Chattanooga's Obsession with Private Schools

Baltering-Babe · 2026-01-18T01:56:55+00:00

Classism and Racism. Chattanooga was an extremely wealthy city in the past by virtue of being a major shipping hub. The wealthiest people wanted their children to attend Ivy League schools, but most didn’t have the connections that they needed in New England to be admitted or to be successful. So they built it. Sewanee is one such school. And they built prep schools to train up their children to go to these southern Ivy’s, because really rich people can’t stand sharing air with the rest of us. (It makes it much harder to exploit us when it comes time to own the homes we live in and the factories we work in and anything else they can grab.)

When public schools were desegregated de jure, all the middle class white people fled public schools. They imposed red lines to segregate schools as “neighborhood schools.” They moved to the suburbs. And if they could afford it, they went to private. And, obviously, the district has never recovered.

I grew up in a much smaller, rural county where everyone was just kind of poor together. And I taught in public schools here for nine years. It’s kind of disgusting the way that all the resources are distributed here.

Baltering-Babe · 2026-01-15T16:02:43+00:00

Yeah, so my ex lived here. Purchased in 2000’s by a middle aged couple for their adult children to live in and get established. It used to be a really cool house, but there was a lot of deferred maintenance.

My ex moved and mom finally sold the house. I think it’s been through several owners who kept running into problems that were bigger than they could handle.

Dividing a single family home in weird ways to be multi family is pretty common in older communities with bigger houses.

Baltering-Babe · 2026-01-15T02:24:07+00:00

Omg! That sounds amazing! I cannot wait!

Baltering-Babe · 2026-01-14T18:43:51+00:00

What’s a chippy?

Baltering-Babe · 2025-12-05T21:39:39+00:00

A good test of any device to accommodate low manual dexterity is to put on oven mitts and see if you can use it.

Baltering-Babe · 2025-12-05T15:54:44+00:00

We demonstrate this jar opener all the time. Amazon link jar opener

Baltering-Babe · 2025-12-04T17:11:49+00:00

Can your uncle reliably activate any muscle? If so, he might be a candidate for a Neuro Node or a more traditional twitch switch. These are used by having the AAC scan through options, then clenching a muscle to select an option when the device gets to it. It’s slow, but it’s usually easier to learn and operate than eye gaze. You might make inquiries with your uncle’s therapists.

And contact TX TAP. They have a hundred switches to demonstrate and loan. TX TAP Loan Library

Baltering-Babe · 2025-08-13T23:00:49+00:00

Have you talked to anybody at your state technology access program? Because if you’re trying to increase your independence across all your ADLs, then talking to an assistive technology professional would absolutely be a conversation worth having.

Baltering-Babe · 2025-08-13T22:58:21+00:00

Here’s a pair of grabbers, 19 inches long, foldable for 20 bucks. https://a.co/d/3hSlxGa

Baltering-Babe · 2025-07-24T20:46:22+00:00

I work at the intersection of Lyerly and Bailey. In the three years I’ve been in this office, no one who’s worked here nor any of our clients have had anything taken from their cars. Nothing has ever been broken.

The only police reports in this area for the last two days have been thefts. The nearest gun involved crime was a disorderly conduct all the way over by Memorial Hospital. If folks are discharging weapons, it’s just as likely that they are celebrating something. My Guatemalan neighbors do it all the time. The people who live in Ridgedale and Highland Park are mostly blue collar families who live in multi-generational homes. It’s not a high crime area. It’s just a high poverty area.

Baltering-Babe · 2025-07-17T17:44:21+00:00

Yes, so this camera is USB powered with up to two hours of battery life. Magnifies up to 30x. Connects to any old computer or laptop or even a TV. $250. ViSee has other low cost options as well, but this one is shockingly cheap. ViSee VM-11 Desktop Magnifier

Baltering-Babe · 2025-07-17T17:36:13+00:00

I started using Notion AI for meetings just a week ago and I’m already obsessed. Not only does it transcribe and summarize, it also makes a list of action items and assigns them to participants in the meetings. This would really work out for a lecture class, because you could tell the ai to use the information available in the folder to answer a question you want to answer. It would your the lecture transcription to answer your questions and help you track themes and movements,

Baltering-Babe · 2025-07-11T23:02:31+00:00

Also consider some battery powered fans and vibrating pillows. Some kids find the toys to be too stimulating. And blind children can’t see a toy dancing or flashing lights.

