Dr. Miah
@dst6n01
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Sometimes I tell an engaging story. ❤️🐘 313, 202, 1913 All posts & opinions are mine. Go Blue! VP, Literacy, NWEA
Third Star from the Right
Joined December 2014
Story I learned last night:. I started Girl Scouts in first grade and was an active scout until I was 17 (12th grade)—did ALL the GS stuff and loved my scouting experience. I was a GS national delegate. My troop, 1001, was in Detroit and almost all black.
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Y’all. I had a breakfast date yesterday. I always go on first dates from apps bare faced and makeup free. This is me:
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How Black mothers have to exist in a dual space: providing all the social and cultural experiences that you believe your daughters need and being constantly aware of the dangers that exist in non black spaces where those experiences often are.
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This is a post to illuminate how deeply unfair it is to live in a state of terrorized, racial fear. How that fear creates a space for ongoing trauma.
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But, they wanted us to experience ALL the experiences Girl Scouts have. They just had night watch so we could. So they stood watch—all night. In the 90s. This is NOT a post to debate the rationale of us camping in Howell. That’s not the fair conversation to have.
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And how to prepare your daughters to do the same for theirs. It’s not a fair question to ask why we, as kids, went camping in Howell. I’ll not entertain that. The question is, why is it fair that our mothers had to be afraid for us to?.
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Now, while the Klan never knocked on our cabin door, the act of having to be vigilant and aware because they could is enough. There are places, TODAY, that Black people can not go. Can not get a meal. Can not sleep soundly at night in a hotel. Can not exist.
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Howell is about an hour outside Detroit, halfway to Lansing. To me, a kid somewhere between 8-12, camping was fun. To our mothers and leaders, camping was potentially dangerous.
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“The Klan.”. Yesterday, I learned that one of our GS camps was in Howell, Michigan. This Howell:
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Our leaders were Black women and they genuinely loved us. Because they loved us, we did ALL the GS things: we sold cookies, and earned badges, and did community service, and went camping.
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Real camping—out in the “forest.” Cabins and s’mores and trails and knapsacks and walking sticks and campfires and songs and lakes and ALL THE THINGS. LOVED IT.
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My mom & I just disagreed about something pivotal that happened TO ME 25 years ago. In the story I end up triumphant. We both agree on that.But,how I got there? She had a wholly different version. I said, that’s not what happened!, & suggested we trade stories . I gave my version.
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Last night I talked to my best friend, whose mom was one of our leaders and camp chaperones. We were talking about camp, and her mom mentioned staying up with two other moms all night, taking stations at each door and window of our cabin and having night watch.
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We would drive a VERY LONG TIME (at least to a 9 year old) and end up at the campgrounds. And then we’d learn the camp rules and review the Girl Scout requirements: leave a space better than you found it, clean your trash, be kind, have fun. And we did all those things.
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So when I quietly observe all the things around me, the best I can come up with is from James Baldwin: The Fire Next Time.
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I'm convinced creators are the soul of our country & will be a balm to our humanity.We need the muses & graces to inspire our writers,photographers,dancers,musicians,poets more than ever. Help our DC students keep writing & sharing their voices during this critical time, please.
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Night watch? I asked, genuinely confused. What kind of bears did y’all think were going to open the door of our cabin and eat us? 😂 I asked, jokingly.
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My memories of camping are 💯 wonderful and positive and I’m getting warm fuzzies.
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I was young when I started camping, maybe 4th or 5th grade, don’t remember exactly. But I do remember getting in our cars, with our paper lunches and sleeping bags and flashlights and book of badges to earn outside and being so excited.
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1. Breakfast was good! It took me a good hour to order, wait and eat. 2. More disturbing is that this guy presented as totally harmless and normal. Disarming smile. Charming. Polite and kind. Spoke with authority. So there was a LOT of cognitive dissonance happening.
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I dunno…I wasn’t ever taught to use “freebeerandhotwings” or “paternity court” as a credible source. Damn you Michigan and Vanderbilt.
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Like I knew “this is weird. This is weird, right” and at the same time thought “but he’s too nice to be this weird. Maybe he’s not as disturbing as I think?”. Which is why space and reflection are powerful things. By 4 pm when I was still perseverating, and journaling I was like.
