Yes, I voted … but not the way most of my friends, colleagues, clients, etc., would have thought I did.
As a woman, a writer, a sentient individual human being (I hope), I wouldn’t be a smidgen of who I am today if it had not been for the teachers who influenced and nurtured me from grade school on up. My greatest respect is reserved for teachers of all types and mediums through which they arrive at my experience.
And, um, of course I think children are great, need to be cared for and educated. And, no, I’m not a scrooge or some tightfisted cheapskate.
I voted in opposition of continuing the school tax in yesterday’s referendum … 
for reasons I’d elucidate here in this blog if only I had somebody out there paying a special tax (that I’d already been receiving for a number of years and that I’d promised would only be a one-time thing — um, isn’t teaching children to “keep their word” one of the first lessons taught?) so that I could keep doing what I”m passionate about doing at a pay scale at which I’ve become accustomed and which is among the highest in the state — all this despite a recession that has many of the people I’d be taxing on the verge of losing their homes and jobs and pride.
This referendum was about teacher pay … not truly about the education — intellectual and cultural — of children.
All those parents who talked about how important it is for their kids to have a great education? I’m just curious … how many of them play Chopin on the radio during the afternoon so their children are infused with musicality? How many go on a nightly walk after dinner with their child to ensure they’re getting enough exercise? How many read Shakespeare or biographies of presidents, discuss reason and logic and morality, explain how the family budget works, or teach a foreign language to their children at night — instead of watching American Idol or its current equivalent — en famille, only speaking during commercials?