4:30 But it doesn't count

It doesn't count because I was also up for a tiny bit at 2:00. Still, not bad. My shoulder doesn't hurt as much as it used too. It still does hurt though, even right now it hurts. So, I am again waiting for the meds to kick in. This time I took two muscle relaxers and 4 motrin. So,I think that should help. I wonder if I will write in this blog when I finally sleep through the whole night again. I wonder if I will ever sleep through the whole night again.... it has been a while now.

You know what is weird? Reading about your job in the newspaper every week. Reading about peoples' animosity toward, and support of you in the same little article. It is like I am stuck right in the middle of a war that I have very little, personally to do with. The district had a school meeting that hundreds of people went to. the district is doing very bad things... they are eliminating art, music and gym from all of the elemetary schools. I am pissed about it. I really am. But, the towns refuse to fund the schools. It seems like they always have. So, what is the school supposed to do. I just feel like it is such a stupid argument. If you wan't those things in school, you are going to have to pay to have them. I just think that the idea that people have to pay teachers is repellent to most people and they think that we have to work for free. It is the same with police and town workers. People like to pretend that money just appears for those services. I am so upset that Henry may not get music and art in school. I am going to have to put him in classes outside of what school offers... which is a niche market right now by the way, if you want to make some money, make an after school program that teaches art and music for an hour...

One lady at the meeting delcared that the country is in a depression and that the teachers should feel the weight of that. OK... I understand her sentiment, but it isn't thought through very well. What I do is mandatory. Its not like a company that sells things and then can't sell as much because we are in a depression. There are still going to be kids coming to school in the middle of the depression, and in Rutland, that number is growing dramatically every year. Its like the trash guys, if you lay off the trash guys because there is a depression, all you get is more trash stinking up your yard. So, all you are really doing is changing the kind of education the kids recieve. And I hate the way that is changing. The teachers all voted to not recieve any raises next year...a thing that I voted for even though I am poor. I think that was a pretty big give on my part. It was actually huge but no one understands that.

There are also people that are supporters of education and they are passionate about that too. and in between all of this is me. And all I want to do is teach kids how to write better, and to be payed well for doing that in an environment that is good for it. It is a war that is going on. The school has no money and I keep reading the same sentence over and over.... "This is only the beginning."