My journey into teaching, four years late

I am a preschool teacher.

This is my “alone zone.”

At any time of the day, if my kids are feeling stressed, they can go here to cool down. There’s stress toys, silly putty, bubbles, sensory bottles…there’s books and headphones to block out the loud noises.

The only thing they have to do is “check in” by putting their picture on which emotion they’re feeling so I know how I can help them when they’re ready.

Kids. Need. Space.

Kids. Need. Coping. Mechanisms.

Not. Time-outs.

How and Why Did Sexism Start

A nice answer written by Elliot Jackson

Early humans operated in what is known as Hunter-gatherer societies. By and large, the men in these societies, being physically stronger, handled the hunting bit, while women and children gathered nuts, berries and the like. In many places, however, men and women had comparative rights and were fiercely equiliatarian. Marriage wasn’t really a thing yet, and humans as one large group banded together, sharing the responsibilities of caring for children and elders. In many Hunter-gatherer societies, women could and did take on leadership roles.

Then came the Neolithic Revolution. People started settling down in one place and farmed for the first time. And suddenly, gender differences became more relevant than ever before. Farming required intense labor, and while that didn’t mean women couldn’t work, it did mean that men gradually started taking care of more outside responsibility, leaving women to care for the home and children. And there were suddenly a lot of children. Farming, it turned out, was quite efficient compared to the old ways. It became possible to amass surplus food and resources. This meant children were easier to feed, and the demands of farm labor motivated people to have more to help with the work. With so many children, women’s options decreased dramatically.

And suddenly we have writing. The first writing was developed to keep track of the first taxes, paid to whoever was in charge and had enough potential clout to persuade people to pay up. Boom. Bureaucracy. Soon there’s written law codes to follow.

Meanwhile, we’re amassing possessions and growing quite possessive of our land, both as a place to store our stuff and a place to grow things. As surplus food allowed some members of society to specialize as potters, smiths, or government officials, keeping up that surplus, maintaining the status quo, and paying taxes grew in importance. And suddenly we have a problem. Who inherits?

It’s important to ensure that your bloodline continues, but not all your kids even look like you, and your wife is a bit too friendly with Mr. Jones down the road. There were no paternity tests in the Neolithic time. There seemed to be only one solution. Laws that severely punish adultery appear, as well as further laws to restrict what women do and where they go so their husbands can be certain of whom the kids they pop out belong to. Marriages are more strictly defined along with dowries. With that comes increased social stigma around men that cannot find wives and women who do not marry young. Choosing not to marry is a ridiculous notion. Who will take over the family land, and all the pride and tradition that comes with it? Who will feed you when you grow too old to work if you have no children? There is no social welfare.

Early gathering wasn’t as easy as people think. Digging out massive roots and carrying heavy bushels while also toting around a baby was tough work. Women would even do so while pregnant or recovering from pregnancy, which were difficult challenges in of themselves. And though men did the dangerous job of hunting, meat was scarce; our early ancestors would only have meat once or twice a week. But they would have fruits, vegetables, roots, etc. daily, making women the primary “breadwinners”, so to say.

Women had a lot of power in early society. They survived pregnancy, bore the agony of childbirth, and would jump right back into being the main breadwinners. All while still having the upper hand when it came to sex; men would do anything in order to reproduce with a healthy, desirable woman. And women would get whatever resources they wanted in return (e.g. more meat, better shelter, perhaps a chance of having another strong baby with him). And this power scared men. So over time, they responded by pushing women down and overcompensating so they too could be powerful.

You could even get into the whole womb envy theory, where men were jealous of women’s ability to create life, so they responded by constantly trying to create bigger and better things. But they wouldn’t be satisfied until they could truly create life.

So this just happened! Scary clouds passing through Anna, Illinois

iuriebelegurschi

Licensed 🎥 video by Maranda Marie Benefield 

You can install on your tablets, laptops and browers etc, so not only can you change things like documents into it, you can change websites into that font as well! 

For computer reading, when you mix up lines of text, there’s a web browser app called Beeline Reader. It looks like this

it’s time to talk about a weird animal again here at bunjywunjy dot tumblr dot com (my house), and what better way to begin the new year than with an inspirational survivor to motivate us all with its sheer bullheaded tenacity?

you see, this animal has been around a very, very, very, VERY long time. 

it’s called the Coelacanth, and it’s your grandma.

SEE-la-kanth. say it right sonny, my ears aren’t what they used to be

Coelacanths are the oldest form of lobe-finned fishes on the planet. their  relatives first appeared 400 million years ago, and immediately made themselves famous by being the very first vertebrates to wiggle onto dry land. (they immediately wiggled right the fuck back into the water, as they had forgotten to evolve lungs first)

these fishes later evolved those weirdly buff fins into actual legs and developed into the first true land animals, though tragically they lack the Coelacanth’s roguish sense of style.

there’s a lot of stumpy little legs in this picture

while these lobe-finned fish did go on to become literally all land-dwelling vertebrates ever INCLUDING YOU, the Coelacanth was content to retain its fishy shape and continue on as it always had. for 400 fucking million years. 

they probably barely even noticed all those major extinction events. meteor who?

it’s coelaCAN, not coelaCAN’T.

today, Coelacanths are still more closely related to you than they are to most other fish. think of it as the weird cousin that never gets invited to the mammal family reunion.

the Coelacanth’s relationship to land vertebrates has long been known from fossils, but Science believed it had gone extinct sometime in the Cretaceous period more than 60 million years ago. so imagine Science’s surprise when a live Coelacanth was pulled up by a fishing trawler in 1938, off the coast of South Africa.

surpriiiiiiise! bet you thought you’d seen the last of me

this makes them the first ever example of a Lazarus Taxon (which is an absolutely badass phrase that would make a damn good name for a rock band), meaning it’s an evolutionary line we thought was extinct but they lived, bitch.

today, the Coelacanth is known to live in the Indian and South African oceans, where they thrive in deep water far away from the prying eyes of their nosy hairless ape relatives. 

they are mostly active at night and can grow to be 6 and a half feet long, and live more than 60 years. they don’t have much personality, but BOY are they tenacious.

I make up for it with my stunning good looks

Coelacanths mostly drift with the current, eating whatever happens to pass by that’s smaller than they are. this just goes to show that laziness does pay off in the long run! 

it’s a valid survival strategy, MOM.

Coelacanths don’t have many natural predators, as they taste completely disgusting. sharks are pretty much the only predator who will give it a try, but sharks also eat outboard motors and license plates so that’s really not saying much.

all that aside, these ancient fish can motivate us to face the challenges of the new year. just remember, if a weird fish with demi-legs can survive for 400 million years on the benefits of laziness and just being kind of weird and disgusting, so can you!