Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will undoubtedly be memorialized by historians and those who knew her best. I've already read incredible pieces written far more eloquently than anything I could write. However, I couldn't let her passing go by without jotting down a few thoughts.

The world before Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the world after her life's work is stunningly different. Her ability to fight for others is truly unparalleled. When she began her career, a woman could lose her job for getting pregnant and having a baby. Women were not seen as equal human beings. And while she fought for all marginalized people, and for upholding our democracy, and for protecting human rights and voting rights, she was and will always be, one of the most effective feminists this world has ever seen.

She never quit. She didn't give in. She just did the work. And she kept doing the work until the very end, because there is still so much work to be done.

She said what was right when many wouldn't dare think that big, let alone say big ideas aloud.

Her premise that there would be enough women on the highest court when there were nine is bold.  Even today it is still a bold idea. Few leaders ever say that in places of power there could or should actually be only women. That statement in 2020 still makes people very uncomfortable. However, Justice Ginsburg said what over half of the population felt. By saying it and by having it repeated over and over again and by working each day to see that it happens, that takes real courage and real strength and a will that few people possess. Justice Ginsberg possessed those qualities.  

She was as smart as they come and as tough, but she also had tremendous grace. She redefined what it means to be powerful.  

RBG transcended the Supreme Court. 

Little girls will forever learn about the second female appointment to the Supreme Court. 

They will wear her lacy collar.

They will dissent. 

They will rise because of her. 

They will put one foot in front of the other and keep going for themselves and for her.

It feels like a soul crushing personal loss for so many of us. Women were calling and reaching out to other women for support. The words fear and terror were used quite a bit Friday night as the news broke. However, those words soon turned to action.

We have the ability to keep her legacy alive and continue to carry it forward by voting. 

Use your voice.

Use your vote.

Don't ever relent.

She never quit on the ideals she knew were the bedrock of this country, and we mustn't either.  As unionists and for many of you reading this, as feminists, we must continue forward.

We must elect candidates up and down the ballot who will not attack labor, voting rights, women, LGBTQ people and people of color moving forward. 

And we must fight like hell to prevent a premature appointment to fill Justice Ginsburg's seat.

As we always say, you are not alone. You have unions both at the state and at the national levels who will fight. And for those of you who are NYSUT women, you have a tribe of women ready to stand up, speak out and fight back against attacks on our rights.

Remember this feminist icon by being a patriot. Remember her by voting and getting out the vote in your community and in communities that will determine who our next president and vice president will be. 

Remember her the way she wanted to be remembered, in her own words, ‘Just as someone who did whatever she could, with whatever limited talent she had, to move society along in the direction I would like it to be for my children and grandchildren.’

We can do that for her.

Celebrating the centennial of women's suffrage and focusing on the next 100 years

The centennial of women's suffrage will be commemorated later this month. Unfortunately, like many remembrances throughout our history, it isn't a perfect celebration. Achieving the right to vote was hard fought, but it wasn't inclusive of all women. While the 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote on August 26, 1920, many women of color were denied this right because of discriminatory Jim Crow laws that were passed in many states. These were the very same laws that denied men of color the right to vote.

I stood with many of my sisters at this year's Women's March in Seneca Falls as the snow fell softly around us. There, the centennial was definitely a topic of conversation among all of the incredible speakers, many of whom acknowledged its imperfection. In New York, we have a proud tradition of being on the forefront of advancing women's equality. While many of the gatherings on that hallowed ground in Seneca Falls did not include all of our sisters, one could tell by the signs and the vibrancy of the women who gathered there in January 2020 that we would not leave any of our sisters behind as we began our march for full and equal rights for all of our sisters over the next 100 years.

So how do we lift up this massive voting rights achievement, one that symbolizes for many the start of the women's movement for equality in this country? By making the next 100 years in the fight inclusive!

You see, there is no gender equality without racial equality. 

There is no gender equality without LGBTQ equality. 

There is no gender equality without disability rights equality. 

No sister can be left behind this time. Because as the saying goes, the struggle is real and that struggle is still raging on today.

Voter suppression in this country is real and rampant and blatant and racist and sexist and intentional. The mere idea of the entire electorate having the right to vote freely and easily and without coercion is a very real and dangerous threat to the power paradigm. 

Power, for some, is not something they want to share with people of color and certainly not something they want to share with women.

Voting matters. We know this.  

Elections matter. We know this.

The presidential election of 2020 matters, it is consequential on so many levels. It is a referendum on what we value and who we value in this country. What's at stake? Our freedoms, our ability to live a healthy life, our ability to maintain and strengthen civil, human and women's rights, our ability to support our families and retire with dignity and our ability to utilize science and facts without governmental interference. 

While those of you reading this are probably NYSUT members, many of our sisters and brothers across the country are in states, in counties and in parishes that could impede their right to vote come November. How will we help them vote and include everyone, not just those with privilege? We can support causes and organizations working to ensure all Americans have the ability to vote and have their votes counted:

1. Work with NYSUT. Your local president and our Regional Political Organizers can give you tasks to get out the vote and ensure that our communities - all our communities - participate in our democracy in New York state. Through our political work with the AFT, we will "adopt" other states to help GOTV. Be sure to check out AFT's site AFT Votes for more information on how you can get involved on a national level. go.aft.org/action

2. Support one or more of these eight voting rights organizations, including the League of Women Voters. https://www.bustle.com/p/8-voting-rights-organizations-to-know-before-the-2020-elections-roll-around-13156367

3. Check out Fair Fight https://fairfight.com/, founded by one of my favorite #SHEroes, Stacey Abrams, who after her narrow defeat in the Gubernatorial Race in Georgia has made it her mission to ensure access to democracy for all. 

4. Partner with Future Coalition, a national network and community encouraging the youth vote. www.futurecoalition.org

5. Call and write U.S. Senators from across the country to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020 that would restore components of the Voting Rights Act the Supreme Court struck down in 2013.

However or whatever you decide to do to celebrate and commemorate this achievement in our history,  be sure to also educate yourself on all of our sisters who have been a part of the struggle for equality. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/womenofthecentury/2020/02/08/black-history-month-these-19-black-women-fought-voting-rights/2842276001/ 

On our NYSUT Women's resource page you can find unsung heroines of the suffrage movement to inspire you to research the unsung heroines from your own community, so you can educate yourself and your students. There are many women who are not in our history books or given the credit they deserve. Thanks to our NYSUT Social Studies Subject Area Committee we have highlighted a diverse group of women from our state. https://www.nysut.org/resources/special-resources-sites/womens-committee/womens-history-2020/unsung-heroines-of-womens-suffrage 

Shirley Chisholm once said, "You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas."  

Let's spend the next several years in the game implementing those ideas, not on the sidelines but fighting for the rights of all women. Following the outbreak of the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor many have been faced with confronting the systemic racism, inequality and discrimination that exists in this country. Right now, educating our sisters and brothers about the importance of this election across our country and within our own state and communities is a way to create a legacy of voting that not only impacts this election but ripples through our nation and changes the electorate in this country for the next 100 years.  

Mr. President, This Is What Teachers Do

To the current occupant of the White House: A lesson in what teachers do by a veteran public school teacher.

Teachers feed children. 

They nurture them. 

They counsel them. 

They inspire them. 

They challenge them, and they support their dreams. 

They teach fact vs fiction, and they teach about science.

They teach children to question, analyze, synthesize and evaluate.

At an early age, they teach children to share and care for one another in a community setting. Teachers also sit knee to knee, eye to eye, and teach children to read and write.

Teachers show children the importance of remaining physically and emotionally healthy and how to cook and manage money.

Teachers expose children to art and music.

Teachers and public schools are the backbone and bedrock of our democracy.  

And there are millions of us spread across every state and every corner of this great country, a country which -- contrary to what the president says -- we love.

Oh, and teachers also vote!  We teach our students about the power and responsibilities of citizenship. 

Election Day 2020 cannot come soon enough, Mr. President, and when it does we will teach you a lesson about the strength of the collective and the will of the American electorate. 

Pack your bags.

How do we find balance in our lives?

Balance is something we are all striving for but never seem to find. If you are like me, you have a person in your life who seems very zen, but you have no idea how this person does it.

Personally, I am generally in a state of combined stress, panic and anxiousness from all I have on my professional plate.

One day while searching everywhere and anywhere for balance, I found a lost sock, and I stumbled on a quote by Jana Kingsford, "Balance isn't something you find. It's something you create."  Where has this wise woman been for the last 30 years of my life?!  

Good news:  I can stop looking for balance...and lost socks.

Bad news:  I've got work to do to create balance in my life.

