I lost my voice and my kid told me I sound like Marge Simpson.

Charles Darwin discovered that worms can't hear the bassoon

I just got a case for my electric bass and it has a built in bottle opener! They really need to include this feature on oboe cases.

Parent teacher conferences tonight. A parent who is a brewmaster left a token for a free beer on my desk. It made my night.

I hope someone is writing "12 Hangry Men" about the sandwich guy jury

I love kids. I have two of them. They’re amazing. However, kids are the absolute least self aware, clumsiest little puffins on the planet. Please don’t drive tonight unless you have to, and if you do drive, drive super slow and pay 100% attention at all times. Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻 💀 #PublicHealth

My kids picked their Halloween costumes. My son is going as a giant pickle and my daughter is going to be a homicidal clown with a battle axe and that pretty much sums up my kids perfectly.

Reminder:

I was explaining to my kids that the president tore down a section of the White House to build a ballroom and their response was that he’s turning it into his Mojo Dojo Casa House.

folks can complain about the effectiveness of scheduled orderly mass protest but to think about it another way its the closest thing we have to the opening scene of A Muppet Christmas Carol where all the muppets sing "there goes Mr. Dipshit, there goes Mr. Ass" to Scrooge and it clearly bothered him

I’m playing a gig this weekend with one of my former students who’s a professional flutist now, and one of my current students is the child soprano soloist. I’m so proud of them and it fills me with so much joy to get to do this with them.

One of my 8th graders was clearly upset today. When I asked him if he was ok he choked out “English!” I asked the other kids what happened in English class and they said they read a really sad chapter in The Outsiders. I forgot what it feels like the first time you’re gutted by a book.

The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays Fur Elise. For when you want ice cream but you’re feeling kind of sad about it? The Melancholy Ice Cream Truck.

@emilystjams.bsky.social I just read Woodworking and I enjoyed it so much. Thank you for writing it.

Me: I just finished reading The Iliad. My mythology loving 13 year old: How was it? Me: Great, but the ending kind of dragged. Him: Huh huh, like Hector’s corpse. I’m so proud.

After a couple weeks of heartbreaking personal loss and the relentlessness of the news cycle, I’m going to make everything better by watching Galaxy Quest with my kid, who has never seen it before. And snacks. Lots of snacks.

Are there any writing retreats for teachers? Not for how to teach writing, but time and space for teachers who want to write? New England/Upstate NY would be ideal. Thank you! #Edusky

First day of school energy never gets less exciting. Started year 26 today!

When I hear people talk about annotating books, I think about how when I was a kid my mom read tons of those romance novels with Fabio and heaving bosoms on the covers. Sometimes my dad would go through with a pen to underline the dirty parts and write smartass comments in the margins.

I never realized how many people casually joke about dementia until I was experiencing my mother suffering through late stages of Alzheimer’s. It stings every time. I hope this makes me more aware of when I’m being hurtful because I’m being thoughtless and clueless.

I think I need to apologize to my dad. I’m doing a house maintenance project and I have an overwhelming urge to put all the extra screws in a jar so I can put it on a shelf in the basement and forget it exists. I get it now.

I know this isn’t the point but I just found out that Emil Bove is younger than me and I’m feeling really good about my moisturizer routine right now.

I was looking at printers today when two elderly gentleman asked me if I worked there. When I said no, they asked if I knew much about printers. When I said no, they asked 40,000 questions about printers, none of which I could answer. Is this the opposite of mansplaining?

This brings me so much joy.

I took my kids to the drive in that I went to as a kid in the 80s-90s and my dad worked at in the 60s. It was their first time, and it was like a magical time warp.

Last day of school! Just finished year 25 of teaching.

No Kings in Pittsfield MA had over 2000 people, speakers, performers, food trucks, joy. Local police monitored traffic while protesters were marching. I only saw one pro Trump counter protester across the street yelling nonsense while people ignored him. Thank you to the organizers!

