It was a Wednesday. I was a high school junior, not yet 17. Throughout the day, I found myself glancing behind me, mentally noting how I could get out of any of my classrooms should the threat arise. At 16, I taught myself situational awareness because just 24 hours before, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris […]
I am not your model minority.
The American cultural mythos of the “model minority” is toxic, insidious, and rampant. It perpetuates racial injustice that harms every member of the Asian-American community, even though most who use it “mean well.” The inherent othering baked into the term — when paired with the unspoken comparative to which “model” a “minority” must strive to […]
The Real Costs of Soft Landings for Under-Enrolled Schools
All things being equal, Weighted Student Funding (WSF) is one strategy Boston Public Schools (BPS) uses to accommodate the ways in which student need can impact individual school budgets by providing school leaders with the funding they need to best serve their students and meet their unique needs. The flexible formula that is WSF provides […]
Motherhood at Year 5: What It’s Really Like Raising a Kindergartner
For a long time—too long, it felt like—I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to be a mom. I went through five years of infertility, five years of wondering if someone would ever grow up and call me “Mom.” It’s been 10 years since that day I got the call from my doctor’s office, that left […]
Why Comparing Trump’s Election To Republicans’ Loss In 2008 Is Misguided Gaslighting
Responses to Trump’s presidential victory have spanned just about all the five stages of grief — most notably: denial, anger, and depression. Many of Trump’s most ardent supporters — who praised the 70-year-old business tycoon’s ability to “tell it like it is” on the campaign trail — are now telling those anti-Trump protesters to get […]
September 11 Through My Father’s Lens
In his gut, my dad knew it was a terrorist act: over 30 years of journalism experience had taught him that all too well. He threw on a quick change of clothes and was out the door in minutes. He told my mom that he was headed to New York to cover the story. My […]
Living in a Land of Virtual Reality
Jeffrey Jacobson, PhD, virtual reality consultant, hands me the Oculus Rift headset, something that resembles a black boxy pair of ski goggles. Slipping it over my head, he tightens the straps. A demo is already playing and I’m looking at a virtual desk, complete with a lamp, potted plant, papers, and even a house of […]