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We keep you informed throughout the year with poignant posts and informative articles.
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BLOG
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We keep you informed throughout the year with poignant posts and informative articles.
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Educators are essential workers. We are SO thankful for all the educators - here and everywhere! - that we had to put up a billboard to let them know how much we appreciate them. So THANK YOU to all the school and district staff, in Mukilteo and beyond, who are working so hard to provide education and engagement for our students under such difficult and challenging circumstances. We see you and we are so grateful for you and all the work you do. Please stay safe and healthy! And a HUGE thank you to Adam Braddock, local parent and realtor, for so generously making this possible for us. Follow him on Facebook for all kinds of great community content! Look for the billboard on the East side of the Mukilteo Speedway (as you travel South), right by Jiffy Lube and across the street from everyone's favorite giraffe! If you take a photo with the billboard, please email it to us at [email protected] or tag us on social media. We want to celebrate you!
UPDATED: Now you can also download this image to use as your desktop wallpaper, your Zoom background, or even print it out! Original image Desktop size Zoom Background (reverse image)
There were many memorable and historical moments at today's inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden and Vice President Kamala D. Harris, who is the first woman as well as first Black and first South Asian person to hold the office.
One of the highlights of the inauguration was the beautiful poem written and recited by Amanda Gorman, who is also a history-maker. Gorman became the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in 2014 at age 16, and then the U.S.'s first National Youth Poet Laureate three years later. Today, she became the youngest poet to perform at a presidential inauguration at just 22 years old. If you missed her recitation, or would like to listen to it again and again (like me!), you can watch it below here, or read it here (or enjoy the expanded text below, courtesy of The Hill). Her poem and performance are even more beautiful and inspiring, knowing that she has worked to overcome a speech impediment, just as President Biden has.
Today's New York Times Daily Lesson focuses on Amanda Gorman and occasional poetry. It is a great resource to explore with your students at home!
If you'd like to read more about Amanda Gorman, there are some wonderful articles from the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, and ABC News, as well as this short article about the significance of the clothing and jewelry she wore today. The Virtual Inauguration Day Parade was another unique and memorable aspect of the day, replacing the traditional live parade in Washington D.C. due to COVID-19 concerns. It is a joyful and inspiring celebration of our armed forces, essential workers, every day heroes, and the many cultures and talents in every state and corner of our country. You can check it out here, courtesy of PBS News Hour!
The Hill We Climb - Amanda Gorman
When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade We've braved the belly of the beast We've learned that quiet isn't always peace And the norms and notions of what just is Isn’t always just-ice And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it Somehow we do it Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished We the successors of a country and a time Where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one And yes we are far from polished far from pristine but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect We are striving to forge a union with purpose To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another We seek harm to none and harmony for all Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew That even as we hurt, we hoped That even as we tired, we tried That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious Not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree And no one shall make them afraid If we’re to live up to our own time Then victory won’t lie in the blade But in all the bridges we’ve made That is the promised glade The hill we climb If only we dare It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy And this effort very nearly succeeded But while democracy can be periodically delayed it can never be permanently defeated In this truth in this faith we trust For while we have our eyes on the future history has its eyes on us This is the era of just redemption We feared at its inception We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter To offer hope and laughter to ourselves So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe? Now we assert How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us? We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation Our blunders become their burdens But one thing is certain: If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked south We will rebuild, reconcile and recover and every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid The new dawn blooms as we free it For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it If only we’re brave enough to be it, |
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February 2024
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