (who, exactly, I'm not sure) excessive copying has created a budget deficit and if we don't stop, we will have to cut a position.
Um, WHAT?!? First of all, what kind of bullshit world do we live in that teachers are, literally, counting copies? Second, why in the holy hell would a principal decide to tell his staff this ridiculous information THE DAY BEFORE BREAK?
I set off home for a long, well deserved break. I know that I live in a world filled with greed. Amazon seriously paid zero taxes last year? Jeff Bezos is a trillionaire, pays his staff unlivable wages, and doesn't support the local economy where his businesses thrive? Education is deemed a low class job. The people spending all day with your kid is barely making it.
As I approach 50, life feels more important to live.
On top of the economic shit, there is climate. Yes, I agree, that the climate HAS changed over geologic history, and guess what, along with those climactic changes are extinctions. Like big ones, like 90% of living species gone at the end of the Permian. What is so sad and pathetic about what is happening with our current climate situation is that WE KNOW BETTER. We know how we got into this, and we know how to get ourselves out of it.
So there I was, with my self induced isolation, a frigid winter storm, frozen ice sheets for streets - dreaming of my farm.
Then I saw a FB post from a high school peer in NC. He was spreading the news about a farmhouse for sale, and the spark was relit. After some zillow searching, I found a property to explore more. Now I sit in waiting to see if my offer was accepted...
The last straw came on November 22, 2019. My school had an early release scheduled, well early for students. We, teachers, had meetings in the afternoon, and were anxious and antsy to start Thanksgiving Break, a week off around here. At this 2:00 pm meeting (which seemed a little power trippy to me), my Principal decides to inform us that "our" (who, exactly, I'm not sure) excessive copying has created a budget deficit and if we don't stop, we will have to cut a position.
Um, WHAT?!? First of all, what kind of bullshit world do we live in that teachers are, literally, counting copies? Second, why in the holy hell would a principal decide to tell his staff this ridiculous information THE DAY BEFORE BREAK?
I set off home for a long, well deserved break. I know that I live in a world filled with greed. Amazon seriously paid zero taxes last year? Jeff Bezos is a trillionaire, pays his staff unlivable wages, and doesn't support the local economy where his businesses thrive? Education is deemed a low class job. The people spending all day with your kid is barely making it.
As I approach 50, life feels more important to live.
On top of the economic shit, there is climate. Yes, I agree, that the climate HAS changed over geologic history, and guess what, along with those climactic changes are extinctions. Like big ones, like 90% of living species gone at the end of the Permian. What is so sad and pathetic about what is happening with our current climate situation is that WE KNOW BETTER. We know how we got into this, and we know how to get ourselves out of it.
So there I was, with my self induced isolation, a frigid winter storm, frozen ice sheets for streets - dreaming of my farm.
Then I saw a FB post from a high school peer in NC. He was spreading the news about a farmhouse for sale, and the spark was relit. After some zillow searching, I found a property to explore more. Now I sit in waiting to see if my offer was accepted...
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