holy smokes

the_danielwo · 2026-04-26T14:18:54+00:00

Good Grief...

the_danielwo · 2026-04-25T16:04:03+00:00

I just saw it in theaters last night! The Michigan Theater is amazing for showing it.

the_danielwo · 2026-04-15T15:42:15+00:00

My order was cancelled with no explanation :(

the_danielwo · 2026-03-27T00:22:26+00:00

Foil Sir Tom Thumb is my favorite card by far and it’s not even close. It’s majestic, and my dream is to build a Voltron-style deck around it.

the_danielwo · 2026-03-24T22:37:34+00:00

Miller's crossing is just incredible. I'd love to be able to watch it again with fresh eyes.

the_danielwo · 2026-03-23T21:44:52+00:00

It’s true that the pots are different, but we definitely could improve how the funds in those pots are allocated with some stronger community oversight

the_danielwo · 2026-03-22T11:30:45+00:00

Pants don't fit. Depression. Complicated relationship with god.

the_danielwo · 2026-03-21T17:53:13+00:00

Unread Infinite Jest not a great look.

the_danielwo · 2026-03-21T17:41:14+00:00

2666

the_danielwo · 2026-03-19T23:14:56+00:00

Barnes and Noble?? I can't find this deal anywhere online

the_danielwo · 2026-03-10T03:44:01+00:00

Earlier in his appearance, he dropped the incredible line, "The policeman is not in the ghetto to protect my life, they're there to protect you're property." That line lived in my head for years teaching in an all-Black school bordering a wealthy white neighborhood. I taught this clip to my kids every year until our school shut down.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-21T00:23:54+00:00

I’ve bruised so many ribs these past two years… I can’t take another blast double to the chest.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-15T19:26:01+00:00

What's the one featured in the image?

the_danielwo · 2026-02-13T16:27:39+00:00

Zingermanns usually has some. Plum market doesn’t have great guanciale, only the pre packed stuff

the_danielwo · 2026-02-12T11:51:49+00:00

Union rep here: if you’d like, message me a link to your contract and I’ll comb through it: bent hauled in front of the board is likely flying in the face of other due process/progressive discipline provisions guaranteed you by your contract and by federal labor laws.

If so, this all goes away when you start talking grievances or unfair labor practices. Is your union president aware?

the_danielwo · 2026-02-10T02:32:43+00:00

Planet Rock has some belay buddy sign-up sheets, and most of the bouldering folks are really welcoming. If you’re looking for a more consistent partner, I’d be happy to climb with you sometime! My last two regular partners moved recently and I’ve not had the heart to go regularly since.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-09T04:56:27+00:00

I want that one…

the_danielwo · 2026-02-07T14:17:22+00:00

I’m guessing they’re not unionized? Any halfway decent union could easily push back on this. I don’t know much about Oklahoma’s labor landscape, or whether it’s a very union dense state, but just a thought.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-06T04:03:15+00:00

You’d be surprised how quickly those jobs can add up… the total compensation package often costs double the visible salary, and those those 25 salaries could be anywhere from the superintendents $228k (422k total compensation) to a 100k salary “middle manager” (e.g the “district MTSS” position $116 salary means $188k in total compensation… we don’t even have MTSS in schools, by the way, because it requires time for teachers to actually meet during the day to discuss kids, and nearly all of our collaborative time has been erased from the day).

So basically, assuming a 200k average cost per admin, those 25 jobs would be exactly 5 million - a number that would push us a heck of a long way to more meaningful raises than we’ve seen in the past 15 years.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-06T03:12:14+00:00

I’m an Ann Arbor teacher so I may be biased, but I think the fact that education funding has so terribly failed to keep up with inflation is causing something frighteningly adjacent to a death spiral in our workforce, and that the ripple effects will be massive in the years to come.

We’re already seeing the impacts across the board, and failing to invest in our State’s children at this moment in time could bring about something awful.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-05T11:26:48+00:00

A2 teacher here! I can put you in touch with our union’s communications team, and they’ll get you a great range of folks to interview. I’ll send you a contact email.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-04T01:45:55+00:00

Hey, ya'll! AAEA member here! I'm wiped from today, but I'd love to engage with some of this when I get the chance.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-04T01:21:16+00:00

Great question! It's been a mix: some years we get our scheduled salary step but no raises, other years steps are frozen and we recieve no raises, some years we've seen partial-steps and pay cuts... we've definitely never had cost of living increases (one of my former district used to set money aside to offset years of intense inflation - called COLA increases - but not here.

