Eric Pennala

[OKC THUNDER @okcthunder]

Draft night keepsakes up for grabs 🧢

Repost for a chance to win a 2026 Thunder Draft hat signed by Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz 🤩

Rules & regulations 📲 https://t.co/VDlChkOzYM

[Eric Pennala @epenn428]

@bigjayoakerson @TheBonfireSXM @robertkelly @ChristineMEvans

[Aspersion Caster @AspersionCaster]

No one knew who he was before the roast so it makes sense that he would still be podcasting about it a month later

[Eric Pennala @epenn428]

Do you remember when you joined X? I do! #MyXAnniversary

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

The US Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters flew straight through Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, capturing an incredible view from inside the storm’s eye.

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

A deer with dwarfism

[Travis Akers 🇺🇸 @travisakers]

A message from a Kindergarten teacher:

After forty years in the classroom, my career ended with one small sentence from a six-year-old:

“My dad says people like you don’t matter anymore.”

No sneer. No malice. Just quiet honesty — the kind that cuts deeper because it’s innocent. He blinked, then added, “You don’t even have a TikTok.”

My name is Mrs. Clara Holt, and for four decades, I taught kindergarten in a small Denver suburb. Today, I stacked the last box on my desk and locked the door behind me.

When I started teaching in the early 1980s, it felt like a promise — a shared belief that what we did mattered. We weren’t rich, but we were valued. Parents brought warm cookies to parent nights. Kids gave you handmade cards with hearts that didn’t quite line up. Watching a child sound out their first sentence felt like magic.

But that world slowly slipped away. The job I once knew has been replaced by exhaustion, red tape, and a kind of loneliness I can’t quite describe.

My evenings used to be filled with construction paper, glitter, and glue sticks. Now they’re spent filling out digital reports to protect myself from angry emails or lawsuits. I’ve been yelled at by parents in front of twenty-five children — one filming me with his phone while I tried to calm another child mid-meltdown.

And the kids… they’ve changed too. Not by choice.

They arrive tired, anxious, overstimulated. Their tiny fingers know how to swipe a screen before they can hold a crayon. Some can’t make eye contact or wait in line. We’re expected to fix all of it — to patch the gaps, heal the trauma, teach the curriculum, and document every move — in six hours a day, with resources that barely fill a drawer.

The little reading corner I once built, full of soft beanbags and paper stars, was replaced by data charts and “learning metrics.” A young principal once told me, “Clara, maybe you’re too nurturing. The district wants measurable results.”

As if kindness were a weakness.

Still, I stayed. Because of the small, holy moments that no spreadsheet could measure —
a whisper of, “You remind me of my grandma.”
a shaky note that read, “I feel safe here.”
a quiet boy finally meeting my eyes and saying, “I read the whole page.”

Those tiny sparks were my reason to keep showing up.

But this last year broke something in me.

The aggression grew sharper. The laughter in the staff room turned to silence. The light went out of so many eyes. I watched brilliant teachers — my friends — vanish under the weight of burnout, their joy replaced by survival.

I felt myself fading too, like chalk on a board that’s been wiped one too many times.

So today, I began my goodbye. I pulled faded art off the walls and tucked thirty years of handmade cards into a single box. In the back of a drawer, I found a letter from a student from 1998:

“Thank you for loving me when I was hard to love.”

I sat on the floor and cried.

No party. No applause. Just a handshake from a young principal who called me “Ma’am” while checking his notifications.

I left my rocking chair behind, and my sticker box too. What I carried with me were the memories — the faces of hundreds of children who once trusted me enough to reach out their hands and learn. That can’t be uploaded. It can’t be measured. It can’t be replaced.

I miss when teachers were partners, not targets. When parents and educators worked side by side, not in opposition. When schools cared more about wonder than numbers.

So if you know a teacher — any teacher — thank them. Not with a mug or a gift card, but with your words. With your respect. With your understanding that behind every test score is a heart that cared enough to try.

Because in a world that often overlooks them, teachers are the ones who never forget our children.

[Vince Langman @LangmanVince]

Wow! You learn something new every day. 👇

[Johnny B. Good @Cat5SMASHICANE]

Mother nature is a very scary woman when she's in a bad mood. These people are lucky they weren't severely hurt or worse.

[Eric Pennala @epenn428]

@DanSoder @katienolan

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

First poster for ‘AIR BUD RETURNS’

In theaters Summer 2026.

[Lev Akabas @LevAkabas]

The Oklahoma City Thunder has been the franchise that has most consistently exceeded expectations over the past 15 years

The New Orleans Pelicans on the other hand...

[Eric Pennala @epenn428]

#NewProfilePic

[Eric Pennala @epenn428]

@KOCOdamonlane are you going to do split screen for the Thunder game or switch to another network if you have to do severe weather coverage?

[OKC ⚡️ Tracker @OKCTracker]

Unused original Thunder logo concepts from 2008. I have never seen this before.

Posted the great Todd Radom on IG.

[Interesting things @awkwardgoogle]

Footage of a rare black tiger marking it's territory, these tigers are so rare that there has been less than 10 sightings in the last 30 years.

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

Lowering a Praying Mantis in water to entice the parasite living within to come outside.

[Eric Pennala @epenn428]

@tornadopayne @NEWS9 Mustang/Yukon area, lasted maybe 10 minutes

[🔨Robert The Builder 🇺🇸 @NobodymrRobert]

Are you Serious

[Interesting things @awkwardgoogle]

Interesting drawer design.

[Texas 🇺🇸 @MustangMan_TX]

Adorable flower girl tells daddy no shout out while I’m working!
😂😂😂❤️❤️

[LibertyJ @LibertyJen]

I was today years old when I learned this: