Congrats on taking control of your mental health and distancing yourself from people who make that hard to do. I hope you're able to have some fun times with your coworkers!

Happy early birthday!

Basically it's an approach to teaching music with a heavy focus on giving students the building blocks they need to have a creative relationship with music. It comes from the idea that music is inherently in all of us and that everyone has something valuable to offer. As teachers our job is to give students the tools and vocabulary to communicate it.

Keep spending time with these people! In some ways the state of society certainly does suck, but finding our people who go against that grain has the potential to make things better. At the very least, we can make some things better in the small ways we can, and that's still something important.

1st day of summer break! Aiming for a good balance of relaxation and productivity, as there are things I need to get done this week. So far it's working out.

It's just a repost from AP. Here's the original.

The older I get, the more range in age of friends I have. I have friends in their 70s and in their 20s at this point. And you definitely shouldn't feel embarrassed about learning something new when you're older. How boring would it be to only know the same things we did when we were 20 for the rest of our lives?

I'd love to hear more about your experience! And I bet there are plenty of people here who would enjoy your art and writing as well.

Today's the third anniversary of my dad's death. It's still so hard.

Yeah, it's this weird mixed bag thing. In the US, I've found myself being able to pull people who were originally registered Republican fairly far left. People who bought a lot of the conservative propaganda but couldn't stomach Trump are now starting to wake up a bit, at least in my personal experience. But the ones who are still in the party are full of nothing but hate, and there are still plenty of them there.

Moms for Liberty was trying to take over our school board, and thanks to a lot of canvassing, phone banking, and fundraising, they failed!

I'm super proud of a friend who just ended a relationship with someone who was being incredibly controlling. I'm very worried though because she keeps questioning her decision. I've luckily never found myself in her situation. Any advice from someone who has?