The best weird perk of my job- my school’s graduation is at Tanglewood, so I get to conduct my high school band on stage at Tanglewood tomorrow! It happens every year but it never gets old.

I ran into two former students in the grocery store- they were a few years apart so they didn’t realize I know them both. One introduced me to the other as his husband and blushed- they’ve only been married a couple weeks and weren’t used to saying it yet. It was so sweet. I was so excited for them.

@emilytesh.net , I just finished The Incandescent and I loved it! I’ve never read a novel that made me feel understood as a teacher before, the good and the bad. I’m going to recommend it to my book loving high school students. Thank you for writing it!

Saw this at a 7th-12th grade dodgeball game today: Popular kid: “If you go past the center line you’re OUT!” Student with Down Syndrome joyfully ran way onto the other side to throw close range at the other team. “Nice job, X! Now please get behind the line!” Kids cheered for him. The kids are OK.

Wine shops and dispensaries should sell teacher appreciation baskets.

I had to run a 5K with my 10 year old yesterday and I was very underprepared. I was gasping along thinking that maybe I was doing ok when the little girls running in front of me started doing cartwheels. Great big reality check.

GUYS. The comment period for this ends in THREE DAYS. PLEASE if you have even a little bit of time, submit a comment here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD... Let them know EVERYONE should be able to get COVID vaccines. They BACK DOWN when WE PUSH BACK. www.statnews.com/2025/05/20/f...

“… it also will separate you from your students” I decided to finally ask students how they felt about all things AI in education last week, not really knowing what they were going to say. They had a lot to say—and the message was ridiculously clear. thebrokencopier.substack.com/p/what-my-st...

I’m at an amusement park for a music festival with my middle school group. A couple of middle school boys nearby just ate fried dough in such a spectacularly messy fashion that I’m covered in powdered sugar. Impressive. They’re not even my students.

it's teacher appreciation week so appreciate the teachers in your life by making it a priority to vote for people who care about public education! also, listen to educators and their insights on what is actually happening in schools and put them in positions to make decisions regarding their jobs!

@lindaholmes.bsky.social I just finished “Back After This.” In addition to it being smart, funny, and charming, the advice from Eliza made me think. I enjoyed the whole thing, but two lines jumped out:

Saw this at the hair salon: an elderly man with dementia was waiting for his partner. A young woman who worked there sat by him and said “tomorrow’s Easter! And do you know what else it is? 4/20! Do you know what that is?” He said no so she whispered in his ear and he laughed hard. It was lovely.

I get to perform Verdi Requiem tomorrow!

My band kids were extra attentive in rehearsal today. Then I reminded the kids to subdivide and called out the wrong rehearsal number and one of the trombone players yelled Bingo. They made a class set of rehearsal bingo cards. They let me see one and honestly, it’s fair.

@pronounced-ing.bsky.social I just finished Our Missing Hearts. It was beautiful, chilling, timely, and it gave me both ideas and hope. Thank you for writing it.

My kids and I looked at a list of banned books today and it included the complaints that led to the ban. Our favorite was Winnie the Pooh banned for “talking animals and Pooh doesn’t wear underpants.” Anyway, we’re reading Maus.

@emilytesh.net, I just finished reading Some Desperate Glory. I couldn’t put it down and it gave me a lot to think about. Thank you! I’m looking forward to reading more of your work.

I can’t wrap my head around how all of this is happening when I have to do annual conflict of interest training as a teacher that says that I can’t get hired by the same town to teach summer swimming lessons or take home a set of donated highlighters.

Gynecologist offices should have an open bar.

My best New Year’s resolution ever was when instead of resolving to eat better and exercise more I resolved to buy new pants.

Hey teachers, it’s National Board score release day! Did anyone earn their certification or MOC? I passed MOC for Music EAYA.

I can’t tell if my daughter believes in Santa with all her heart or if she’s messing with me for sport. She leaves a letter with the cookies each year that includes a quiz. Last year Santa had to draw a labeled diagram of the reindeer in their lineup order.