Author: Joanna T Witulski

Road Rage…Common Sense

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This post is not really about road rage…although it can lead to one based on people not having common sense when they are on the road. It can happen far too often to show some resemblance to road rage and perhaps taking it out on the wrong person.

Here follows:

  • Never ever park or wait in line on the railroad tracks.  Seriously, a slow or fast moving train cannot stop in time. GET OFF THE TRACKS! Yes, even when you are ‘waiting’ in line!
  • When it is foggy outside, whether you can see only 15 feet or a quarter mile, TURN ON YOUR *&%&( LIGHTS!  Even your fog lights too! (https://www.weather.gov/safety/fog-driving)
  • Folks: there is a slow lane, average speed (even with a plus 5 mph) and a fast lane. The fast lane is actually called a PASSING LANE. That means do not stay on this lane the entire time and drive vvvvvveeeeeeerrrrrryyyyyyy ssssslllllllooooooowwwwwww. One moves from the middle or slow lane (depending on the number of lanes) to pass a vehicle. And MOVES BACK TO THE MIDDLE OR SLOW LANE!  Seriously, most Illinois people are guilty of this and Indiana has a law….. https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/indianas-slow-lane-law-work-150005/  Move over for the tailgating cars, trucks, or even a turtle that is driving faster than you.
  • Sometimes people move over because they need/want to pass a vehicle in front of them, when they use a blinker, it does not always mean that one has to drive faster than the car wanting to pass and the vehicle in front of the car. SLOW DOWN a bit, will ya?  Couresty does not hurt anyone, who knows maybe karma will pay it forward for you.
  • For whatever reason, do not brake immediately in front of the car (especially when there’s no vehicle in front of one’s car) just because you are royally pissed off that they forgot to use the blinker or is weaving on the road. The rear car is almost always at fault, despite the front car being an arse. Road rage does not look pretty at the end. Who knows why these things happen, MOVE ON!

That is all I have now. Who knows I will update. I am sure we all have those moments.

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P.S. It’s Not a Good Idea

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curtains move apart, two hands hold
deep breath, your mind hold
this luxurious machine your future hold

your future alone?
choices yours alone?
consequences yours alone?

reverent steps ahead
hands brace ahead
the heart braces ahead

hands churn
eyes churn
mind churn

old days begone
future days become
presently bespun

you complete
Machine complete
mind complete

Curtains move apart, two hands hold
unsteady, legs cannot hold
will the color hold?

heart beats fast
breathe fast
mind whirs fast

blindly choose the color
one color, yes one color
you, one color

national suicide
state suicide
political suicide

why are you sorry?

Joanna T Witulski 2 Comments

After an interesting development in June, I have yet to announce something. The reason why I have held back is because “Oh, I’m sorry.”  Discussing with one of my bosses and my husband, both are of the same agreement that it is instinctive and automatic that one responds “I’m sorry” to something that they have no control over.

It is like hearing someone say “I’m sorry” when one announces that one is deaf. Why are you sorry? What did you do that constitutes an apology?  Accidentally tripping someone and saying “I’m sorry” is genuine compared to being sorry that one is deaf, white, or female – or also being a short person. Oh well.

apologies-are-great-but-they-dont-really-change-anything-you-know-what-does-action-quote-1

From picturequotes.com. I have a poster up in my classroom that I refer students to after they apologize.

The concept of ‘sorry’ has been overdone.  It feels like an excuse to justify someone’s feeling of awkwardness or whatever it is that they feel at the moment of the announcement.  Let’s take how students deal when they do something they should not have done. They come up to me and say “I’m sorry.”  It means nothing. See picture to the right.

Really, it does not.  The action behind the ‘sorry’ means more than the word itself. I guess that’s why I am not crazy about “I’m sorry”. How many false feelings have been shown over time when the word ‘sorry’ is used frequently?

Then one would ask “what else can we say?”  What about “shucks!”, “damn”, or a simple hug?  Disappointment is acceptable as well. After all, what we are, who we are, and the why we are, are a part of life and that experience is not necessarily something to apologize about.

So with this, my announcement is: I have stage 1 breast cancer. Work in progress.

The Front Line

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The fascinating thing in this world is how many businesses close shop claiming fiscal issues. Who gets paid the most after a business closes? Just so you know, this is one of the many interconnections between employment, costs of living, education and relative human condition, including the online concept.

The CEOs and the upper management in terms of bonuses and benefits.

Who loses?  The front line people who make the business run on their own time. They are kicked out with no benefits, extra dollars for their employment with the company and now they have to spend money that they do not have to find a job to replace a loss of income.  Some of them will be fortunate in finding a job quickly…if they are not too picky.

With a lot of physical businesses closing, many people are unable to find a job, forced to go back to school to get something that may not exist or count for a future job or basically live off welfare.

Each person in a place of business has a role to play, why so much disparity?  Without the front line people, whether in presence or online, keep the business running by dealing with the merchandise, people, resources and whatever the boss wants.

Out in the cold the front liners are thrown while their bosses reap the benefits off the back of their shirts. It is astonishing, really not all that surprising that the owner, CEOs, upper management would get the fiscal benefits while those who worked under them do not get anything, regardless the role they played in carrying the business.

