It’s been five years since I’ve posted on this blog. Five years. It doesn’t seem real. Five years ago we entered a period of worldwide confusion & fear. Anxiety. Everyone had anxiety. And many of us went on auto-pilot. I walked away from this blog, my TpT store, and most of my social media.
So much has changed. But the confusion, fear, & anxiety is back. And this time we can’t go on auto-pilot.
It’s embarrassing to admit that this year I attended my first protest. And my second. And my third. Saturday will be my fourth.
The anxiety is different now than it was five years ago. With the pandemic there was a sense that we were all in this together. But in post-pandemic 2025 I feel further away from people than I did five years ago. There is a division. A gap that widens everyday.
Suddenly friends, family, co-workers aren’t who I thought they were. Who I hoped they were.
There is a feeling of PTSD not only from the pandemic but from the first term of Trump’s presidency. I remember students standing up in my classroom and yelling “Round them up and send them back” and “Build the wall.” I remember struggling with how to respond, how to teach.
And then things got better. Students were more polite, more open to new cultures and ideas. I can’t remember any outbursts in my class for four years. But now…
Now I’m angry.
Evidently it’s not that those sentiments went away, it’s just that people didn’t feel so emboldened. But now…
I couldn’t believe it when I received an email from my administrator stating that I.C.E. would be allowed to entire the building at any time, with no warning. I sat at my desk and cried. Sadness, fear, anger. Anxiety. And the burning resolve that I needed to prepare.
I needed to talk with my children about what was happening and what they could see happen in their own classrooms.
I remember seeing a post on Facebook that said something like “Teachers are trained to take a bullet for their students. Don’t think we will stand aside and let I.C.E. take our kids.”
What’s happening now is horrifying. Raiding Home Depots in Los Angeles? Sending in the National Guard and the Marines to stop protests? Disappearing legal asylum seekers to a torture prison in a third country?
Not to mentioned dismantling the federal DOE, rescinding DEI, threatening universities, daydreaming about making Canada the 51st state, revoking student visas. WTF doesn’t begin to cover the range of emotions we go through each day as we go online or turn on the television or read the headlines.
Did we learn NOTHING during those four years under his first term? The last four years have been relatively peaceful, after the January 6 attacks, of course.
Now I’m struggling to focus. How do we, as teachers, carry on next school year (assuming there will be a next school year)? How do we prepare?
I don’t know. I honestly do not know.
But I know I will be protesting Saturday. My fourth protest. With our small band of activists in this small, Appalachian county. I will show up. I will start with showing up. Speaking out. Being heard. Because I’m a white woman who was born in the USA and (so far) I cannot be deported.
So I will use my voice. I will use my privilege. My power. I will speak on behalf of those who can’t speak. The families living in fear of being snatched off the street by men in civilian clothing with masks but no identification. Children scared to go to school. Parents scared to go to work.
I will speak out on behalf of all of the men who have been deported to El Salvador. I will say their names & read their stories. I will not go on auto-pilot. I will not hide. I will not be silent.
The world today looks nothing like the world of 5 years ago.
I will close with a list of Facebook pages I think everyone who wants to stand on the right side of history should be following. And remember, you’re not alone. That’s just how they want you to feel! The power of the people is greater than the people in power. ¡Adelante!:
the NISH 
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