Technolandy

Day 64 (of 2024/25) tis the season… not always the hap-hap-happiest time of year…

Just a reminder that this time of year can be very conflicting to many – there are memories of loved ones no longer with them… the consistent message of one religion getting prime focus over all others… challenges for those who do and do not believe in the man with the snowy white beard… 

But it’s just good old christmas (not the lowercase usage) fun! Right? And if we balance it by acknowledging Diwali, Hanukah, Kwanza, and how x-mas is celebrated around the world, that makes it more acceptable… right?

But a rose by any other name still smells as sweet, as the bard would say… ‘holiday’ concerts in December aren’t fooling anyone. And ‘letters to Santa’ are a cultural norm – even during our postal strike this December, there are work around plans being developed…

My hypocrisy is that I love the christmas season… Lights on the house – tree up before December 1… gifts in a number of online carts… and I’ve got a bunch of ties – enough that I need to start wearing them in November – because my family (and the majority of schools I have been at) have pretty much all celebrated at least a secular version of a tree, gifts, and family/friends gathering. I also don’t mind the idea of decorated trees being in schools… as long as we give ‘equal time’ to others such as menorahs on display… Diwali practitioners sharing lights and dancing… symbols and actions that reflect the community – my personal ponder, while I have many winter and Santa themed ties… is it appropriate or appropriation to have ties reflecting celebrations that I do not participate in, but that reflect the celebrations of others in my learning community… 

I laugh a bit at the comments by Comfort Sakoma, a vice-chair of the Vancouver Vice-Chair who stepped down after comments about being worried about immigration trends leading a shift where christian celebrants may be in the minority… interesting that as a nation built on immigration (regardless, and often in spite of the people who were originally on the land…) that fears are raised about immigration ‘now’… being a multicultural mosaic, our nation needs to be flexible to change… even though (as I noted yesterday) change can be uncomfortable. And there is still unsubtle bias – as I have read in a couple of places ’its not a big deal – it’s a day off work for everyone to spend time with their families’ But the equity-scan I do makes it clear that subtle systemic discrimination does hide in plain sight… especially this time of year of year. 

But we are coming up to (for most school environments) two weeks of a discontinuation of predictability – no schools with food programs… no teachers to connect with… pressure to then spend time with family members you may prefer not to… to find gifts that you may not want to give…nor be able to afford, but social pressure is real. Peer pressure of some getting great gifts… some getting less than hoped for… some getting ‘rentals’ (the real experience of items being bought… used for a couple of days and then being returned/sold shortly after.

The hap-hap-happiest time of year? Not for everyone, and we need to be mindful of that as we share our messages! 

What are your successes, fails, and wonders about the evolution of December events in our education system?