We have a love-hate relationship with math.

On February 2, 2021 NPR reported on the death of Anthony Orr. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Anthony missed all of the rites of passage that should have been the culmination of his senior year of high school. His parents said he seemed fine and happy, but in August of 2020, Anthony tragically took his own life.

As a student-teacher, I taught in a third-grade classroom with 35 students: six of whom had Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), five with 504 accommodations, and 12 who were English Language Learners (ELLs).   I had no special education training, nor any knowledge of how to accommodate ELLs, but as a student teacher I knew that the student make-up of our classroom was unbalanced in comparison to the two other classrooms in our grade level.  The other two classrooms had significantly less IEP, 504, and ELL students.  I experienced firsthand how this inherent inequity made it challenging to meet the unique needs of these identified students.

I am a devoted follower of the late Sir Ken Robinson (may he rest in peace). Somewhere in his massive body of work he described math as a party to which many of us feel we have not been invited. Although I can't find the quote I have never forgotten it because I'm one of the people that got excluded from that guest list--or at least that's what I've always believed. I've gone along with the casual dogma of, "there are math people, and there are non-math people."

In May of 2019 the Guardian updated its style guide and publicly announced that they would be changing their use of terms regarding the environment. "Climate change" was replaced by "climate emergency, crisis, or breakdown." Editor-in-chief, Katherine Viner explained, "The phrase 'climate change' for example, sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity." Several other media outlets followed the Guardian's example.

“The truth of what you say is what really matters,