dpark

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

There’s a part of Jon Ossoff’s Atlanta rally everyone missed, and it may have been the most powerful moment of the entire night.

“I’ve got two little girls at home. Eva’s four and Lila’s one… But this isn’t the world I want to leave them.”

Then he put America’s broken priorities into one devastating sentence:

“We’ve amassed enough firepower to end the world a thousand times over, but we can’t summon the will to guarantee health care and pre-K.”

And then came the line every parent will feel in their bones:

“When Eva’s old enough to ask me why I let this happen, I’m determined to answer truthfully…

THAT I DIDN’T.”

🔥🔥🔥

This is the entire damn fight.

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Carol of the Bells in Kyiv subway.

Voices of the Embassies of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom came together to perform Shchedryk in the Kyiv metro as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine.

Thankful to everyone who stands with us!

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

EVERY. FUCKING. WORD. 🙌💪👏✊️🇺🇸👇

[Stuart Stevens @stuartpstevens]

It will be the Republican Party's legacy.

[George W. Bush Presidential Center @TheBushCenter]

U.S. and Russian officials have reportedly drafted a 28-point peace plan meant to end the war Russia started in Ukraine. In a recent article, Bush Institute Executive Director David J. Kramer writes:

“The United States should not be discussing the future of U.S.-Russian relations while Russian missiles and drones continue to wreak havoc on Ukraine, killing innocent civilians and trying to freeze and force the population into submission with winter coming.

“The 28-point plan should be dropped and replaced with a simple one-point plan: Russia, get out of Ukraine!”

Read more: https://t.co/6pgJ0KaI5n

[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.

[Not Your Average Liberal @NotAvgLiberal]

This man is speaking on behalf of every American with morals and empathy.

Just listen,

You won’t regret it.

[dpark @parkjellystone]

https://t.co/UNjv3UMBwY

[Temple ISD @TempleISD]

Support for Public Education Funding: An Analysis of HB2 Senate Version

Dr. Bobby Ott shares information on the impact the Senate’s changes to House Bill 2 for public school funding will have on students and the school district. He gives examples of the shortfalls involved with the $55 increase in the basic allotment.

[Maine @TheMaineWonk]

https://t.co/lqzD9oEBkm

[dpark @parkjellystone]

@TheMaineWonk Where is fusilier from?

[dpark @parkjellystone]

@GaryBlack1970 @Natures_Voice @RSPBScotland 💕

[dpark @parkjellystone]

@GaryBlack1970 @Natures_Voice @RSPBScotland 💕

[dpark @parkjellystone]

@Emma22888072 9000

[dpark @parkjellystone]

@DermotNCosgrove She is a beauty!!!

[Richard Bernabe @bernabephoto]

My own personal Yeti. Wood Bison, Yukon, Canada #photography

[DAPPER DON DHARSHI • K A M I L • @SoloFlow786]

@buitengebieden_ After seeing her happiness, the broken sprinkler became irrelephant.

[Michael Beschloss @BeschlossDC]

We are seeing more evidence that maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to reduce the number of classes in America that teach civics, democracy and history.

[Jimmy Casas @casas_jimmy]

Let’s do our best to continue to do our work as educators and strive to live our lives by these words. #LiveYourExcellence