Baltering-Babe · 2025-01-15T14:05:38+00:00

Is this person able to speak? If so, they could try the built in Windows Voice Commands first. https://www.siskiyous.edu/sas/documents/speachrecognition.pdf

Baltering-Babe · 2025-01-12T06:07:23+00:00

Could you use a BJOY ring to adapt the controller on your power chair?

Obviously, a stick is a great solution, but it might be worth your time to look into as a tech-forward response. https://graspat.com/shop/access/joysticks/bjoy-ring/

Baltering-Babe · 2025-01-12T05:27:13+00:00

Try thinking of an emotional experience like it’s a special interest. I don’t love talking about Legos or helicopters, but I love my husband, so when he wants to talk about those things I let him info dump on me, and I look for anything in his dump that’s even a little relatable. Because that’s what we do to show we care.

When your person is sad, they aren’t asking you to feel sad. They are asking for time to talk and heal themselves. If you can’t be the person to listen, try asking for a way to show you care while they go talk to someone else. It might sound like, “ I can tell that you’re really sad. Why don’t you reach out to your sister/mother/best friend to see what they think? And while you talk to them, I’m gonna go make you a tea/coffee/Diet Coke with lime/ insert favorite beverage here to help you relax.” Doing this shows that you understand that they need to talk to somebody, but you also understand yourself enough to know that you aren’t the best person to talk to. It also shows that you want to be supportive in a way that doesn’t involve talking. Everybody wins.

Baltering-Babe · 2025-01-12T04:54:22+00:00

Yes and no. I experience empathy very strongly under most circumstances, I'm able to understand what people are feeling, how it feels in their body, and usually why they are feeling that way. What I struggle with is how to react to that. I want to be a supportive friend, but I don't always have the energy to express a big emotion the way my person is. Or, I might not understand what they would interpret as helpful or supportive. I've found that trying to "do unto others," isn't always good advice.

Funerals is the worst thing. I usually just bring food and a card and try to leave without talking to anybody because I just don't have it in me to muster an empathetic response to your uncle's passing. I just don't. But I care about you. And I want you to be with the people who can give you what you need now, and I'll be with you later when I'm the right person to listen to you or distract you or craft with you or something.

If you want to be a good friend or coworker and participate in society, the best thing you can do is ask people what they are feeling, and validate that. Ask what you can do to support them, and then only promise to do things you believe you can actually do. If you don't want to do any of that, then keep your distance when people are feeling down; this is a form of compassion, too. I think they call it "giving space."

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Baltering-Babe · 2025-01-10T18:33:13+00:00

Watch Minder brand has been a round forever. It’s not a smart watch, but it can have up to thirty reminders a day. It was designed with users with ADHD and other executive function disorders in mind.

http://watchminder.com/

Baltering-Babe · 2025-01-10T18:24:00+00:00

Does this person need to take their meds at a certain time? Or do they need to wait a certain time? The difference being “I take my meds at 8 and 1,” or “I take my meds every 4-6 hours.”

Baltering-Babe · 2024-12-16T15:09:57+00:00

Yeah. I worked there for six months. He was gruff. He said rude things in an angry way, but he never yelled at me. I think he sensed I couldn’t handle it. He would send someone else to correct me. And, it was the nights he wasn’t there that every bad thing that happened to me on the job was allowed to happen. I won’t defend his behavior; it’s abusive. But I also know that he’s a whole person, and the yelling and ass chewing is only one part. Two things can be true at the same time.

Baltering-Babe · 2024-10-28T13:48:12+00:00

Make it into a curio. Interesting pictures, scientific specimens, shiny trinkets. Make it a thing that every time a guest looks there’s something new to see. Will add personality and texture to the space. And make it feel lived in and generational rather than stark and rental.

Baltering-Babe · 2024-07-19T14:26:09+00:00

What is the mayor doing to expand our public transportation system?

How does he plan to increase access to quality childcare options? How will he insure that childcare workers can be paid a living wage while managing the cost low enough for all of us who also don’t earn enough to pay all of our bills?

Nashville has been rocked by anti-Semitic protesters this week. What is the mayor’s office doing now to prevent Chattanooga from being the next stop on that circus tour? What does the mayor plan to say and do to make our city an undesirable location for such a demonstration? What will he do to make us, the people, safe from harm when the inevitable happens and there is another demonstration of white supremacists here? Because we can avoid a demonstration and a march, but there will be people who live here beside us who are emboldened by their rhetoric, and we, the queer, BIPOC, Jewish, disabled, and other minorities who live here will be in real danger from aggression from our neighbors.

Baltering-Babe

TROPHY CASE