I heard a few things today.
None of them were great.
Welcome to teacher inservice days.
How can students care about learning where a comma goes or why Algebra 3 is relevant to their lives, if they're tired or hungry or sad or distracted and already don't care about school?
High school students face hundreds of problems, every day: Parents, siblings, substance abuse, domestic abuse, mental health issues, racism, sexism, homophobia, ignorance, bullying, entitlement, apathy.
The structure of high school boils down to this: bells, every 50 minutes. So incredibly annoying. Students and teachers treated like cattle. Teachers encouraged to treat students like little idiots. They can't go to the bathroom without permission and require a pass to be in the hallway, but they are expected to act like adults. It's all double-speak. High school is very much about control, both bodily and intellectually.
Even being a teacher is often a pain in the ass, even though I know it was my calling, Teaching is a TRAP. I can't quit, because I can't afford to. I will have nothing, and I will lose what I already have. I'm exhausted and tapped. There are three AP English teachers at my school, and I have literally NO idea what they teach, because the school 'assumes' the 'upper level' teachers and students don't need help or a supportive community. They are WRONG.
The education system needs to be fundamentally changed. Get students out sooner. Have more independent studies and online courses of substance for upperclassmen, so they know how to manage their time in college or in the work force. High school - in the 'old-fashioned' way - is a joke.
Colleges are essentially just like corporate medicine or big pharma. They only care about profit, and high schools are feeding their students to these greedy, corporate institutions. (Embarrassing.)
We HAVE to find a better way for our country.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Medica: A Middle Finger to Americans
I have some mafia-negotiated insurance though my union job. I have 80/20 for most things, plus a co-pay, and then (of course) any "specialty" doctor costs more. (And god help me if I accidentally go out of network.) So I guess I'm doing pretty good, except for the fact that I can't afford to actually go to the doctor, because nothing is free, even though I pay $600/month.
So, Medica is a new concept to me. I don't have it, but my boyfriend and my daughter both do. And they both get fucked. A lot. In the not-fun way.
My daughter had surgery on both of her feet, under MY insurance, and it didn't work. She still can't walk. Now that she has Medica, her next, necessary surgery is absolutely unaffordable. No way in hell will she get that surgery. I can't help her pay, and she exists far below the poverty line.
My boyfriend had to buy market-place Medica. He has Type 1 diabetes. Medica doesn't pay for his insulin. Let me just repeat that one more time: MEDICA DOESN'T PAY FOR HIS INSULIN!! Insulin is the one, fucking thing that keeps him alive, and this piece of shit company refuses to pay for ANY of it. Of course, they'll pay a portion of his Percocet prescription, because pharmaceutical companies need to make bank, but not for essential, life-saving medication.
(Oh, and they dropped him RIGHT AFTER HE HAD HIS FOOT AMPUTATED, without any previous warning that his insurance didn't go through. So he got up, pulled his own IV out, and hopped to his truck and drove home. Fucking predatory corporate medicine and insurance companies.)
I'm not saying that all Americans should have free health insurance, but all Americans should have affordable access to health care. Rich people should NOT get better care than people who have a regular job. Most people don't have a savings account balance, let alone a pile of money to shell out for medical procedures. And on a fundamental level, a large percentage of Americans can't afford physical therapy and mental health services. My own children don't want to go to the doctor when they're ill, because they can't afford the leftover 20% and the cost of medication, even after insurance. I am a a single parent, so I can't pay the after-bills for three people. I can barely afford my own.
Bottom line: American health care sucks right now. People are suffering everywhere. No wonder there's an opioid epidemic - the numbness from the drugs takes away the real-time pain of life. Maybe if the government would control insurance companies, big pharma, and corporate medicine, Americans could afford to take care of themselves. Until then, American's are just going to get worse, all because of the mighty dollar.
So, Medica is a new concept to me. I don't have it, but my boyfriend and my daughter both do. And they both get fucked. A lot. In the not-fun way.
My daughter had surgery on both of her feet, under MY insurance, and it didn't work. She still can't walk. Now that she has Medica, her next, necessary surgery is absolutely unaffordable. No way in hell will she get that surgery. I can't help her pay, and she exists far below the poverty line.
