Laws of Gravity

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Combat Voter Suppression

This week I want to talk about the voter suppression act making it's way through the Senate. The so-called SAVE Act will make it harder to register to vote. By disenfranchising voters, the regime hopes to stay in power.

Your job is to contact your senators and urge them to vote no.

Are you a married woman? You're going to have to jump through hoops to register to vote. Your marriage certificate is not an accepted form of ID, and since your name is different than the name on your birth certificate, you'll have to get other proof you are who you say you are.

(Did anyone jump through those hoops to get a Real ID? I heard it was a pain in the rear. Same issue.)

Anyway, here's the actual bill. And here's some more info via the League of Women Voters.

I read the “SAVE Act” (the GOP’s new voter suppression bill) so you don’t have to. This is my one page summary. Jesus it’s bad. 1/

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— Jenny Cohn (@jennycohn.bsky.social) February 6, 2026 at 11:54 AM

In case you can't see that Bluesky post, here's a link to it, and also so you can view the whole thread.

After calling your senators, check out the Adopt a Day Labor Corner. There's also a virtual webinar about it on February 18th.

And, finally, there's one more video following up last week's follow up (and here's that direct link as I know some of you can't see the video here):

Monday, February 9, 2026

Almost There

There's something about knitting sleeves...

My great-grandmother, the one who taught me to knit, stopped knitting sleeves. When I knew her, she only knit vests. (This post contains some pictures of her work.)

I'm beginning to understand why.

When I started sleeve one, it seemed like I'd be working on that sleeve forever. It didn't seem to be gaining any length. Until it did. And there was a moment when I looked down at my work when it went from, "Will this sleeve ever be long enough?" to, "Wow, I'm almost done."

For sleeve two, I hit that point Saturday.

That's roughly 13 inches. I just need 18 inches to be finished. I think it was 18 inches... (My notes are across the room. I'll look it up later.)

It's closer to the length of sleeve one, anyway.

My self-imposed deadline is looking more and more doable. Wish me luck.

The sweater's previous posts:

Friday, February 6, 2026

Building a Wall

I managed to catch a three-day assignment to round out my week. The last time I had subbed for this teacher he taught computer stuff (coding and such). But I knew he had moved into a new discipline in the career and technical education department. I thought he was teaching woodshop.

It's not woodshop, though. Now the class he teaches is called residential construction. And yeah, it is what it sounds like.

Residential construction 3, so the students in the third year of it, were building a shed for the activities director. Residential construction 2, second year, were building a tiny house. On the day I was there, a couple students were working on installing a toilet while a third was adding siding to the outside.

And the first year students were doing a small wall.

(Normally I would be stuck with them doing online work while their teacher was out, but the classes had instructional aides who could supervise, so they could actually work on their construction stuff.)

I'm calling it a small wall as that's kind of what it was. First they built a frame. Then into that frame they attached outlet boxes. And then they had to wire them.

Before they could move on, they tested the wiring. The IA plugged a bulb into the socket. They connected the wiring to a live outlet. And then they flipped the switch. If the light turned on, they passed.

Then it was time for drywall.

They had to cut the pieces to fit. Then they screwed it into the frame.

Some students were behind and just getting the wiring done. Some were ahead and able to drywall. But a few were in a holding pattern as they were just about out of drywall. (The teacher was going to bring more, but he's out for a reason.)

Well, they had online work, too. There's a website sponsored by Home Depot called Path to Pro. They have instructions on how to do all sorts of construction stuff. (The year two and three students were completing OSHA training stuff.) So, they had enough to keep them busy.

Of course, high school students, so some were more on their phones or on online games. But that's pretty standard.

Just in case you were wondering what they're teaching the kiddos in school nowadays.

Thursday, February 5, 2026

Returned

By the luck of the app, I happened to catch a day in the art class I had started this school year in. (If things hadn't been so dead lately, I probably would have "missed" it, but I couldn't afford to miss another day as there was no guarantee that anything else would pop up.)

First period. Tuesday.

They had a shading assignment. I was given instructions to go over with them, so it was a more labor intensive day for me. (Not a bad thing, but it meant that I was pretty busy engaging with students, and I had less dead time than usual.)

And, of course, I had many restroom pass requests.

I don't give this a lot of thought. If no one else is out of the room, the kiddo can go. I write down their names and the time they left (so I can track how long they were gone).

Joshua was out of the room. I had three other students who were waiting to go. And the phone rang.

"Did you let Joshua out to go to the restroom? Security found him out wandering..." And this is where I got reprimanded for letting Joshua out of class, because Joshua was on the escort list.

Escort list?

