The Resistance is Real – They’re All Here at the Network for Public Education Conference!
An old adage says, “The most radical thing we can do is introduce people to one another.”
If that’s true, then the Network for Public Education conference in Chicago may be the most radical gathering in the history of the world!
Everywhere you turn are familiar faces that belong to people you’ve never actually met.
I wasn’t checked-in to the hotel for more than a minute before I ran smack into a colony of Badass Teachers.
Melissa Tomlinson, Marla Kilfoyle, Larry Proffitt, Kelly Ann Braun, Kristin Vogel, Karen Wolfe, Denisha Jones, Terry Kalb and so many more.
I’m “friends” with all of them on Facebook. Just like I’m “friends” with Stephen Hawking, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and George Takei!
But these are at least people with whom I’ve actually engaged. We’re all in the Badass Teachers Association – many of us on the leadership team.
We plan actions, incite twitter storms, write articles and all around raise Hell about the standardization and privatization of public education.
But meet them in person!? No. I’ve never done that… until today.
And is that abnormally tall man greeting folks in the lobby Anthony Cody? Yes, it is. The most prominent education blogger in the country is helping sell souvenir t-shirts!
And is that Melissa Katz – the 19-year-old teaching student setting the field aflame with her youthful activism!? Yep!
It’s like some science fiction story where the Internet came alive and started spitting out virtual people into the hotel lobby.
At first, I was simply speechless. I could hug, nod and take pictures, but that was about it.
But as the magic spell refused to fade away, I gradually accepted the reality of the situation.
These weren’t phantoms. These are real people.
And so – we began to talk.
I’ve spent hours messaging these individuals on-line. We’ve done much to steer the The Resistance is Real – They’re All Here at the Network for Public Education Conference! | gadflyonthewallblog:
