I live in Pennsylvania. When I’m not sporadically updating this blog, I’m an adjunct at a community college, or I’m teaching design and writing workshops for kids from eight to eighteen. Betsy DeVos gave a lot of money to the campaign of my Senator, Pat Toomey, and for weeks, I’ve called his office every single day to talk to him about it. (Well, not always Betsy DeVos. Sometimes I want to talk about the Affordable Care Act, or the Muslim Ban, or any number of issues that I’ve noticed that my Senator doesn’t seem particularly interested in discussing with the people that he’s allegedly representing). I’ve talked to his very polite staffers, I’ve sent faxes, I’ve left voicemails, I’ve shown up in large protests. My Senator doesn’t seem to want to listen to me, and the voices of other people who have actually set foot in our public school system. He hasn’t ever held a town hall meeting in Philadelphia. His last one was in 2013. And I’m really tired of sending faxes if he’s not actually reading them.

So I made this. GoBribeToomey.com. All the proceeds benefit organizations that support education initiatives in my state.

 

Look, do I think my actions are actually going to change the way that my senator votes? No, probably not. But I watched all three hours of the Betsy DeVos confirmation hearing, and I became so incredibly enraged at the fact that I could answer some of those questions and the woman who is about to run the Department of Education could not. (And may I again stress that I’m not even a full-time teacher. I’m an adjunct at a community college. I’ve never taken a formal education course in my life. There’s something seriously wrong with this picture).

Get involved. Stay involved. And when the system gets you down, use your voice to protest in a way that lets you laugh and keeps your sanity intact. We need laughter more than ever.