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6. The best thing to do is buy land in a remote place in a southern state. Why? Because we’re in the verge of total societal collapse, but luckily he owns land in one of these states and can hunt and fish. So he’ll be ok. He can read cursive.
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The date itself was uneventful. The guy is 44 handsome and smart. Black. Engaged once, never married. He also talked—wait for it—almost nonstop for 90 minutes. So I listened more than I talked.
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When In reality, what I learned tonight, was that luck had nothing to do with it. My mother did. My mother looked at me, saw her qualified, smart, engaged daughter defeated and quitting at the starting line and decided that would not do.
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Lol if you read this far and you’re a parent or teacher, read this next. When I’m not dating weirdos, I’m a literacy educator and most of my tweets are about reading and how to get children K-12 to be better at it 🙂.
Good morning parents! Today is the PERFECT day to talk about Language Comprehension. Why? You'll be home with your little ones for a few days, so you have extended time to build their LC skills--an important building block to reading. If you EVER talk to kids, read & retweet :)
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Soooo I’m not gonna brag, but I look GREAT. Smell good too, freshly showered. I had a fancy schmancy event this evening at a museum, fought DC rushhour, PARKED ILLEGALLY, & ran in. The event is tomorrow🤦🏽♀️. I told security to look surprised when they see this EXACT look in 24 hrs
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Tell me you’ve never been to MIA, ATL, or JFK without telling me you’ve never been to MIA, ATL, or JFK.
the myth that you have to arrive two hours before your flight is propagated by airports to make you spend more money on overpriced snacks. you really only need to arrive 5-10 minutes before departure.
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2. We are on the verge of total societal collapse. Total. And when “the lights go out” the biggest problem will be that schools no longer teach cursive so the population can’t read the founding documents.
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THAT WAS VERY VERY WEIRD. When @FeministaJones starts her dating podcast, I’d like to be the first guest 😂😂😂.
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I learned today what happened in1997. My mother, in one mastermind trick, changed the course of my life. Not by the college I got into—but the belief that I could get in.
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@TheyLoveShi_ @simsimmaaz Mam theyve HAD a group chat. It lit up like a 1940s switchboard as soon as she finished the last call. They activated the friends avengers network.
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And that I encouraged cursive to be stuck from ELA standards, damning generations from their civil liberties, I realized there was really one thing left to do with that man’s number
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Though he was polite, he was also argumentative and knowledgeable about every-damn-thing there is to know. Here are *some of* the topics I got schooled on yesterday before noon:.
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4. The problem is that there are too many single people. But it’s not a problem for everyone. Just women. Specifically women over 50. While he could get married like this (literally snapped his fingers), women can’t once there over 30 and begin to realize no one wants them.
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4c. Women are communal and NEED other people. That’s why so many of them are depressed once they hit 45 and are alone. There are no more people? . Men, however, are solitary creatures who don’t NEED people. So they can be alone and happy. Women can’t. Look it up.
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throughout the day, as I found myself perseverating on societal collapse, the fact that I neither hunt nor fish, that I don’t own a large swath of land in a southern state, that I’m 42 and only have, at best 5 more years of sexy and desirable left before I turn into a toad….
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1. The Black community is in shambles and there is NO hope and NOTHING to celebrate. I asked several times for clarification, and yes, that is it. HOPELESS. Look it up.
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I love this pic of me. I’m just…happy. No makeup, no retakes, no filters, no weird body contortions, bushy eyebrows, unsmoothed smile lines all over my face, wikd(ish hair)…just me and my backpack (IYKYK 😂😂😂), traveling, existing and being fully me.
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The date left me feeling…unsettled…but I couldn’t figure out why at first. He didn’t DO anything horrid or cringeworthy. In fact, he was nice and polite to me & waitstaff and on time. But as the day wore on, my anxiety slowly and steadily rose. I found myself…just worried.
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Penelope has tons of toys. Yet, somehow, this box is her favorite? Someone explain toddlers to me 😂😂😂
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So you might be wondering why I lasted so long. I mean 90 minutes is a LONG time for…that.
