A teacher's message has gone viral after he let his student sleep in class — for the kindest reason.Teachers spend time preparing lesson plans and trying to engage students in learning. The least a kid can do is stay awake in class, right?But high school English teacher Monte Syrie sees things differently. In a Twitter thread, he explained why he didn't take it personally when his student Meg fell asleep — and why he didn't wake her up.Screenshots via MonteSyrie/Twitter.Meg's nap meant she missed an in-class essay, but she turned it in that night. "I didn't beat her up about it. Didn't have to," he wrote. "In a different room, Meg may have been written up for sleeping in class and given a zero for missing and essay, but she wasn't in a different room; she was in my room."Syrie pointed out that sometimes we have to "trust our instincts, even if it goes against the grain." Meg is a good student with a lot on her plate. She takes a zero-hour class before the normal school day and does farm chores before that. She runs track. And she's a teenager, with all of the social, academic, and life pressures that go along with it.Syrie teaches sophomore English in Cheney, Washington. Photo via Monte Syrie.And she's not alone. During the school year, teens report higher levels of stress than adults, and many students report feeling exhausted trying to keep up with it all. "I think too often the biggest thing that people forget about high school students is that they are kids," Syrie says. "They're kids — kids who are having to grow up way too fast and are having way too much pressure put on them, in and out of school ... even for our best and brightest, that pressure gets to be too much."Syrie's compassionate story resonated with people because we've all been in a position of needing a little grace.Syrie's tweets continued, exemplifying how teachers can show kindness and understanding to students. He pointed out, "I can't offer Meg a math class later in the day. I cannot feed her horses ... I cannot run 6 race-pace 300s for her. I cannot spirit away her teen trouble. But I can give her a break."Syrie says he tries to be that responsive to all of his students. "Because I firmly believe that one size fits all is madness, I adjust to each student, trusting my instincts, trusting what I know," he says. "Regardless of our responsibilities, life is hard, and we all need some grace now and then."Syrie says he's had a few negative comments, but overwhelmingly the response has been positive from both students and teachers. [rebelmouse-image 19397573 dam="1" original_size="665x141" caption="Screenshot via Alexa Shaw/Twitter." expand=1]Screenshot via Alexa Shaw/Twitter.[rebelmouse-image 19397574 dam="1" original_size="648x96" caption="Screenshot via Maria Riverso/Twitter." expand=1]Screenshot via Maria Riverso/Twitter.[rebelmouse-image 19397575 dam="1" original_size="661x119" caption="Screenshot via Mrs. Chow/Twitter." expand=1]Screenshot via Mrs. Chow/Twitter.Syrie has words for those who say that allowing a student to sleep in class doesn't prepare them for the "real world." Some may question whether letting a student sleep in class without consequence is a good idea. Syrie has a response: "We are not working in factories, stamping out standardized products," he says. "We are helping young humans — unique individuals — learn about themselves and their worlds. As such, when our young humans face the inevitable pressures of growing up, we need to respond with empathy." "And if that does not prepare them for the 'real world' as some may suggest, then maybe the world needs to change. I want to live in a world where there's empathy. That's the world I want to live in."You can read more about the way Syrie is rethinking education on his website. This article originally appeared on 06.01.18

Norine Dworkin-McDaniel's son came home from school one day talking about Newton's first law of motion.He had just learned it at school, her son explained as they sat around the dinner table one night. It was the idea that "an object at rest will remain at rest until acted on by an external force.""It struck me that it sounded an awful lot like him and his video games," she joked.A writer by trade and always quick to turn a phrase, Norine grabbed a pen and scribbled some words:"Newton's First Law of Parenting: A child at rest will remain at rest ... until you need your iPad back."And just like that, she started creating "The Science of Parenthood," a series that names and identifies hilarious, universal parenting struggles. She put in a quick call to her friend Jessica Ziegler, a visual and graphics expert, and together the two set out to bring the project to life.Here are some of their discoveries:1. Newton's first law of parenting2. The sleep geometry theorem3. The baby fluids effusion rule4. The carnival arc5. The Archimedes bath-time principle6. Schrödinger's backpack7. The naptime disruption theorem8. Calculation disintegration9. Chuck e-conomics10. Plate tectonics11. Silicaphobia12. Delusions of launder13. The Costco contradictionNorine and Jessica's work struck a nerve with parents everywhere.Norine said almost every parent who sees the cartoons has a similar reaction: a quiet moment of recognition, followed by a huge laugh as they recognize their own families in the illustrations.But is there more to it than just getting a few chuckles? You bet, Norine and Jessica said."Even, at the worst possible moments, you're standing there, your child has just vomited all over you, or you've opened up the diaper and your kid is sitting waist deep in liquid ****. Even at that moment, it's not really that bad," Norine said. "You will be able to laugh at this at some point.""It gets better. You're not alone in this parenting thing."This article originally appeared on 11.30.16