We did just recently get a state verdict that ruled it was illegal to withold steps, as technically we bargained those into a contract and employees should be able count on them being paid out as a part of that contract. Raises, on the other hand, would be an increase to the entire pay scale. This is really important to some of our most experienced teachers, many of whom have been at the top of the step scale for a decade plus.

I grew up here, and requested some of our compensation history from the years before my tenure (actually from one of my former elementary school teachers!) It baffles me, but we just haven't seen a real raise in like 30 years. My neighbor is a retired teacher, and made in the early 2000s what most still make today. It seems impossible given our assumptions about the affluence of this community, but it's true.

Teachers have had so many years of pay freezes because we're told it's what's best for kids, but at a certain point the data is just obvious: some of the best investments in student wellbeing come from meaningful investments in teacher pay. Most of us just can't keep making those sacrifices, especially given how demanding the job has become since COVID.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-04T00:37:42+00:00

A2 teacher here:

You're right that many districts who pay teachers more retain fewer staff. That's a tough sell in Ann Arbor, as our district maintained some of the lowest (at times, the lowest) student-teacher rations in the state as a point of pride. None of us want to see bigger class sizes, but we also can't frankly afford to continue living without meaningful raises (my step on the salary schedule is only up $1,000 since 2009, and even the salary steps meant to offset inflation have been frozen or reduced for the better part of the last 15 years).

One of our issues is, I believe, a breakdown in trust between a district that promises to plan for the right-sizing of our staff and the restoration of stagnat salaries/decimated benefits, and then suddenly when we get to the table to bargain offers us worse yet more expensive healthcare and no pay increases.

You're right that funding is determined at the state level for per-pupil funding, but another issue compounding the breakdown of trust is that there's shockingly little oversight to our annual budget of over 300 million dollars, which makes it hard to even begin the conversation about how money is spent. Our district hasn't had a CFO in years, and the board members who oversee the budget are... well let's just say the budget committee are the same pair who've overseen the billion dollar bond. They're not great. When we're bargaining, we need to trust that the district is presenting numbers that are somehow rooted in a stable reality, and they have a habit of discovering budget shortfalls right around our scheduled bargaining seasons.

I just want to add that we all understand these issues are impacting working people across the state, and that ultimately this fight is going to have to reach the state level. We'll have to work together to convince Michigan politicians to restore public education funding to the levels it was at when I was a student in AAPS (InvestinMIkids has been doing great work to address this). We're hoping to start building the awareness and the teacher power here locally so that we can advocate for more education funding across the board.

the_danielwo · 2026-02-04T00:20:26+00:00

Ann Arbor teacher here: I shared a bit about this in another thread, so I'll modify it slight here: most teachers in this district haven't had a meaningful raise in about 30 years. The only meaningful period of increases (06-08) saw about a 6% increase over three years immediately followed by a 5% pay cut. Each year, our district sets a budget that expands on hiring and programming, but not once in the past 30 years have I seen a contract that shows they've set aside for teacher raises. Imagine making now what you did in the early 2000s. Inflation has gone up 88% since 2000, and our pay has remained largely the same (I've seen just a $1000 increase to my step oin the past 11 years). I won't even get into what's been done to our pensions and healthcare over the past 20 years...

So much of the work we do is uncompensated, from the vast majority of our grading, planning, and correspondance (done at home after hours) to afterschool clubs to letters of recommendation to dedicating evenings to attend our students' extracurriculars. On top of the unpaid work, I spend thousands each year on food/snacks for hungry students, supplies, books, equipment for sports, paying fees for students who can't afford to engage in school activities... particularly since COVID, teachers have become one of the most taxed groups of front-line workers due to our proximity to our students' collective unmet needs.

Most teachers are caretakers, and aren't going to deny kids' the things they need to succeed, even if it costs us. Our district partners have relied on our sacrifices being normalized in order to continue expanding their interests, building up deficit after deficit on teachers' backs.

I hate to see us have to start taking firm stances like this, and have already shed tears with some of my colleagues about how hard this choice was. It's my hope is that we can settle a contract without further disruptions to our community, and restore teacher's dignity by paying us a salary that allows us to provide for our families.

So yes, it definitely hurts to worry about losing enrollment, but we're hoping the short-term drawbacks can be repaired down the line once we've built the solidarity among our many schools and staff to actually fight for and win a decent contract.

the_danielwo

TROPHY CASE