all bunny

i went to our state's capital today

on a cute omega bus

with a bunch of other teachers, many of them chapter leaders from brooklyn.

to my non-teacher readers, a chapter leader is your school's UFT rep.

the UFT is the united federation of teachers, or the NYC teacher's union.

we're a unionized bunch, which in many ways works for us, but in many ways keeps us down.

what other professions are unionized?

steelworkers, miners, teamsters, truckers, firefighters, police, transit workers, painters, etc.

what professions are un-unionized?

doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, bankers, etc.

notice trends?

teachers have trouble breaking the 'professional' barrier and some say the union is to blame.

but in a profession where there is no standard cookie-cutter product, the union helps out a lot.

we pay them a little under $80 a month

they give us dental insurance, a free pair of glasses every two years, and the security that if something goes wrong on the job, they'll back us up.

they're on our side with just about anything just short of child abuse. they even back you up when the child abuses you. which happens - frequently.

so i went to our state capital today to lobby our legislators to keep their promises not to cut funding, to help improve class size by mandating it be made smaller, to keep a functioning SAVE room in all schools, to continue developing a technical program in addition to standard high schools, and to give special ed kids the supports they are mandated.

it was an interesting time to be in albany, due to all of the spitzer bru ha ha going on, in fact there was a joint session of the senate and the general assembly. spitzey was nowhere to be seen. i'm sure he's groveling to his wife right about now.

that's where i'd be anyway. not that i'd ever have to. cuz i wouldn't do it. but if i did, i would hope i wouldn't be forced to resign from my job for it.

yeah, i guess i'm all for the decriminalization and legalization of prostitution.

recession? what recession? we all have to make a living somehow.

who are you to judge?