Postcards 29 December 2025
In August of 2024, I entered Hinkley high school with a new choir teacher---the third since I arrived in 2020---and said "Nope, I'm done." Partly because he was clearly incompetent. Partly because I was the department chair and was not invited to the interview. Partly because I had built a strong program that admin cared not a whit about, and I was done being disrespected.
I had been applying and even interviewed, but my age or mohawk were preventing me from getting out. I decided instead that in May of 2025 I was going to simply retire. It was not what I necessarily wanted to do, and certainly not what I could afford to do. But after putting up four mainstage shows, a showcase, a collage and two full cabarets with no admin support the previous year, I just couldn't. Remember, the year before (2023) I was called racist by an AP. Nope.
A former Hink AP is the principal at Kennedy, and Hink's former Athletic director/AP was also at Kennedy. In September, I was morosely sitting in the Hinkely parking lot at 6.45 am when the later human texted me.
"Hey, do you have any interest in coming to Kennedy and doing what you did at Hinkley? Rebuild the theatre?"
There were a few bumps, and I had to finish directing Steel Magnolias, but by 20 Dec 2024 I was at Kennedy digging out the storage closet to make it my office.
I took at $10K a year pay cut because teaching is like being an indentured servant, and they punish you if you move districts. They do not honor your years. So as a 21 year veteran I was hired on the pay ladder at Year Ten. Total bullshit, but I wanted out and money no longer mattered. When I am In Charge Of Everything, that practice will be the first thing to go.
I got two cabarets, a Peer to Peer show and a showcase up in the spring at Kennedy. Also my dad died on our first cabaret on 28 February 2025.
I got six kids to pledge Thespians---there's not been a troupe at Kennedy in 20 years. One was a senior, but hey, it's a start.
How Long It's Been Since A Show Happened is under debate; some folks say eight years, other five. Either way, I got The Female Odd Couple up, with a set and everything, in November 2025. Two Peer to Peer shows and one small Christmas Cabaret Next up: Mamma Mia in March 2026. Oy Vey.
2025 has been so horrible in so many ways it feels redundant to even mention. On the other hand, they want us to shut up and comply.
The husky is underweight and the pug thing and muppet are fat.
Also the black cat is pretty chunky. I don't overfeed so much as they steal each other's food.
Togo's chicken foot is healing. She had cancer on her toe and had to have it removed, so her three toed, furless back leg looks like a chicken foot.
No traveling this year, or in our future, based on the above mentioned "horrible". Sigh.
My friends from Canada visited, which was truly awesome. Jim finished the spare room renovation so they could be comfortable. Then in November Harp broke up with Lillith, lost the apartment and moved back in. A friend and colleague of hers is crashing in the orange cat room. Another friend was here for a few weeks as well while he got back on his feet. At some point when Harp moves out, we'll get to renovating the orange room.
Harp finished her BA and has been hired as a PT teacher/ PT para at her building, which is a pay raise. Then in the fall she'll be a FT teacher---another pay raise. She lost 100 pounds, is sober and got off all her meds---which were poisoning her, which was great. She won't sue the psych, but would win if she did.
G left Indigo and moved to Bee Suite which is a fully queer salon in the arts district on Santa Fe. They love it.
Jim is still at Ready Care, seems fine. Doesn't hate it, doesn't love it. It's a job. He has a salary and insurance.
On that note DPS is pulling Kaiser out from under 7.5 thousand of us employees and forcing us into United Healthcare. Because somebody's making a lot of money off of this, and nobody cares that there are not enough doctors taking new patients to accommodate such an onslought. But for me to go rogue and keep Kaiser on my own would cost me $800/month! So I hope to get all my health stuff and knee surgeries done, updated and set before I'm kicked off in June and no longer have healthcare that I am paying for. 'merica is GREAT AGAIN.
Anyone else hearing scuttlebutt about Paris, Tokyo and other cities canceling their NYE celebrations? Heard there was a "gang" in LA plotting bombs, but only four people were arrested. And it's a gang? So great. Love the way information and news have been destroyed and shattered by deregulating social media and AI guardrails. The truth is difficult to ferret out and requires patience. Tho TBH substackers on Tik Tok are pretty great. I use BBC and Al Jazeera, but they are hardly "breaking" in the moment. Looks like Australia cancelled since it was scheduled on Bondi beach where the shooting was, Tokyo is worried about crowds and public drinking? That one is weird. Paris is worried about a stampede. Everything sounds weird and wrong. The four people caught in the desert with a bomb were caught, so why are cities canceling or scaling back?
Well, today's the 29th. That wasn't much of a wrap up.
Happy New Year, y'all. The regime is eating itself from the inside, we just have to be ready to move when it's time.
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