Okay, so some students take advantage of restroom passes. They leave their class, and instead of doing their business and getting back to class, they wander campus. They meet up with their friends. They share vapes in the restroom. I don't know what they do out there, but it's not something they should be doing.

Students who take too long out of class get added to an escort list. That means that if that kiddo asks to use the restroom, the teacher has to call security to escort them to the restroom. They hate this, but they've demonstrated that they can't be trusted to leave class on their own.

They provide subs with the list. It's in the folder we get. Although, usually the teacher will leave the names of who we need to call security for. It didn't even occur to me to check the list, not that I had time to do so.

(Oh, and the list is a mess. It's mostly alphabetical by first names, grouped by grade level, but there are a few with last names listed first. And then half the list is a jumble of I don't know what, because it's not quite alphabetical and it's definitely not grouped by grade level.)

Joshua returned to class fifteen minutes after he left (yes, I was keeping track). Surly. Ah well.

Ms. D was on campus (they were doing some curriculum planning) and stopped by after first period. I told her of the incident.

It turns out that Joshua was on the escort list for a week a while ago. Otherwise she totally would have left his name. And there were no other students on the escort list (as far as I could tell; I went through the list and compared it to the class rosters, and... well, I mentioned that the list was a mess).

There has got to be a better way to deal with restroom passes and wandering students. I don't know what it is.

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Invalid Excuse

After catching a gig at 3 AM only to have it cancelled five minutes later, I was very happy to catch a Spanish class on Monday at 6 AM. (Things have been very slow lately. But February is more than half booked now.)

Spanish 2, fifth period.

I had been asked to cover a third period elsewhere. (It was the teacher's prep period. They're on a block schedule; this was the odd periods day.) There was a minute or two of the passing period left when I arrived back at the classroom. I unlocked the door, and the students who had arrived before me filed in.

Teachers covering other classes on their prep periods is pretty common. And some teachers will take the passing period to hit the restroom. The students wait. It's so common as to be something I've never needed to comment on before.

Fifth period started. I got the students started on their online assignment. (Well, some of it was in their books, but the instructions had been posted online by their teacher.) I took roll. (So, a few minutes of the period had passed.)

Two students walked in. Tardies have been a huge issue lately. The schools are trying many things to curb it. But for me, it just means I need to be aware of latecomers so I can mark them as tardy in the attendance.

As they were arriving, the two students explained. "We knocked. You weren't here."

I did not comment on this. Nor did I add this comment to my note to the teacher. I marked the kiddos tardy in the attendance.

Because, huh? They knocked? When? And why did they leave? Where did they go?

Yeah, no. They're supposed to wait. If I wasn't there at the beginning of the period... Well, even then, they should wait. (There have been times when the teacher is late. This is very obvious because of the crowd of students waiting outside the door.)

I checked. They're freshmen. That tracks.

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Here for the Graffiti

This past Saturday I went to visit my father as I usually do on Saturdays.

The route I usually take goes past a certain flag-flying house. The flag flown is one you may have seen. Navy blue. The lettering touts a certain president's electoral wins, one of which is blatantly false. The guy (I assume it's a guy) has swapped the flag from time to time, flying the most current iteration.

I found that giving the flag the one-finger salute as I pass makes me feel better. It doesn't do anything, but it does put a smile on my face to do it.

This past Saturday, I had to take a slightly different route. (The reasons for this are irrelevant.) Instead of just passing the back of this guy's house, I traveled along the side, making a right turn onto the usual street.

On his front lawn he had another flag planted, one you're probably aware of. And then I saw the side of his house.

Someone had spray painted "F*** Trump" there in green paint. Although, the sentiment hadn't been censored in spray paint. And I found myself smiling.

This house is in Orange County. While California is a blue state, Orange County is a very red county. (It's been getting more liberal over the years. I grew up there.) That the guy has had these flags up for years does not surprise me. That anyone spoke out against him does.

There is reason to be hopeful.

I posted this before, but it's been a while: 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.

And a follow up to the video I posted last week. (If you can't see it, here's a direct link.)

Monday, February 2, 2026

Setting a Deadline

I may have done something stupid.

The place where I usually get my brother's birthday gifts was having a sale, so I bought his present. Since it is way before his birthday, I'm shipping it to me, and then I'll ship it out to him closer to his birthday.

I mean, I'm going to eventually have a package to ship to Ohio. This sweater I've been working on since last July, eldest nephew's Christmas gift, is going to be finished. Eventually. My brother's present can hitch a ride when I mail that out.

So, now I have a deadline. I need to get this sweater done in time to get my brother's birthday present to him on time. That is, if I want to only ship one package.

Can I do it? I think I can. We'll see.

My brother's birthday is March 30th.

I have sleeve two to finish.