John Leyzer

Retired Principal - Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. Still passionate about leading and learning

[Home of the Brave @OfTheBraveUSA]

"I will not be quiet. Not speaking out — it equals resignation."

Tennis legend @Martina Navratilova on the importance of standing up to Trump and his enablers @OfTheBraveUSA:

[Eric Lombardi (EricForOLP.ca) 🇨🇦🚀 @EricDLombardi]

“The opportunity cost of this spending is staggering. These are resources drawn out of families and businesses, then filtered through layers of bureaucracy and processes that add complexity without adding value.

Money that could have remained with citizens, enabling investment, growth, and personal agency, is instead being absorbed by an expanding network of interests whose primary output is the demand for more.

This, too, is part of our culture of corruption. Not criminality, but the quiet normalization of behaviour that prioritizes organized interests over the majority of Canadians who now fund an increasingly extractive system.”

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

"I’m 79. My name’s Agnes. I walk to Oakwood Elementary every Tuesday and Thursday at 2:45 p.m. Not for my grandkids, I don’t have any. I go for them. The kids waiting for parents who are late. Again.

It started three years ago. I saw Miguel sitting alone on the school’s concrete steps, tracing math problems in the dirt with a stick. His mom worked double shifts at the canning factory. His homework was smudged with tears.

I didn’t say much. Just pulled a folding chair from my tote bag (I carry it everywhere, bad knees) and sat beside him. "Show me where you’re stuck, mijo," I said. He flinched like I’d startled a bird. But he showed me.

I was a teacher for 42 years. Fractions, state capitals, how to hold a pencil, I know them like my own heartbeat. That day, we solved 3 problems in the dirt. When his mom finally rushed up, breathless and apologizing, I just nodded. "He’s got a good mind," I told her. Her eyes got wet. Not from sadness. From being seen.

Next week, I brought my old teacher’s stool and a clipboard. Set up under the oak tree across from the school gates. No sign. No fanfare. Just me, my red pen, and a jar of butterscotch candies.

Kids started coming. Not all at once. First Miguel. Then Aisha, whose dad’s truck broke down again. Jamal, who whispered, "My grandma’s sick." I never asked why parents were late. I just opened my clipboard.

Some days, I only helped one child. Other days, five crowded around my stool. I taught multiplication tables while braiding Maya’s hair. Showed Leo how to write his name in cursive on a foggy window. Never took money. Never called the school. This wasn’t their job. It was ours.

Then came Mrs. Chen. She stood at the edge of the sidewalk for weeks, watching her daughter Linh hover near my bench but never approach. One rainy Thursday, Mrs. Chen finally walked over. Her hands shook. "I failed school," she admitted in broken English. "I can’t help her." I slid my stool aside. "Sit," I said. "Today, you do the math. I’ll hold the umbrella."

Last month, the principal found me packing up in the rain. "We’ve had complaints," he said gently. "About ‘unauthorized tutoring.’" I braced for the end. But then Linh ran over, dragging her mother. Aisha brought her little brother. Miguel stood tall beside his mom, the one who once cried on the steps. Twelve parents and kids formed a circle around my soggy stool. "This bench stays," Miguel told the principal. "Or we all leave."

Today, the PTA provides the folding chairs. Retired nurses check kids’ ears for infections. A barber gives free trims. But the homework bench? That’s still mine.

Last Tuesday, Linh placed a college acceptance letter on my clipboard. "You taught me numbers," she said. "But you taught Mama something bigger." She pointed to Mrs. Chen, now helping a boy sound out words. "You taught us we’re not broken."

I packed up my red pen that night, my hands steady for the first time in years. Here’s what nobody tells you about growing old, The world doesn’t need your savings or your spare room. It needs your stubborn, ordinary love. Show up. Sit down. Make space. The rest will grow around you like wildflowers through concrete.”

Let this story reach more hearts....

By Mary Nelson

[Volodymyr Tretyak 🇺🇦 @VolodyaTretyak]

No matter how you feel about Zelenskyy, wish him strength and endurance today.
It will be an extremely difficult day.

[Barney Panofsky's Best Intentions @mynamesnotgordy]

My campaign’s become a rudderless shambles, I'm not even remotely nimble where addressing new issues is concerned, and there's a ton of in-fighting amongst my team, but I can assure Canadians a Poilievre government will be nothing like my election campaign.

[Raghu Venugopal MD @raghu_venugopal]

Premiers Harris and Eves cut 11,400 Ontario hospital beds. 39 hospitals were closed. 6 psychiatric hospitals closed. Tens of thousands of nurses and PSWs were lost. And now - patients wait 9+ hours on a EMS paramedic stretcher on a 'not bad' day. @NatalieMehra1 @OntarioHealthC

[Mag Gardner @maggardner]

Embarassed by the behaviour some of the Hamiltonians. They don’t represent all of us. Democracy is hard—and leadership is even harder..we can disagree but let’s remain civil. Thank you for your leadership @AnitaAnandMP

[tern @1goodtern]

I've got no credentials in epidemiology, immunology, psychology, physiology, medicine, sociology, or anything that might immediately seem relevant to a pandemic.

So what do I offer?

[Paula Simons @Paulatics]

Note. It’s pretty hard to intimidate a woman who defied the Russian secret police, who stood up to Putin and Trump, and who can run circles around most bullies, in high heels, no less. She greets him in an open friendly way, then strides coolly into that elevator when he goes off

[Steve Flindall @flindall_steve]

A group of concerned individuals, composed primarily of physicians, have come together to request the Ontario Government reinstate masking mandates for all healthcare settings at a provincial level. If you support this idea, please retweet. https://t.co/8ugbnGXWT0

[Cheri DiNovo @CheriDiNovo]

SIMPLE June 2: If you don't want another 4 years of Ford VOTE TODAY. Polls shmolls. It's what happens today that counts. Pas it on and quickly #OntarioElection2022

[David Hamer 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇨🇦 @DavidHamer_1951]

Brilliant.
😏😉😏

[Professor Carol Campbell @CarolCampbell4]

So many people, pundits & polls saying @fordnation has won #OnElxn, possibly with bigger majority than 2018. I’m sorry but there’s 4 more days of voting to go, let Ontarians exercise their vote & use their voice. Then we’ll see #OntarioVotes results. Use your vote #OnPoli #OntEd

[T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @TRyanGregory]

For crying out loud, @AndreaHorwath and @StevenDelDuca you have to find a way to work together. Get elected, then abolish first past the post. Otherwise it will be four more years of this mess.

[Mag Gardner @maggardner]

More substance, innovation and leadership with Del Duca in 90 seconds than in 4 whole years with Dougie.

[Cheri DiNovo @CheriDiNovo]

SIMPLE: a vote for Doug Ford is a vote against you unless you’re one of the wealthy 1%. Retweet to remind people

[Cheri DiNovo @CheriDiNovo]

Tell us again how the Tories are better managers of money?