And if you are like me, and I bet you are, you want to know how to create balance too. I'll let you in on a little secret, if I actually knew how to create balance I wouldn't be blogging about it, I'd be doing it.  

However, when I speak with educators, primarily female educators, it is one of the first things they convey to me. They want to know how to create balance in their lives. They want to take care and nurture themselves and their colleagues to maintain good physical and mental health, so they can tackle the challenges their demanding careers and lives require.

Summer is a great time to develop good habits and create that allusive balance in our lives.  These good habits can be carried with us into the new school year.  

Every July as my schedule as an educator became more flexible, I would dive head first into self-care. Unfortunately, once the school year fully resumed in the fall, the habits I had tried to develop started to slowly slip away. But now I know that I let them slip away.  

If this period of COVID has taught me anything, it is the importance of a more consistent routine for a balanced life. With regular sleep, a balanced diet and movement, I've felt more balance. And by having the gift of increased time at home during our NY Pause I've been able to take daily walks, which is as much "exercise" as this woman can muster, but I can tell that I am developing a habit that I want to, I even need to, maintain as my work pace starts to increase in intensity again. And if I can feel myself creating more balance...so can you!  

We've convinced ourselves that being our best selves means filling our days with all of the very important and needed work we must do to be exemplary educators, activists and unionists. But in reality, we aren't the best at anything when we are trying to do everything.  Because when we neglect ourselves our family and our friends and aren't taking the time to recharge and rejuvenate, we aren't living a balanced life.

So, I "stole" three ideas from a Better Homes and Garden magazine article (June 2020) and added one more idea on my own. These ideas are simple, good reminders of easy things you can do to help live a more balanced life:

1.  Exercise. 
• Try to find 30 minutes multiple times per week. Restorative exercise is great for creating a feeling of balance like yoga or Tai Chi. A walk, bike ride or hike in nature is terrific too.
2.  Sleep. 
• Consistent bed times and wake times are crucial. Experts say most of us aren't getting enough sleep so 7 - 8.5 hours is optimal.  
3.  Carve out some "me time." 
• Spend 30 minutes a day on self-care. Now, for someone like me, if I get 30 minutes of movement I may just need to count that as both my exercise and my "me time." For others, meditation, deep breathing, reading, sketching/painting, listening to music, dancing or writing might do the trick. Call a friend, work on a hobby, or garden. Heck, attending a rally, parade or protest safely may also be a way to carve out some time for yourself.
4.  Reduce your screen time. 
• I think this tip needs no explanation.Unplug! It takes a few days but once you have detoxed from the phone, tablet or computer, you feel free! To help with the transition, set up 2-3 times during the day when you will check the device(s) but then put them out of sight the rest of the time and don't cheat until it is time to check again.
  

In that same BHG magazine I saw a powerful quote from entrepreneur, Jen Gotch, 

"Think of self-help as tending your lawn. 

Mowing is a quick fix, 

but you have to really dig deep to get rid of the weeds. 

It takes work." 

While I know none of you want summer homework, maybe creating balance in your life is something you can find time to "dig deep" and work on during this unusual summer. So, I challenge all of the educators out there. How will you find balance in your life? 

An Open Letter to the 2019-2020 Educators

Dear 2019-2020 Educators,

This past weekend I received a Facebook message from a former student. She was one of over 100 students I taught in sixth grade at the Canandaigua Middle School, in upstate New York, in my first full year of teaching during the 1994-1995 school year. She shared a note I wrote in her scrapbook. It wasn't fancy, just a simple note that read:

"You've had a terrific year in reading and language arts! 

Hold on to those dreams of being a teacher. I'll miss you." 

Twenty-five years later, she thanked me for writing that brief note. It was incredible to hear from her. She shared that middle school was not a good time for her at home, so those three sentences of encouragement were very appreciated. 

Truth be told, she was easy to encourage. She was kind and hard working. The best part, she IS a teacher now and has been for 14 years. This young woman is the teacher she dreamed of becoming as a sixth grader. And she thought enough of our time together in 1995 to let me know.

The 2019-2020 school year is concluding or has already concluded, whether you worked in a P-12 setting or on a college campus. Sure, your students will remember COVID-19 but, more importantly, they will remember how you helped them through this time — that you encouraged them to keep going, that you were "there" when things weren't good at home, that you cared and that you showed up each and every day. 

They will remember that you showed them that their lives matter. 

You will be remembered. 

