Where’d this EduSolidwhatever day come from?

March 22 is coming to a close in New York. We had a color day in schools – red for Wisconsin. I’ve got some nice pics, sending them in. But we had a blog action day, too. A hundred bloggers, and who knows how many facebookers answered the prompt: Why do teachers like me support unions?

A few days ago Steve Lazar, Chapter Leader at another small Bronx school, writes to Jose Vilson, Ken Bernstein, and me, complaining that he’s just been asked for the umpteenth time why a teacher like him (don’t know what “like him” means, but I’m guessing some combo of young, white, smart, energetic, well-educated, well-mannered) would support the UFT, and worse, be a chapter leader. Steve thinks we should do a blog action day to coincide with the wear red for Wisconsin (and the other states) day, March 22 (that’s now today). And we say yes.

We batted around a few ideas for a name. We thought about who should sign the appeal. Just Steve? Just us? A few more? Wide open? We shot for a dozen. And we broke up the work. For a bit there, I felt odd man out. My ‘contacts’ are mostly math people, content people. These other guys? All hooked into the Teachers Leader Network, and conferences that I don’t go to. Oh, and Ken Bernstein turns out to be Teacher Ken (a big enough deal that a parent in my school knew who he was).

But we pull together a nice list. Nancy Flanagan, Anthony Cody. Someone gets Deb Meier. Sabrina Stevens-Shupe. Doug Noon from Borderland. I add Ed Darrell, the second strong content blogger I ever met (on-line), and Kate Nowak, a highly respected upstate NY math blogger.

At some point we are discussing plans, and I feel odd man out again. The four of us are pro-union, but not necessarily in the same way. And the four of us can have very different perspectives on individuals we interact with. I had, at some point, some doubts. But they were unnecessary. Things worked out nicely.

And then Steve puts up a website. Uh-gly. But it might be functional. And then he makes it all nice. He adds a FB Group. And then a Community. I add an event page. All of us start reaching out. I hit UFTers. Bronx. But elsewhere. Ken is at Daily Kos, and reaches a whole different group. Jose has a huge following. Me, I try to find math bloggers, pro-union, in other cities. I know a few. I find a few. Big break: the UFT sees the initiative, like the initiative, latches on to the initiative. Hmm. Now we worry, for a breath, that they will take it over. Nope. Promote, Support, and we’re all good. It helped. Plus there were several Edwize pieces.

And today rolled around, and we watched the posts come in. We’re around 100 now, lots from New York, but also from DC, and California, and we just got from Wisconsin, and really, all around the country (plus Sweden). Me, I’ll add ‘after hours’ in the early AM.

And it’s 100 voices, with different messages, different takes. And they are worth reading. Do.

Posts are listed at EduSolidarity. Just click on posts.