bombs in bottles
A few things too short to have their own blog posts:
23andMe recently filed for bankruptcy. The company is now looking for a buyer for its remaining assets - including genetic data for some 15 million users:
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5339695/how-delete-23andme-data-bankruptcy
I know several people who have sent their genetic info to 23andMe. I declined to participate, for which I was labeled "weird." I also pointed out at the time that no company lives forever and what happens to their genetic data when one of these companies folds?, for which I was labeled "paranoid."
Cassandra Syndrome sucks.
The school district in which I teach recently terminated its policy protecting trans students. The district claims that (a) everything in the policy is still enforceable under other policies and/or the state's civil rights act, and (b) terminating this policy will reduce the district's attack surface for the current federal administration.
Both of these points strike me as true. I don't envy the school board for having to weigh these factors and come to a decision. In any case, everything I do vis a vis trans students falls under First Amendment protected speech, so I'm not worried about my own position here. (Telling me that when a student says "please call me Ash" I cannot respond "Hi Ash" is not narrowly tailored to serve any compelling government interest.)
I am wondering what happened to "do not comply in advance," though. Sure feels like the district got peer pressured into this decision.
My enjoyment of my job is inversely proportional to how much I have to be an authoritarian while I do it. Unfortunately, everyone else's enjoyment of the school library is directly proportional to my putting my foot down when someone is breaking library rules.
My late husband, also a teacher, called this "being a dick." He hated the first two weeks of school "because I have to be a dick," meaning he had to lay down the law, enforce it constantly, and not smile while he did it.
All of it was antithetical to his personality and the opposite of the reason he became a teacher. But if he didn't do it, the entire class was a hot mess the rest of the year. Two weeks of "being a dick" kept them all on track and resulted in, overall, a much better experience.
I did not start out this year "being a dick," and I've paid for it in having to repeat myself on basic rules constantly. The kids are starting to notice I'm getting terse with them. I explained to one today "I know this is the first time you've heard me say this today, but it is not the first time you've heard me say it this year. That's why I'm frustrated. You know better."
Next year, I'm going to make myself hate the first two weeks of my job so that everyone in the building can enjoy the rest of my job more. It has to be done.
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