"Take the Lead" Teacher Rally

On Wednesday I went to the education rally that was happening at the state capitol. We had the day off becuase it was a furlough day due to budget cuts. We've all had to take pay cuts. While I am glad that I still have my job, I hate the fact that the price of everything continues to go up and current projections indicate that we will not have our pay restored before 2017. Things are so tight now. I hope their projections are wrong.

It is estimated that around 1,800 teachers showed up for the rally. Some of the lawmakers came out onto the second floor balcony to listen to the speeches and the music. I imagine that our rally was a nice change from some of the negative, harsh ones that occupy that same space from time to time. I am exhausted from the events of the last few weeks. I was tempted to stay home and sleep in more, but dreaming about it sealed the deal - I had to go. No one would miss me in particular, but it was numbers that we were going for and I counted there. In my dream the sea of teachers in blue shirts traveled from the capitol all the way across several blocks to the court house. In my dream we met at a stagecoach stop and took train that ran on tracks that traveled through wooden tunnels and over bridges. In reality we met at a few of the high schools and took school buses downtown.

I'm glad I went. I hope it makes a difference.

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Today my son starts his first full time job. He steps away from childhood and into adulthood. He is excited. He has a job for the Open Space program. He will help maintain the parks by doing things like building up stairs and fences, cleaning the restrooms. He will get drive a county truck and use heavy equipment from time to time. It will be a good fit for him.