The early 1900s were a time of great social upheaval in our country. During the years leading up to the Ludlow Massacre, miners all around the country looking to make a better life for themselves and their families set up picket lines, organized massive parades and rallies, and even took up arms. Some died. It's always worth considering why history like this was never taught in school before. Could it be that the powers that be would rather keep this kind of thing under wraps?Here is Woody Guthrie's tribute to the good people who fought in the battles of Ludlow to help make a better tomorrow for everyone — you can just start the video and then start reading, if you wish: Coal Country, Colorado100 years ago, the Rocky Mountains were the source of a vast supply of coal. At its peak, it employed 16,000 people and accounted for 10% of all employed workers in the state of Colorado. It was dangerous work; in just 1913 alone, the mines claimed the lives of over 100 people. There were laws in place that were supposed to protect workers, but largely, management ignored those, which led to Colorado having double the on-the-job fatality rate of any other mining state.It was a time of company towns, when all real estate, housing, doctors, and grocery stores were owned by the coal companies themselves, which led to the suppression of dissent as well as overinflated prices and an extreme dependence on the coal companies for everything that made life livable. In some of these, workers couldn't even leave town, and armed guards made sure they didn't. Also, if any miner or his family began to air grievances, they might find themselves evicted and run out of town.The UnionThe United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) had been organizing for many years in the area, and this particular company, Colorado Fuel and Iron, was one of the biggest in the West — and was owned by the Rockefeller family, notoriously anti-union.Put all this together, and it was a powder keg.Strike!When a strike was called in 1913, the coal company evicted all the miners from their company homes, and they moved to tent villages on leased land set up by the UMWA. Company-hired guards (aka “goons") and members of the Colorado National Guard would drive by the tent villages and randomly shoot into the tents, leading the strikers to dig holes under their tents and the wooden beams that supported them.Why did the union call for a strike? The workers wanted:(equivalent to a 10% wage increase),Enforcement of the eight-hour work day,Payment for "dead work" that usually wasn't compensated, such as laying coal car tracks,The job known as “Weight-checkmen" to be elected by workers. This was to keep company weightmen honest so the workers got paid for their true work,The right to use any store rather than just the company store, and choose their own houses and doctors,Strict enforcement of Colorado's laws, especially mine safety laws.The Powder Keg ExplodesThe attacks from the goons continued, as did the battles between scabs (strikebreakers) and the miners. It culminated in an attack on April 20, 1914, by company goons and Colorado National Guard soldiers who kidnapped and later killed the main camp leader and some of his fellow miners, and then set the tents in the main camp ablaze with kerosene. As they were engulfed, people inside the tents tried to flee the inferno; many were shot down as they tried to escape. Some also died in the dugouts below the burning tents. In the first photograph below, two women and 11 children died in the fire directly above them. A day that started off with Orthodox Easter celebrations for the families became known as the Ludlow Massacre.The 10-Day WarThe miners, fresh off the murders of their friends and family members, tried to get President Woodrow Wilson to put a stop to the madness, but he deferred to the governor, who was pretty much in the pocket of the mine companies.So the miners and those at other tent colonies quickly armed themselves, knowing that many other confrontations were coming. And they went to the mines that were being operated by scabs and forced many of them to close, sometimes setting fire to the buildings. After 10 days of pitched battle and at least 50 dead, the president finally sent in the National Guard, which promptly disarmed both sides.Union VictoryWhile close to 200 people died over the course of about 18 months before and after the battles at Ludlow and the union ultimately lost the election, the Ludlow Massacre brought a congressional investigation that led to the beginnings of child-labor laws and an eight-hour workday, among other things.But it also brought national attention to the plight of these miners and their families, and it showed the resilience and strength that union people could display when they remained united, even in the face of extreme corporate and government violence. Historian Howard Zinn called it "the culminating act of perhaps the most violent struggle between corporate power and laboring men in American history." And the primary mine owner, John D. Rockefeller Jr., received a lot of negative attention and blame for what happened here.This article was written by Brandon Weber and originally appeared on 08.14.14

