Happy Birthday To Me!

You know, I let my first birthday pass by without comment.

Many thanks to those of you who've dropped by over the past year. I really do appreciate it when you take the time to leave a comment, good or ill. Special thanks to jcg, Teacher Mom, czarejs, roofjake, commutingteacher, lisa, Joe LoRe, thinker, and I know I've forgotten others and I'm sorry and just post here and I'll add you.

Oh, and my favorite commenter, who also happens to be my favorite songwriter: anonymous.

The blog is fueled by the intellectual gasoline of several inspirations; in no particular order:

• Bruce Baker (OK, he's in order, because his writing is so massively important to the current debate on school reform)
• Catherine Lugg (I'm always honered when you post here)
• E.D. Kain
• Digby
• deciminyan
• Diane Ravitch
• Bob Somerby
• Leonie Haimson
• Paul Krugman
• Politics of Decline, Redux
• Robert Cay Johnston
• Jonathan Kozol

If you haven't checked their blogs, books, etc., you're really denying yourself the best of what's out there.

I also highly recommend these friends and paragons:

• Blue Jersey (especially its editor, Rosi Efthim, for allowing me to crosspost - I'll do more, I promise!)
• Center For Budget and Policy Priorities
• Media Matters
• NJ Spotlight
• Bob Braun of the Star-Ledger
• Balloon Juice

I want to give a special thanks to the Facebooker/Tweeter stopthefreezeNJ. Every time stfNJ reposts something of mine, my site counter goes crazy. He/she/they have become the hub of NJ education netroots activism, and I'm very glad to be a part of that.

And additional thanks to all retweeters - I really appreciate it.

I wish I was a little more consistent here, but I am a working teacher. This is an outlet for my frustration and a way to keep Mrs. Jazzman from going crazy ("Why are you telling me this? Go put it on your blog!"). I hope I'm contributing to the dialog and moving the conversation a little, but I have no delusions; this isn't a big platform. And my first responsibility, aside from my family, is to the children I am privileged to teach.

But I, and every other teacher in this state, will not be able to serve them unless this juggernaut of corporate reform is stopped. We all need to supplement what we do on the net with real political action, and voting is not enough. This is going to be a crucial year; we need to be supporting politicians who share our values, challenging the media whenever needed, and finding creative ways to get our message out.

Every one of us, from Pre-K to PhD, should be proud of what we do. We should not let self-satisfied politicians, corporate hacks, lazy media personalities, and plutocrats diminish our pride in our chosen profession. We should not let them denigrate our rights to collective bargaining and participation in the political process. We should not let them characterize us as greedy simply because we demand fair compensation for our work.

I am proud to be a teacher. And I dare anyone to try to take that pride away.

I dare you.

No, governor, you don't get a piece...