I guess we are survivors. Yet why call us moochers?  We ‘hold’ the welfare system by taking their money (whose money to begin with? Our paychecks have deductibles for Social Security and Medicare, taxes and other potentials). If there is a problem with the increased amount of dependence on welfare, ask yourself why.

Most of us do not care what party you subscribe to, we all work hard one way or another. We carry the foundation of the company and are susceptible to higher ups’ whims.  If one wonders why a business is closing or slowing down, there will be multitude of reasons. Let me give you a real life example, look at how the owners and/or CEOs treat their employees. You can see why there are businesses that do not do well or are facing employee shortage.

I guess that is why I loved (many reasons) watching Star Trek – their concept of money is bartering and services.  Those hoo-man loving Ferengi do love their latinum to a cost.

Links:
Stunning Pay Disparity – Seattle Times
CEO Pay Ratio – Fortune
Honeywell Official CEO-worker pay ratio – LA Times
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio Revelation Concerns – The Washington Post
Why Companies Fear Releasing CEO-to-Workers Pay – Bloomberg Businessweek

The American Bilingual

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A story told during a meeting:

“I told a student who reached level 5 that they are now Americanized (or possibly ‘you are English’), they got upset.”

I nearly shook my head but my jaw dropped and naturally, no one would see that. I feel for the student who was told that they were Americanized because of English. It offended the person’s Hispanic/Latino heritage and Spanish fluency.

Why would a white woman be offended by this statement?  I am a bilingual person, one whose language is as oppressed as the American Spanish speaker.

I use American Sign Language.  I also use English. Fluently.

Oh no! America is not bilingual! The monolinguals stomp around and rant.

Wait, I should rephrase my title to ‘The United States Bilingual’.  America is actually North America, which compromises Canada and Mexico, effectively making the entire North America continent multilingual.

Why is the United States still so defiantly blind to reality!?

The student could have been told ‘you can add English to your list of languages you know fluently’ without demeaning their own heritage. One will be richer having more than one language rattling around inside their brain.

bilingual

RAH RAH RAH!

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Every time….

I devoted 8 and a half years to this sport and every time…

‘No it is not a sport.’

Seriously!?  Back in the days, we ran, we stretched, we suffered injuries, went through them and supported our schools and teams, competed and went to camp. Oh and yeah, we had practice!!!

And what?!  Not a sport. Let’s see, injuries that happened in our youth can affect us in our wise elder years. My knees hurt, sometimes I twinge my back and even my nose is affected from too many butts on them during seasons.

Hon’ folks… cheerleading is a sport.

Untitled

We were spirit leaders, we were equally expected to have excellent sportsmanship and to represent our schools well.

Not a sport?!?  I will drop a butt on your nose.

9/11

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Today is like any other day. Days blur.

I write 11 September when students ask to go to the bathroom or I write in assignments for the day as if nothing has passed since 2001. Then it will hit me, just for a second the weight of the event.

So far removed from the events of the day, it is easy to just let the days blur on by and make a quick remembrance for those who have died.  To be frank, on that day, I walked by the televisions on campus. I did not know of the Twin Towers, Pennsylvania fields and the Pentagon until I arrived on campus.

While I sympathize, I cannot empathize because the experience would be vastly different if I were at ground zero at any of those sites. I still have that weight, but not enough to stop for a minute or two to remember.

Events since that day has demonstrated the path the world is taking and that is a much scarier path we celebrate.  We accuse all Muslims for the actions of the radical few who destroyed lives for their beliefs. We accuse all dark-skinned people for the burden that they place upon us in voice of privilege. We accuse all people with disabilities for the burden of breaking down barriers.  We accuse those who speak a different native American language instead of acknowledging the humanity of the same.

What journey have we taken since 9/11 and where are we going? Are we going to stop for a moment or two and look within and realize that the accusations are our own as well?

It may be cold of me that day when I walked by the televisions – “It’s about time.”

via Daily Prompt: Sympathy

Eclipse: a journey of in between

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The last solar eclipse I totally remember was when I was a senior in high school. I was a science geek and I still am despite my battles with mathematics.  So teaching at high school (some years later…) and my class begged me in ASL to go outside. Naturally, we outside and I did some classwork jingling. It was also nice because I could informally introduce one lesson.

 

Anyhow back to point…the experience back in high school, I was able to share with my students such as the leaves on ground changing shapes (thicker trees are a bit more difficult to see through). My colander didn’t work too well…shucks!

Not so affected…
the difference at the eclipse.

Some classes came in and out and we were able to borrow the eclipse glasses to take some pictures. Then the clouds could filter the eclipse through.

Then of course, the temperature and wind changes. You can feel that change not only from outside but from within. That sense of a shift and how people behave.  A friend of mine said it is like during full moon. Enjoy the photos. There’s no superstition for eclipses, again we feel that shift in us, don’t we?

Photo courtesy of Michelle Fugate
Photo by me
Photo by student
Photo by student
Photo by me
Photo by me
Photo my me