My boyfriend had to buy market-place Medica. He has Type 1 diabetes. Medica doesn't pay for his insulin. Let me just repeat that one more time: MEDICA DOESN'T PAY FOR HIS INSULIN!! Insulin is the one, fucking thing that keeps him alive, and this piece of shit company refuses to pay for ANY of it. Of course, they'll pay a portion of his Percocet prescription, because pharmaceutical companies need to make bank, but not for essential, life-saving medication.
(Oh, and they dropped him RIGHT AFTER HE HAD HIS FOOT AMPUTATED, without any previous warning that his insurance didn't go through. So he got up, pulled his own IV out, and hopped to his truck and drove home. Fucking predatory corporate medicine and insurance companies.)
I'm not saying that all Americans should have free health insurance, but all Americans should have affordable access to health care. Rich people should NOT get better care than people who have a regular job. Most people don't have a savings account balance, let alone a pile of money to shell out for medical procedures. And on a fundamental level, a large percentage of Americans can't afford physical therapy and mental health services. My own children don't want to go to the doctor when they're ill, because they can't afford the leftover 20% and the cost of medication, even after insurance. I am a a single parent, so I can't pay the after-bills for three people. I can barely afford my own.
Bottom line: American health care sucks right now. People are suffering everywhere. No wonder there's an opioid epidemic - the numbness from the drugs takes away the real-time pain of life. Maybe if the government would control insurance companies, big pharma, and corporate medicine, Americans could afford to take care of themselves. Until then, American's are just going to get worse, all because of the mighty dollar.
Monday, October 7, 2019
You Can Love It or You Can Leave It
My friend is dying.
I know we are all dying.
His death is more imminent, physically. Mine is more of a slow, mental roll.
He lost part of his foot yesterday, not because of his Type 1 Diabetes, but because he got bitten by a brown recluse ... staph infection ... bone marrow infection ... bone death. On the "good" foot. The one which hasn't had several stints and an M-POP. Fucking irony, for sure.
Here is a truth about that man. He has been a Christ-figure since the day I met him. I remember the day I met him. My high school boyfriend was being a lying whore (again), and he broke up with me in a driveway. I cried. A car pulled up with two boys I'd never seen before. One was this guy. He was a fucking champion that night. A super nice guy (a phrase which would piss him off, if he read any of my writing). But once you meet your brother-in-arms, you know who he or she is. They will do almost anything for you. Sneak you into concerts, talk down security guards, run from the police by your side, break you out of jail when you get caught. This man is part of my karass, just ask Kurt Vonnegut.
One of us is going to die. Actually, both of us are going to die, but it's a matter of who first. His problems are on the level - on the outside; my problems are in my head, spreading to the rest of me. Malignant .
"Somehow we gotta find a way, no matter how many miles it takes, I know it feels so good right now, but it all comes fallin' down, when the night meet the light, turn to day. I wouldn't wait forever, just shoot your shot. We don't need no more more extras. We all we got."
... said Mac Miller. And then he died.
I know we are all dying.
His death is more imminent, physically. Mine is more of a slow, mental roll.
He lost part of his foot yesterday, not because of his Type 1 Diabetes, but because he got bitten by a brown recluse ... staph infection ... bone marrow infection ... bone death. On the "good" foot. The one which hasn't had several stints and an M-POP. Fucking irony, for sure.
Here is a truth about that man. He has been a Christ-figure since the day I met him. I remember the day I met him. My high school boyfriend was being a lying whore (again), and he broke up with me in a driveway. I cried. A car pulled up with two boys I'd never seen before. One was this guy. He was a fucking champion that night. A super nice guy (a phrase which would piss him off, if he read any of my writing). But once you meet your brother-in-arms, you know who he or she is. They will do almost anything for you. Sneak you into concerts, talk down security guards, run from the police by your side, break you out of jail when you get caught. This man is part of my karass, just ask Kurt Vonnegut.
One of us is going to die. Actually, both of us are going to die, but it's a matter of who first. His problems are on the level - on the outside; my problems are in my head, spreading to the rest of me. Malignant .
"Somehow we gotta find a way, no matter how many miles it takes, I know it feels so good right now, but it all comes fallin' down, when the night meet the light, turn to day. I wouldn't wait forever, just shoot your shot. We don't need no more more extras. We all we got."
... said Mac Miller. And then he died.
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