July 01, 2010

Oops.

In my recent inactivity and inattention, I have let my blogiversary pass unmarked. This past Monday was the sixth birthday of Aurora Walking Vacation. What, you're skeptical? Please allow me to present my evidence.

As you were.


11 comments:

émilie b said...

Happy birthday!
I think?

Ken Riches said...

Happy belated blogaversary :o)

Barbara In Caneyhead said...

Congrats! Have a happy late anniversary and a great 4th!

Beth said...

I didn't doubt you for a moment!

Anonymous said...

Paul, I can't seem to find a way to send you a private note, but let me take this opportunity to tell you how nasty and misguided I found your comment on "Friendly Atheist" blog to be, the one about the teacher, Ms. Collins. You are a jackass for what you said. You know nothing and you should be ashamed. Do you think maybe she went through enough hell? Do you remember what you said? It was horrible and I hope she sues you.

Call me Paul said...

Hi Meg. Thanks for commenting on my blog. Yes, I did remember, in essence, what I wrote about Ms. Collins at Hemant's Blog. And, to make sure I was recalling it clearly, I just went back there and reread the thread (if anyone else is interested, the article and comment thread in question is here: More Teachers In Trouble).

I said: "Collins does appear to have brought her personal politics into the classroom. She also blogged under her real name, and talked about actual situations in her current classroom...Collins was failing to adequately safeguard the identities of those she blogged about." And, "I have no problem with Collins discussing school policies, or difficulties in teaching today’s kids in genral, but she talked about one specific student’s work in a disparaging manner in public (emphasis added here). She deserves to be disciplined for that." I also called her stupid. I felt it was either that, or malice on her part. Calling her stupid was giving her the benefit of the doubt.

I stand by the opinions I expressed in that comment thread. Ms. Collins made an inexcusible error in judgement. If she had been teaching my child, I would have been right there in the Principal's office calling for her head, too.

Maybe she feels like she's been through enough hell, but hell, she made her own bed (to hellishly mix a metaphor).

Anonymous said...

Paul,

You could not have possibly read Collins' post, nor could you know anything about it, especially considering that you like in another country. Long story short: she wrote that she was dismayed by the one of a student's speech. Is that criminal? No. Is it even mean? No.

As for being stupid (how gallant, charming and kind of you to chime in there!), the woman is pretty freaking brilliant. Hey, it's a pun, but you won't get it.

The people who went after her are well known sociopaths. Guess you must be a sociopath, too.

Good luck with that, and I hope God forgives you for being a Dick.

Call me Paul said...

Meg, she wrote that she was dismayed with one particular student's work in a way and a forum that made that student's identity easily deduced. Her mistake wasn't in writing about her students in general. Her mistake was in publicly disparaging one particular student in a way that made that student's identity obvious to the community. If you don't think that was wrong, then I question which of us is really the sociopath, here. You obviously are a personal friend of hers, and I understand your desire to defend her. However, you seem to me to be too emotionally invested to see this from an objective point of view. Do you have children, Meg? How would you react if one of your children's teachers criticised your child's work in public? I suspect you would object. Do you work for a living, Meg? What would you think if you overheard your boss talking trash about one of your co-workers at the company Christmas party? Same thing.

émilie b said...

lol, this anniversary conversation is getting some heat!

Just my 2 cents: doesn't everybody act stupid sometimes? Maybe it's just because English's not my primary language, but it seems to me that calling someone nasty, a jackass, a sociopath and a dick is harsher than noting something someone did was stupid. I hope you can forgive yourself for name calling.

From what I gather, Mrs. Collins was trying to encourage people to voicing their own opinions. Let's not attack those who do, ok? Thanks :)

Call me Paul said...

Yeah, but Em, you gotta admit, she's pretty much got me pegged. I don't know about sociopath, but I am a dick.

émilie b said...

Tsk, tsk, tsk... lol

Incidentally, dick seems to be a synonym of stupid, so this is starting to run in circles!