Your career as an educator matters, and you matter in the lives of your students.

So when you are feeling down or feeling burned out, be prepared for that one day, when you least expect it, when one of your students may reach out to you and share a little note you wrote. It may not seem like a big deal but to that child it may mean the world.

Thank you for shepherding your students through this unprecedented year. 

What students will remember about the 2019-2020 school year won't be the computers, iPads or packets. They will remember you and how much you cared for them and were there for them when they needed you most.

With gratitude,

Jolene 

Additional Resources to Teach About Bias in America Following our #NYSUTchat on June 14th

Thank you for taking part in our #NYSUTchat on Sunday, June 14th!

Below are books and resources our NYSUT Research and Educational Services and ELT departments assembled along with other NYSUT members to complement the resources shared by all of you during our latest #NYSUTchat on Twitter. 

You can read an archive of all of our chats by going to https://wakelet.com/@NYSUT. 

We hope you will find these resources helpful as you engage in critical conversations with both students and colleagues on cultural, racial and historical biases in America. 

21 books for elementary students:

1) I Love My Hair by Natasha Tarpley

2) Bippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Tarpley

3) Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

4) Chocolate Me! by Taye Diggs

5) Girls Hold Up This World by Jada Pinkett Smith

6) Shades of Black by Sandra L. Pinkney

7) I Am Latino by Sandra L. Pinkney

8) The Colors of Us by Karen Katz

9) My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis

10) I Am the World by Charles R. Smith Jr.

11) Can You Say Peace by Karen Katz

12) And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson

13) A Kids Book About Racism by Jelani Memory

14) Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai

15) The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad

16) Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

17) A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

18) We Are All Alike, We Are All Different by Cheltenham Elementary Kindergarteners

19) The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

20) Don't Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller

21) Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry with the short video here: 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hair-love-won-an-oscar-its-smart-its-funny-and-that-makes-me-furious/ar-BBZXAWH

More Children’s books:

• https://www.maisonette.com/le_scoop/diverse-childrens-books?utm_source=Instagram&utm_medium=organicsocial&utm_campaign=DiverseBooks 

Early childhood resources: 

• https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/lab-wpcontent/sites/96/2020/06/05133841/Talking-About-Race.jpg 
• https://www.iecmhc.org/resources/equity/ 
• https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/equity 
• https://www.zerotothree.org/policy-and-advocacy/equity 
• https://www.buildinitiative.org/blog/fighting-racism-working-for-equitable-outcomes-for-young-children-and-their-families  

•      There are more images/info on this Pyramid Model page:  
• https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/Implementation/Equity/index.html 
• https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/Training/Webinar/archive/2019/03-27/2019-03-27_Early-Childhood-Suspensions-The-Impact-on-Families.html 

Book list for Adults or Secondary Students: 

Center for Racial Justice and In Education: https://centerracialjustice.org/resources/reading-lists/

Websites:

• Welcoming Schools- https://www.welcomingschools.org/
• Anti-Defamation League (ADL)- https://www.adl.org/
• Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)- https://www.splcenter.org/
• Teaching Tolerance - https://www.splcenter.org/teaching-tolerance
  

Links related to anti-racism and creating an anti-racist workplace: 

• https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/05/how-to-thoughtfully-talk-about-racial-inequality-with-your-coworkers.html 
• https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21278245/antiracist-racism-race-books-resources-antiracism 
• https://bthechange.com/4-steps-we-can-take-as-white-people-to-fight-racism-a582e826eb92 
• https://qz.com/work/1864529/how-to-build-an-actively-anti-racist-workplace/ 
• https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/health/how-to-be-an-anti-racist-wellness/index.html 
  

Articles/resources:

• https://nymag.com/strategist/article/black-owned-businesses-support-shop.html 
• https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-optical-allyship-3-ways-to-be-actively-anti-racist-22956518 
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/06/07/minneapolis-votes-to-disband-police-department/ 
• https://www.bustle.com/p/17-books-on-race-every-white-person-needs-to-read-76401?utm_campaign=feminismbustle&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=owned&utm_content=1591466101 
• https://trudreadz.com/2020/05/24/now-that-your-kids-are-home-teach-them-black-history-they-wont-learn-in-the-american-educational-system/ 

Our #NYSUTchat will return later this summer. If you have ideas for a future #NYSUTchat focused on professional practice, let us know. Thanks for all of the support!