Strange Little Collecting Project

So, in case you haven’t heard North Carolina has been passing some pretty awful laws over the last few months. The Amendment One Crusade was followed by House Bill 819, the bill that has made science illegal when it comes to rising sea levels on North Carolina Coasts. Last Friday, the House passed a bill that would make fracking legal in North Carolina within the next few years. It passed in a 66 to 43 vote. The bill will return to the Senate today where it will likely pass. I think I’m most upset because many North Carolinians don’t know what fracking is, yet it is a process that is being voted on that could affect some of the most densely populated areas of the state. Fracking—also known as hydraulic fracturing--is the process of extracting natural gas from shale that lies deep below the surface of the earth…like a mile deep or more. Fracking uses vertical and horizontal drilling to reach the shale basins deep in the ground and then water, sand, and “other components” (la...

Recently I’ve developed this really persistent and abrasive cough. I’m not entirely sure where it came from, but my most educated guess is that it came from cleaning out 4 years of stuff from my classroom. The Donny Darko sized dust bunnies managed their way into my lungs and now I sound like Joan Rivers’ great-grandmother. The problem with coughing though is that it’s not at all socially acceptable. Even though I've managed to embarrass myself with a powerful sneeze, typically people don't seem to mind if you sneeze... especially strangers. Since most people have very distinct sneezes, strangers don’t know what to expect. They don’t find sneezes to be incredibly obnoxious…even if they are in fact obnoxious because of the uniqueness and novelty of the sound. But most people sound relatively the same when they are coughing which I think leads to an overall intolerance of coughing in our society. If you don’t believe me, think about what you say to someone who is sneezi...

We live in a country that is obsessed with information. I consume more information than I ever realize on a daily basis because it’s literally everywhere. If I’m pouring a bowl of Cheerios, I learn that “three grams of soluble fiber daily from whole grain oat foods, like Cheerios cereal, and a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.” As I pour my soymilk (lactose intolerance sucks) over the cereal, I learn that soymilk contains isoflavones and “medical studies show isoflavones may have potential health benefits [such as] lowering LDL cholesterol, maintaining bone density, [and] providing antioxidant protection against harmful effects of free radicals.” I usually eat my breakfast while watching the local morning news, and there is usually a ticker-tape of news whizzing by the bottom of the screen giving me more information, so I can watch the news while I watch the news. A lot of times I will watch the news and eat my cereal while scrolling throu...

Disclaimer:  I know that my educational rants have been happening closer and closer together as of late, but I can’t help it. I am just too pissed off.  It's really tough to watch something you love get screwed over.  I promise to write more blogs in the near future about something embarrassing I did at the grocery store, but I’m just not feeling it right now.  So, if you're tired of hearing teachers complain about schools, you should probably stop reading. In the fall of last year, the North Carolina Board of Governors made it possible for state universities to raise their tuition as much as they want. Before this decision was made, students in the North Carolina University System were protected by a 6.5% cap, meaning they would only be spending 6.5% more for school each year. (Which still isn’t great, but at least it’s controlled). UNC-Chapel Hill immediately began discussing a 44% increase over the next 4 years.  Thankfully, the Board of Governors agreed ...

I’ve always grown up around Bradford pear trees. They’re a pretty popular tree, so you’ve probably grown up around them, too. I didn’t pay them much attention though until a few years ago. We had a really tough winter (as far as North Carolina goes), and I remember my dad mentioning that he was worried that his Bradford pear wouldn’t make it through another snowstorm. Bradford pears are a cultivated tree that wouldn’t exist if horticulturists hadn’t willed it so. They were engineered to grow quickly, and to be beautiful. Bradford pears are very popular with landscapers because of this expediency and curb appeal; if they plant these trees in a brand new development, the Bradford pears give that neighborhood the look of permanence that is often lacking from new construction in just a few short years. Heartier, sturdier trees grow much slower and the new neighborhood has that stark, naked look. There is a flaw in the tree design though. The crown of the Bradford pear grows much quicker th...

Anyone who knows a teacher knows that we are some of the best complainers in the world, but around this time of the year, we get even better at griping. It's probably because we're getting e-mails everyday about how much more our declining health insurance is going to cost next year, and how much of a raise we aren't going to get again...ever. (It would be like ordering a large pizza for $8.00, and then being told by the pizza-man you could get a small for $10.00, and who in their right mind is going to celebrate that?). But I realized last week as I was driving home (from my 2nd job that I've recently had to take on to help make ends meet) that North Carolina legislators are taking a pretty risky gamble with their younger teachers. Right now I'm currently a fifth year teacher making what a 2nd year teacher made 3 years ago. The problem is that gas doesn't cost what it did 3 years ago. Groceries don't either. Recently my utilities went up 7.2 percent also. N...

Living in North Carolina during March can be tough, especially if you aren't a basketball fan. And if you tell someone in North Carolina that you don't like basketball, they act like you've just said that you don't like Cheerwine, Krispy Kreme, or Jesus. In North Carolina people don't just love basketball. They devour it. They plan their entire month of March around it, scheduling surgeries during the NCAA tournament so they can miss work and watch basketball, or unscheduling birthday parties and weddings so they can do the same.They indoctrinate their children and dress them in onesies and bibs dedicated to a specific team. They raise flags in their yards, and put stickers on their cars in support of their team. They wear the same color everyday for weeks and talk junk to friends, family, coworkers, strangers in line at the pharmacy. It's called March Madness for a reason. Trying to explain why I don't like March Madness is difficult. Before I star...