Update on the Strike

Today went so much better. I fell out of bed this morning (no, I'm serious, my legs collapsed and I landed on the floor) and I was almost late, but from there things went well. I ran into an old student when I was getting coffee and ended up chatting with the elderly gentleman he was sitting with. The man wanted to ask me some questions about the strike since I was a teacher. It went so well. We were getting a lot of thumbs down from the old men we saw yesterday. But I answered his questions and he said he felt much better about the strike and he wanted to know that he supports us and what we're doing for kids and he's going to tell all his neighbors what I told him so that they understand too. Yay!!

Today went much faster than yesterday. We got tons of honks even though the PTA asked parents not to honk or bring us water/cookies because they want to remain neutral (so...because the PTA..the Parent/Teacher association, by the way...wants to remain neutral, they won't let parents honk to encourage us!?!). We jazzed up our picket signs with bubble wrap (seriously, you have no idea what a difference bubble wrap makes!) and had unofficial contests at who could make theirs the most visually appealing while retaining comfort.

We also increased our standings in the old man vote and the sports car vote, eliciting 4 times the number of waves/honks as yesterday. We did have one vigorous head shake (seriously, the hair was flying...she wasn't happy) and I got told to, "Get back to work, you bum." I felt better when Jeremy yelled at him (after he was out of earshot) to get a haircut.

I now really like the Science department. I had wonderful conversations with my colleagues today. I was talking more than I was not talking. For most of you, this isn't that surprising, but for my colleages it was like, "Wow! She talks!" I talked with Heather about fears, with a counselor about living in Kirkland (since she lives here too!), to 3 different science teachers about politics (a WHOLE 'nother story), with Ed about our classes, with Fernando about living in Washington and his 4-year-old son's burgeoning career as a photographer (seriously, he's been with us both days and that kid is crazy with a camera!), with Jen about growing up in Nebraska and with everyone about how the media is our worst enemy.

The science teachers are VERY far apart from me politically but I actually had very reasonable and positive political discussions with all three of them. I had no idea that the science teachers were so into politics. But, seriously! I had Jeremy (Environmental Science) ask me if I had been watching the conventions, since he already knows I teach Govt. I had a great conversation with him and by the end of the day I had had a conversation with two or three others. They overheard our conversations and I think they thought I was a bit of an anomaly. There aren't many republican teachers here. I was very pleased with myself because I was able to hold my own and we actually found out we had a lot in common, and I think they found that I was pretty reasonable in my approach to the candidates and issues. This is good because when I talk about politics with some people (one in particular) in my own department I get attacked.

The best part of the day was when groups of students slowly descended on us. Now, they didn't come in droves but over the course of the day we ended up with about 20 different students who came of their own accord to help us picket. Some just picked up strike signs and others had made their own. "We trust our teachers!" "Our teachers know what's best!" School reporters came to take pictures and interview us, getting ready for when we get back to school. I met a few of my new students. They walked up and down the lines cheering, waving at the traffic, and saying hello and cheering us on. What great kids!

When we finished today it felt so much shorter than yesterday, and even though I'm getting pretty sunburned, my legs refuse to walk on flat ground and I limp like I'm some kind of strike casualty, and even though the media still doesn't like us and the community is split over how they feel about the strike...I felt good.

I even got to spend the evening catching up on national politics and watching the convention, John Stewart, and Stephen Colbert. Normally I wouldn't have much time to do that, but today I got to relax after all my work on the lines today.

However, I still hope this thing is wrapped up within the week. Pray for our bargaining teams, that they can reach a fair consensus.

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