Unfiltered Ocean

Surely, you've seen Facebook posts that say that instead of protesting and "missing out on your education," how about at recess time, you just walk up to a student that looks lonely and start talking to them. #WalkUpNotWalkOut. Really now? We're gonna stop school shootings by just saying hi to someone? How silly. Yes, we should be nice and civil to each other, but to say Walk Up Not Walk Out is dismissive of the fact that since Sandy Hook, 3,500 plus people have needlessly died in mass shootings and our politicians haven't done anything to prevent further shootings. It's a farce because these same people are the same people who say "we should focus on mental health instead of taking away my God-given right to mow down someone with a machine gun" and yet continually vote for politicians who cut further and further from mental health funding. It's condescending because these people are the same people who say that teenagers need to grow up, b...

Yesterday, after striking since February 22nd, Gov. Jim Justice (R) signed a bill that gives all teachers, as well as all other state employees a 5% raise. After 9 days of school closures and hours of testimony to the Governor, the striking teachers got a better pay raise than the 3% raise that was originally offered. West Virginia teachers are among the lowest paid teachers in the United States, ranking 48th in the nation for teacher pay. Before the strike, they had not had an across the board raise in four years. In addition, they’ve seen their health care premiums rise, which still remains a problem. Gov. Justice agreed to form a task force in order to study what can be done to lower those health care costs. I applaud the teachers for standing up for themselves and for succeeding. As a child of the public education system, I’ve personally seen how teachers give so much of themselves, as well as having personally benefitted from their generosity; whether it was giving hungry stude...