Some people just haven't gotten the memo: You really don't want to heckle comedian Steve Hofstetter. He's become one of my favorite stand-up acts both because he's just funny but also because of his brilliant ways of shutting down hecklers and other rude patrons who show up for his live act.In this case, Hofstetter was in the middle of a bit where he quipped, "I don't like people." It was part of a larger joke recalling how he'd had a bad interaction with a police officer but that he was "still alive" because he was a white male.Hofstetter was talking about how most cops like the joke but others get offended. His point was that if you get offended by a joke about cops killing innocent people, you're probably not a good cop. Just as he was finishing up the joke, a person in the front of the audience got up. When Hofstetter politely asked the guy to stop talking so loudly, the man said, "I'm going."He then followed up, telling Hofstetter, "You disrespected me, so I'll disrespect you."The man then went on a tirade, stealing a drink from another customer and getting into an argument with the club's bouncers. He also got into a shouting match with another patron before finally stepping outside.Hofstetter tried to lighten the mood, joking, "I think he's mad that the Meghan Trainor concert was canceled last night. Maybe he's all about the bass, I don't know."He then disclosed to the audience that the heckler had actually approached him before the show, asking Hofstetter to roast some of the friends the man had shown up with, which he refused to do.That's when one of the heckler's companions told the comedian that the heckler was actually himself a cop. And that the man the heckler was shouting down was actually another cop who was embarrassed by his bad behavior."I know to drive slowly when I leave," Hofstetter joked.But just to make it clear that he wasn't out to give all cops a hard time, the comedian noted that he actually thinks most cops are good people; he just wants them to speak up more when a bad cop does something wrong, comparing it to how comedians call out each other all the time when one of them crosses the line. And that's something we should all be able to get behind without the need for a hilarious punchline.This article originally appeared on 12.12.16

One of the most important parental goals is raising a child who can achieve their dreams. But no matter how smart or talented someone may be, a big part of achieving our goals is knowing how to put them into action. Far too many people have lofty dreams but fall short because they get discouraged or don’t know how to create a map to achieving them. As the famously prolific author Stephen King once said, "Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." So, how do parents prepare their children for success? According to research, it’s essential to paint a realistic picture and to prepare them for setbacks. A 2018 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says, “Rather than acting as cheerleaders giving facile encouragement, leaders ... might serve (others) better by providing a more sobering description of the challenges."If your child’s goal is to make $100 with a lemonade stand, you should cheer them on and be as supportive as possible. But you should also let them know there may be some pitfalls along the way. There may be days when business is slow because no one is driving up the block. Some people who stop by the stand may not buy anything because they don’t have cash. Others may visit the stand and say they will come back but never do.That way, when the child runs into difficulty, they don’t feel like giving up. Instead, they know that it is all part of the process of earning $100.Simply put, when you think something will be easy and then discover it's not, it's normal to feel like giving up. But if you anticipate challenges from the start, it's much easier to find the determination to work through them.The Boys and Girls Club of America has similar advice for parents. Children know that adults often set goals and achieve them. However, because they are removed from the process, they may not know that achieving those goals often involves setbacks and unforeseen challenges.So, when you set a goal for yourself, bring your child along on the journey so they can experience it first-hand. It will give them more confidence to pursue their own goals.“Be open with them throughout the process, share what steps you’re taking to achieve your goal and be candid about setbacks and changes,” the Boys and Girls Club writes on its blog. “These conversations can be casual, but they show how much work you’re putting in that your teen may not realize you’re doing, helping your teen understand how something is earned with time and effort.Ultimately, one of the biggest parts of achieving goals is managing expectations. It’s much better to know that there will be hardship along the way than to be surprised by it.The emotional journey of creating anything great requires crossing the dark swamp of despair..Outsiders almost never see the crazy belief and persistence required to cross that chasm.. pic.twitter.com/iyZBKw5zE8— Bill Gross (@Bill_Gross) May 26, 2018 The emotional ups and downs in achieving a goal are perfectly explained in a viral meme called “The Emotional Journey of Creating Anything Great.” It shows how all great ideas sound exciting at first but can begin to feel impossible when the hard work kicks in. But once we make it through the “Swamp of Dispair,” things magically get easier.The key is knowing that there is a swamp and pushing through it.