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Im sitting here thinking of ALL the jobs, fellowships, opps I’ve applied to since 1997, how my perspective is “always apply. Always apply.” That’s how I coach my mentees. All this time I thought that was just me. It isn’t. I didn’t used to always apply.
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4b. Especially over 50. In fact, every woman he knows over 50 is “finally learning,”—including his sister—and they’re all on anti depressants in their houses with their cars and “careers” but no man and alone and now he does welfare checks on the single women he knows over 50.
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Im thinking about what a privilege it has been to have a mother who understood how to build and use social & political school capital to benefit me and my sister. And I’m thinking about kids who don’t have an OG like mine, so their teachers have to stand in the gap.
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Advocate and demand higher classes for black children. Vocally resist the overpolicing and punishing black children in schools. Insist on texts that reflect their communities. Call in favors. Offer tutoring. Share opportunities and convince parents to apply. Standing in the gap.
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4d. These women will learn. His sister is “learning” now. She’s 50. And when they learn, he plans to…checks notes…”sit on his porch and get a drink and watch and laugh”.
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Slavery was not an internship. It was not a work-study program. Slavery was rape. Slavery was torture. Slavery was dismantling families. Slavery was trauma. Slavery was cruelty feasting on the calf of capitalism. Slavery was vicious. To suggest otherwise is damnable.
I can hear the amen choir in the back. It’s time Florida. It’s time to bring DeSatan the smoke he’s been begging for.
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5. The system is rigged against men. Look it up.More than 50% of domestic violence claims are fake. Domestic violence charges are a way for the state to make men keep paying, it’s a financial racket.
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6b.The government is going to take all your money.All of it.Look it up. Because everyone is in debt. Because student loans. Except him.He has land & a retirement plan so he plans to…checks notes…”wait for it to happen so he can light a stogie & sit on his front porch & laugh”.
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What I learned tonight was that my mom watched me, defeated and deflated. She knew my talents and RANGE of extracurriculars, my grades and coursework and test scores. And when she tried to get me to apply, my eyes would well up with tears because I wasn’t smart enough.
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That 1 hour trick changed my perspective and then my life. Im thinking about social capital, and how my mother leveraged hers to get me an opportunity to be myself.
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5b. In fact some guy spent five years in prison for child support for a child that wasn’t his. Look it up. Luckily for me, he sent me the research. This is the research: From a man with at least 1 advanced degree from an accredited school.
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To this day we can’t go anywhere in the D without someone knowing her, coming up and THANKING her, always smiling, sometimes crying, always grateful for how she stood in the gap for them/their kids.
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So she orchestrated a college interview event with a woman she had met ONCE before, concocted a story, and put me in a space where I could be my best, most comfortable self.
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So she decided to help me. She didn’t know X. She had met X ONE time prior and knew where her office was. So after she dropped me off at school, she didn’t go to work. She went to X’s office, walked in, and said “let me tell you about my daughter.”.
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My mom is a retired educator, school principal. I can honestly say that while she probably stood in the gap tallest, hardest, and more firmly planted for me and my sis,. She stood in the gap for the thousands of children in her care over a 40 year career.
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6. We are on the verge of the government taking literally everything from every citizen. Even your TV. Look it up. But we’ll be happy about it. Because student loans.
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5c. Prenups are fake. Courts and judges ignore them ALL THE TIME, but they only ignore them for men. So, he’d never get married unless there were children involved. But he wants a relationship.
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@21CoachDouglas Well, it's next to an ATM that reads "-gle bank,"which makes me think it's an Eagle bank. Eagle banks are only in the DMV area, so that narrrows it down to DC, MD or VA.
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Yup this is a subtweet. Yesterday I saw a rather entitled tweet from a phd bemoaning that she wasn’t allowed to teach because she wasn’t certified even though she had a PhD.
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She told X, I was too afraid to try, but she believed I would be an excellent Michigan student. All this is happening without my knowledge . X tells my mom that’s a common feeling and to bring her to the office on Saturday and pretend we’re there for a financial aide workshop.
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@tamagotchimilf I had this experience once. It was so freaky! We didn’t look much alike, but we have very similar personalities and expresssions. I told her “I always wondered what it would be like to meet me. Now I know. And apparently I only get better 🤣”. I still talk to her. She’s LOVELY.
