Marie Snyder is a retired high school teacher (civics, philosophy, social sciences, and film studies) living in Ontario. She writes sporadically and conversationally about politics, philosophy, environmental issues, pop culture, autism, and her own struggles with the inane decisions made by those with power. Mask, vax, and ventilate, and not about us without us. Find her on BlueSky at MarieSnyder or through email: marie.snyder.27 [at] gmail.com.
by Marie Snyder I’m running for an elected position: school board trustee. It’s a relatively minor position and non-partisan, so there’s no budget or staff. There’s also no speeches or debates, just lawn signs and fliers. Campaigning is like an expensive two-month long job interview that requires a daily walking and stairs regimen that goes…
by Marie Snyder A student asked, “How many bad actions does a good person have to do before becoming a bad person?” The notion of good and bad people raises the image of final judgment at the pearly gates. We have a scale somewhere with our actions added incrementally to one side or the other…
by Marie Snyder A mandate isn’t necessarily tyrannical. It’s a rule that, in any good government, is devised to protect the people from harm so we can better live and work together. We must monitor legislation to ensure we stop laws that can harm people, but we also need to get involved when harm comes…
by Marie Snyder I knew it was coming, yet I was still surprised when it hit my classroom. “We shouldn’t be looking at this.” Students have complained about my course before, certain that they should not be expected to read anything so difficult in a high school philosophy course. The effect of this grumbling can…