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What the hell. I know what it would be and fucking HELL I could use it this morning.

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mariah carey is nearly defrosted and they're playing christmas music in shopping malls

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Cat, what do you suggest for someone who had a really bad day?

worry not for im know somebeody whom is expert in vanquishinge bad days

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🧑‍🎨 James Lewis

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Wilkins woke up and chose violence

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The only reason I am a teacher still is because I had the EXCEPTIONAL privilege of enough banked sick time, a spouse who carried the majority of our household expenses (including insurance), and a strong enough contract to guarantee I would have a position when I came back, that I could take the 2020-2021 school as unpaid medical leave to work intensely with my therapist on my badly spiraling anxiety and depression. Was something like that on the horizon anyway? Yeah most likely. Did the logistical and public perception shitshow that was COVID remote teaching push it from a “maybe I should” to “go full out paperwork now”? FUCK YES.

(Note: am in the US, not the UK, but there’s no way the same doesn’t apply here)

Also preserved on our archive

Intense public pressure on teachers to "get back to school" during the COVID-19 lockdowns deepened an already widespread sense that they were undervalued, and left some actively rethinking their careers, research shows.

The finding comes from newly published research, following on from an earlier study with a small group of primary and secondary teachers during lockdown. Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and York monitored the group for almost two years from March 2020, charting an overall decline in their wellbeing and mental health. In the new report, they show how this was linked to the portrayal of teachers amid wider debates about whether schools should lock down, and for how long.

While other frontline workers were lauded as 'heroes', teachers felt they were being left out of this narrative and even perceived as 'lazy', despite their key worker status, the study shows. In particular, continual news stories during mid-2020 clamouring for schools to reopen led some teachers to believe that parents, and wider society, thought they were neglecting their duties.

In reality, teachers were shouldering higher workloads as they adjusted to ever-changing government guidance. The researchers describe the aggregate effects of their public portrayal as "psychologically costly" and suggest it may have worsened a well-documented retention crisis in the profession.

"Although lots of parents may not have actually thought teachers were lazy, the nature of public discussion meant that teachers started to feel that was the case.

At the time, there was lots of praise for the NHS, delivery drivers, retail workers. Teachers were frontline workers too, but were often not part of the narrative. Constant headlines about getting them back to school made many teachers believe that people thought they were sitting at home doing nothing. This didn't cause the decline in teacher mental health, but it appears to have contributed to it."

Dr. Laura Oxley, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

The study arose from an earlier research project, 'Being a teacher in England during the COVID-19 pandemic' led by Dr Lisa Kim from the University of York. In it, researchers monitored a sample of 24 teachers, who were interviewed seven times between April 2020 - just after schools first closed - and July 2022. The mental health of the participants was found to have declined in that time. Alongside heavy workloads and ongoing uncertainty, teachers cited a creeping sense of "negative public perceptions" as a contributing factor.

In the new study, the team assessed whether this belief about perceptions was grounded in objective reality. They surveyed eight leading national newspapers, identifying 156 cases in which stories about COVID-19 and pre-16 education made front page news between March 2020 and January 2022.

These often either explicitly or implicitly suggested that teachers bore direct responsibility for school closures and other key developments in the education sector. Spikes in the coverage coincided almost exactly with when teachers reported sharp falls in their own mental health. While the decline was driven by the impact of events, the researchers suggest it was exacerbated by the news coverage.

The analysis focused on front page headlines because they reach a large audience, comprising both newspaper buyers and a 'passing' readership. Aside from stories about the handling of A-Levels, education made big headlines during the build-up to schools reopening in spring 2020, and the partial closures of January 2021.

Some explicitly criticised teachers for "demanding" that schools stay closed. More broadly, much-criticised national headlines called for teachers to be "heroes" by returning to schools while the health risks remained high, or reported the guidance of unions and doctors about whether they should do so.

The research suggests this constant discussion made teachers feel as though the public was waiting for them to make a decision about returning to the classroom, and that the longer they stayed away, the more they were seen to be 'failing' children.

Dr Lisa Kim, from the University of York's Department of Education, said: "There seems to be a relationship between the frequency of these headlines and teachers' own mental health. Though we cannot determine whether there is a causal relationship, it seems that it added to the pressure, particularly because some commentary seemed to be encouraging a blame culture."

This was confirmed by evidence gathered from the project participants and published in the preceding study. In interviews conducted in April and May 2020, for example, one told the researchers: "People think we're at home on full pay doing nothing, which is not great for your mental health." Later that summer, one teacher confessed: "There were times when I felt, and feel, that I've had enough. I don't want to do this anymore, because you can't see a light at the end of the tunnel."

Teachers emerged from the experience feeling underappreciated. In November 2020, after schools reopened, one told the team: "I was working really hard and it almost feels like what we've been doing hasn't really meant anything." They reported avoiding looking at social media because it was full of what one described as "teacher-bashing".

The researchers say these outcomes are a concern given the present teacher recruitment and retention crisis. Many teachers identify strongly with their job because they see it as rewarding and worthwhile, despite the modest pay. This was eroded during the pandemic, the researchers suggest, because of a deepening sense of being undervalued.