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@luvTorrie I learned this last night. It made me sad. It also explained why some of the moms were tired ALL day.
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I could present a compelling case for myself without even knowing it. But what actually has me in tears right now isn’t any of that. I know that story. I always thought it was happenstance, a lucky break that the financial aide lady worked at Michigan.
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And what happens to the smart, engaged, funny, talented black and brown children who are too afraid to apply, to try, and there is no one to stand in the gap & advocate for them. See, my mom KNEW me. She KNEW that she would have to help me because I was too afraid to help myself.
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@ScientistWord Oh I journaled and debriefed with my best friend of 35 years. Then I was like “yeah that was weirder than I thought”. The fact that one interaction left me anxious all day was enough. After being with people I like I am buoyed, not weighed. That person would kill my spirit.
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"Why do we teach reading?". My mom, the smartest woman I know, past reading & English teacher, reading specialist and principal, asked me that question this week.
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@Jacquel56721788 Thank you,internet stranger,for your astute analysis of a woman you’ve never met but made from 1 story out of a 44 YEAR history,told with aplomb. That would be as accurate as me saying you’re projecting& have some attachment issues after reading your reply. But I wouldn’t do that.
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In other news…you should eat more beans & lentils! They really are a wonderful superfood. They’re a great complex carb, versatile & budget friendly ! They can be their own meal, they can be made with or without meat, they can be a side. Here’s a list of my fave bean recipes.
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Im thinking about how my mother and my MS and HS counselors became friends—and therefore I was always scheduled with the best teachers in the building.
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@DexHinton Tyrone taking all that Howard FAFSA money to live his BEST, GOLDEN, UNBOTHERED, PASSPORTED life😂😂😂.
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I’m afraid the government will buy drugs with the money if I pay back my student loans, and I no longer want to be an enabler. #boundaries.
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So we went. And when I could be me, and relax, and talk about studying French for 4 years and Japanese for 1, about why I was still a @girlscouts, my role on the newspaper, being a national rep, the book I wanted to write, starting my own business….
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I was an English teacher. I was NOT a reading teacher. Enough of my middle and high school students struggled to read that I went back to school to get a M.Ed in reading. Then I was a reading AND English teacher. They are NOT the same job.
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So THEN she says, what if I told you I worked for the Michigan admissions office?. I was shocked! . She asked me if I would write an entrance essay. I did. I wrote an essay about not knowing what I wanted to do when I graduated, and why that was an unfair essay topic for a HSer.
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Bonus: I also found out tonight that the essay I wrote X used as a model essay for prospective students in the years after. I am truly shocked.
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Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not curriculum .Standards are not curriculum.Standards are not.
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Teaching is a profession. K-12 is a speciality, and there are many sub specialities in K-12. Even though I was a certified English teacher and I have a doctorate, I have no business teaching physics.
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I was quieted and humbled tonight by the OG. She, once again, reminded me the importance of what we do: advocate for children who cannot advocate for themselves.
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A lot of folks haven’t read The Color Purple. That’s ok. There are millions of books. But please read The Color Purple—BEFORE issuing hot taken on the movie-musical based on the musical based on the movie based on the book.
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She said “yes, except for the part where I went to talk to X and we concocted a plan behind your back because you didn’t think you were smart enough to do the thing.”. “WHAT?!” I asked.
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@ConstructingDee @mshavisham I was too, at first, until I realized that there have been 22 mass shootings in a week.
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Part 1.Ya'll know I grew up in Detroit (#3134ever),but I grew up in 80s-90s Detroit,when the city was 98% Black. I had Black neighbors, Black teachers, Black doctors. was in a Black Girl Scout Troop, my parents' friends were Black lawyers, judges, businessmen. Deltas, AKAs. .
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I was assigned to X. She was a lovely black woman, funny & warm. She & my mom started talking about financial aide and then X started just talking to me…asking me why I wanted to go to college, why I had chosen Michigan State, what I wanted to study. It was a casual conversation.
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Then she gave her version, a story I’ve never heard before. In her story, she recounted seeing me look and feel so defeated, not smart enough to do something, and I had given up before I’d even started (all true).
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