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Nearly 150,000 illegals released on streets of San Diego County since September Illegal aliens who were “sick of waiting” for U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents to pick them up hopped a Lyft car and disappeared amid the ongoing invasion of Southern California, according to reports. Waves of illegal border crossers from across the globe have been swarming USBP’s San Diego Sector, now the busiest in the country. California has offered virtually no assistance to federal authorities to stem the flow, resulting in utter chaos in the region around Jacumba Hot Springs, where Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin has been reporting in recent days. On Thursday, Melugin published a series of disturbing videos and photos showing mobs of illegals wandering along rural roads in southeastern San Diego County. Border Patrol needs more manpower out here – but unlike Texas, there is zero help from sanctuary state California, and zero effort to stop or control any of this at the state level. The result? Groups of illegal immigrants from Pakistan, China, India, etc wandering around. https://t.co/HxjsYLCu6HPower up with Nitric Boost that’s now 40% OFF! This potent formula gives you the massive edge in strength and superior circulation for that unparalleled performance you've been looking for!— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 23, 2024 While many of the illegals expect to be picked by Border Patrol and eventually released into the U.S., at least one group decided to hail a rideshare driver instead. “Unbelievable. Border Patrol is so overstretched that the illegal immigrants who crossed here have been waiting for hours for BP to pick them up,” Melugin reported on X. “Some Colombians got sick of waiting, so they called a Lyft and just got picked up & drove away. They will now be gotaways.” Unbelievable. Border Patrol is so overstretched that the illegal immigrants who crossed here have been waiting for hours for BP to pick them up. Some Colombians got sick of waiting, so they called a Lyft and just got picked up & drove away. They will now be gotaways. I’m blurring… pic.twitter.com/oju4a1SIyj— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 23, 2024 One man from Turkey expressed his shock and concern at the ease with which he walked into the U.S. “American people is right, completely true. Who comes into this country? They don’t know. Okay, I’m good – but how if they’re not good? How if they’re killers, psychopath, else? No guarantee of that. No security check. No background check,” the man told Melugin. This is frightening. When an illegal immigrant is shocked at how easy it is to get into the county, you know there’s a major problem. https://t.co/GfA3uwwOfY— Supervisor Jim Desmond (@jim_desmond) May 23, 2024 Nearly 250,000 illegals have been ‘encountered’ in San Diego Sector since October 1, and nearly 150,000 of them have been released onto the streets, according to the latest data obtained by San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond. Latest Border Numbers in San Diego:-246,000 encounters since October.-30,000 Chinese nationals since October.-148,000 street releases since September.76% of those entering San Diego are single adults.Top 5 countries of origin:ColumbiaMexicoChinaEcuadorBrazil— Supervisor Jim Desmond (@jim_desmond) May 23, 2024 Chaos unfolds constantly along the U.S.-Mexico border, as Infowars regularly reports. Tucker Carlson and Erik Prince Expose The Secret Life of Cell Phones Dan Lyman on X | Gab