#alternative school

For this reason, I am trying to raise money to put together a new reading area in my classroom. In the past the reading area has been the built in shelves and a carpet with a cushion and some reading buddies, however many of my students struggle to find books they are interested in because there is no room for book bins and therefore, there is no clear system for finding books. There are also books that students are unable to reach due to lack of space on the lower shelves.

My goal is to create a whole new reading area for the students with book bins, lower shelves, and a clear system to find books that might interest them. There is a link attached to this post that will take you to the donation page. If you are not able to donate, please share this post so that others can see it.

Thank you.

I used to have frequent panic attacks as a kid, usually due to OCD or autism, and my school directly made it worse and worse. Today in class, I had a panic attack, went outside the classroom, and just stayed in one spot until it was over. I felt like I was going to explode, my thoughts had gone out of control and I felt terrified, I didn’t want anyone’s eyes on me, I wanted quiet, so I just moved outside to an environment where I could calm down in silence. No harm done at all. No one batted an eye when they walked past me, even if it looked a little strange for an adult to be sitting with their knees to their chest for twenty minutes. I was treated with more grace as an adult than I was as a child/teenager.

*(note that I will be using therapeutic school(s)/alternative school(s) interchangeably)

**(also note that some of these are from personal experience)

"You don't have to do work at alternative schools" This is the biggest one I've noticed, especially spread on TikTok. This is just... blatantly untrue. Even during summer programs, you've got to do schoolwork and homework (although homework is pretty uncommon). We're not just sitting around playing games and scrolling on our phones and drawing; we have things to do.

"You can't get a high school diploma at a therapeutic school" Just like regular American public schools, you can graduate and get into colleges normally. I've had people who don't do well in public school settings tell me that they "don't want to attend a therapeutic school, because they want to graduate normally". (To be honest, I take a little bit of offense to this, since it kind of implies I'm just getting away with being lazy... which brings me to my next point)

"Kids at alternative schools are lazy or stupid". To put it bluntly, kids at alternative schools aren't lazy or stupid. Alternative schools are easy for us in the same way public school is easy for you. Most kids in public schools are able to get work done, come to class, participate, and get good grades. Kids at alternative schools don't do well in these aspects at public schools, therapeutic schools make doing these things possible.

"All kids attending therapeutic schools are delinquents" Nope! Many (possibly even most) kids go to these schools simply because they have a hard time doing their work. Despite the name, therapeutic schools aren't just for kids with anger issues.

"Kids at alternative schools have intellectual disabilities" While it is true that some kids at therapeutic schools have intellectual disabilities, not all of them do. Most are there for other reasons.

"Alternative schools are very lonely" Not at all, actually. I've actually had an easier time making friends at my therapeutic schools than I have at public schools, and they tend to be more supportive and understanding than people at my old school

"Alternative school means you've failed at life" Even if this were true, these types of schools would help you pick yourself back up from rock bottom and start from the top. It's like a brand new page in a book, or even a whole new story.

i can't believe i'm starting at an alternative school tomorrow! like, holy shit. it's a new environment, for sure — it got me immensely overwhelmed to the point where i started crying. but they have therapy dogs there, a short schedule (by 2 hours, but also i don't move rooms at all during the day), and i won't be able to even bring my phone or disposable vapes onto the campus. they can tell if i do with the metal detector placed in the entrance. but this is way better for me, even if i can't smoke in the bathrooms and spam my mom's number when i get stressed. i have a million problems with public school and how it works, so i guess this is a welcome change. my mom even raised the idea of a hybrid schedule — me being home on wednesdays specifically — if i get too stressed with being in a different school. does anyone have, like. tips for accepting being newly enrolled in an american alternative school? specifying american because i don't really know if they're the same everywhere else. i don't know what my new classes would be, and if they're even the same.

i just know that if i don't go for 75% of the remaining days in the semester, i'll be automatically enrolled back in my normal high school. but i really want to give this alternative schooling thing a try. it might give me a chance to graduate

Hey Ghouls! wake up new Bram Stoker!

I'm probably the last one to know, but a new short story by Bram Stoker has been uncovered from the archives! (Archival documents make me so happy)

SPOILERS BE AHEAD! If you have not gotten a chance to consume this piece of media, you can listen to it here. I couldn't find a written format, so this is the way I consumed it!

The audiobook I linked is really well done, although I would not pronounce 'gibbet' like that- maybe I'm just American, but it sounds too much like 'giblet'.

Shout out to Brian Cleary for discovering this 134 year old document! Almost as old as myself!

CW: I will be talking about racist and objectifying themes. I am also oversimplifying a lot of this because this is Tumblr, so feel free to add onto this!

ANYWAYS. Here's my review!

This story was decently entertaining, especially with the novelty on this new discovery! This ghost story was entertaining to listen to as I did my makeup this morning. The minor sexism at the end over the Wife was so over the top I found it amusing; "What should I do, husband!!". I enjoyed the plot a whole lot, I didn't find it too scary, but also I almost never find media scary. I also found like this magical-supernatural element really intriguing, and the snake part was cool (also sad).

Within I want to say the first third of the story, Stoker makes some racist comments. I believe he says something like "If these Indian girls were of European descent, they would be around 13, but because they are Indian, they are likely much younger." erm weirdo alert...?

This is seriously racist, objectifying, dehumanizing, among many other things. This is unfortunately very common in gothic literature- and none of these kinds of details are ever pertinent to the story! Like ever! I suppose that within a antique lens it's like a trope, comparatively Carmilla also had this similar thing.

You can make an argument that this is like, "of the time", and that this way of thinking is a product of the culture, but that's not the purpose of this post, maybe one day I'll do some kind of cool social-historical analysis, but not right now. For this post, I want to focus about how this effects the current day-- I'm not a historian!

How I consume gothic media with a critical lens:

Because a lot of our "classics" contain horrible stuff, it's incredibly important that we are anti-racist, call out the racism in gothic literature, and are open to stories that break barriers and stuff like that (I know that some stories regarding the harm of minorities are deemed "not scary enough" because we are so desensitized to this type of harm within western culture.) I'd say that we can be desensitized to harm against women as well, it is different however because that desensitization is inherently rooted to the objectification and sexualization of women. ESPECIALLY the sexualization of violence against women. But that's a little off topic for this post.

So, when we look at Ham Stroker's Gibbet Hill or any gothic media, we have to really like think of it in an oppositional way, and have that be an element besides our enjoyment. Or, I suppose, when we come across these uncomfortable plots we shouldn't be clutching our pearls at it- but we shouldn't also become desensitized to it.

I guess I don't actually care if you want to cross out/otherwise ignore the slurs or racist comments in books like Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite, but to ignore like this major horrible thing is entirely against what we as a subculture stand for.

Music Reccomendation: Voodoo Voodoo by LaVern Baker

You can come at me and say this isn't goth music but I'd argue that it's the earliest predecessor! Voodoo Voodoo was published before Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put a Spell on You, which it seems everybody and their mom seems to claim was the first song with 'gothic lyricism'. I also feel that this style of music was the predecessor for many gothabilly/spooky rockabilly music of the 60s and 70s.

As always, Thanks for Reading!