"It's striking that so little was said about the extraordinary efforts teachers were making," Oxley added. "The narratives we create matter, and we need to think carefully about this if we want to encourage more high-quality professionals into education."

The report is published in Psychology of Education Review.

Source: University of Cambridge

Journal reference: Oxley, L., & Kim, L. E. (2023). Newspapers’ portrayal of the teaching profession during the Covid-19 pandemic in England: A content analysis. Psychology of Education Review. doi.org/10.53841/bpsper.2023.47.2.41. explore.bps.org.uk/content/bpsper/47/2/41 (PAYWALLED)

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So I’ve been trying to find out why so many people think that the Jedi suppress their emotions, and I have a couple thoughts.

First, I’ve never felt anything weird about the way the Jedi treat and express emotions, but I’m not a very outwardly emotional person, and honestly it feels weird to see so many people react so negatively to characters who don’t express emotions “normally.”

Second, may I suggest that when we see the Jedi react to things, they aren’t suppressing/avoiding/bottling up/ignoring so much as…. reacting and processing their feelings very quickly and effectively? As a result of years of practice, training, and discipline? The mark of a very emotionally healthy person, in that they can process and then move on to decision making at high speeds? Many times we see Jedi characters quickly experience, process, close their eyes, take a deep breath, and take action, now clearheaded, and then process their feelings more deeply and fully later, when they have time.

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What to do now? A guide for uncertain times:

Right now: do something other than social media or reading the news. Play a game, pick up a hobby, go for a walk, try a new recipe, ground yourself in something. Let your brain process everything by putting it on the back burner, let it percolate. Remember that you do have a voice, that the worst thing you can do is check out, that the most radical thing you can do is be kind.

Next few weeks: Keep working on the things that bring you joy. Make plans for the future. Assess where you are and where you want to be — physically, mentally, personally, geographically. Schedule doctor’s appointments. Delete your Twitter. Make new friends, connect with old ones, talk to your neighbors, join a community group. If you have a supportive family, talk to them too. Donate to the ACLU. By propping up others, teaching others, reassuring others, you help yourself too. Find a mutual aid group. Keep your head up. Love yourself and don’t wallow in despair. Remember that you do have a voice, that the worst thing you can do is check out, that the most radical thing you can do is be kind.

Next few months: execute on the plans for the future. Keep going with those hobbies. Keep loving yourself. Read reliable, fact-based news. Delete your Twitter (for real this time). Bake bread for your neighbor. Celebrate the holidays. Buy concert tickets as far out as you can, give yourself things to look forward to. Volunteer at a community center. Take a class. Teach others about how us queers and faggots are just people too. Remember that you do have a voice, that the worst thing you can do is check out, that the most radical thing you can do is be kind.

Next 6 months: Keep executing your plans. Write your representatives. Plant a little garden. Learn an instrument. Go to a zoo. Keep reading fact-based news (AP, Reuters, ProPublica, NPR even though it’s a bit biased to the left). Donate to the ACLU. When the sun comes out, get some bread, cheese, apples, and grapes, put them in a basket, go for a gay little picnic. Don’t make another Twitter account. Stock up on meds. Learn a new TTRPG. Pick up a fibrecraft. Remember that you do have a voice, that the worst thing you can do is check out, that the most radical thing you can do is be kind.

Next 4 years: make little baby steps to move towards your plans. Keep building relationships. Vote in local elections. Donate to the ACLU. Volunteer for state or national elections. Recognize that you live in a stupendously large country with assloads of diversity. Love yourself. Lift up other people. Remember that you do have a voice, that the worst thing you can do is check out, that the most radical thing you can do is be kind.

Shit is going to be really really rough for many many people. But if you’re reading this, you can’t give up, you can’t give in, you have to keep going. If you’re trans, if you’re queer, if you’re a freak and a faggot, you have to live.

Full disclaimer that I live in western Washington state, I’m white, I have a tremendous amount of privilege. I do my damndest to help people and use my own privilege to help others. I’m not perfect nor infallible, but reach out if you need something.

And if you’re still reading this, I love you.

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A Song Of Mice And Fire

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hope is a skill

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Reblog to hug prev poster (they need a hug)

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do you play Wordle, Connections, or other NYT daily puzzles?

The New York Times Tech Guild is asking you to break your streak to support their strike!

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A lot of people, especially adults, are put off trying things out of fear of failing. Learning to accept and even enjoy being bad at things can often be the first step in a new passion.

For what it’s worth, I wasn’t one of those people who picked up a bow and was a natural from the start. I had overly mobile elbows, and my dominant eye and hand don’t match up. But that lack of expectation meant that I was able to do it the way I enjoyed it, without worrying about scores or results. And over time, enjoyment turned into passion, and I like to think I’ve developed some amount of skill.

But even if I was terrible at it, I��d still be doing this, because I love it!

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This is an always reblog. :)

odin is like “when thor was born the sun shone bright upon his beautiful face. i found loki on the sidewalk outside a taco bell”