Demanding Leadership and Accountability

Stirring the “ice cream"

This past week had me silently screaming every profanity I know into the void—and inventing a few more. Not because of my DRC students, who’ve been doing great. But because I’m watching this administration run a protection racket with a presidential seal—in real time. Since last January, I’ve been thinking we are living a true-life version of Weekend at Bernie’s—people behind the scenes with actual power exploiting his narcissism, feeding him his lines (lies) and stroking his ego, trotting him out and propping him up while they run the grift, the cheating, the bullying, the exploitation, all of the diabolical actions. 

These are just three of those things that set me off this week: First, the SAVE Act—a pay-to-play scheme disguised as voting integrity that blocks women who changed their names from voting unless they have a passport, which this administration conveniently made harder to get by gutting passport office staff. Just another way to rig the vote after their gerrymandering scheme collapsed. The Republican Party has made it clear: they are very aware that the only way they can win is to cheat. As I write this, the SAVE Act has passed the House and sits in the Senate, where it will hopefully die.

Second, the continued brutality unleashed on Minnesotans even after the administration announced ICE and Border Patrol operations were supposedly winding down. The real way to end this terror is through an appropriations bill that defunds ICE. I’m hopeful our representatives will stand firm and do it—because this isn’t just Minnesota, Chicago, LA, or Portland. ICE patrols are everywhere, intimidating and terrorizing regular people, even here in Northern New York, where local sheriffs are working with them. This isn’t, as they claim, a crackdown on illegal immigration, keeping us safer. They’re actively targeting and threatening anyone who disagrees with this administration’s bigoted, misogynist, ableist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, white supremacist, oligarchic, fascist ideology. 

Finally, the Epstein files—the cover-ups, the lies, the lack of accountability, and the utter frustration that these horrors against children were possible in the first place, and that this still isn’t the thing taking this administration out. How is it conceivable that the monsters who hurt those children remain in power, still raking in money, and not behind bars at the very least?
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I’m constantly reminded that our kids are watching. Tuesday afternoon, two teens asked if I knew about Epstein—meaning the files, the revelations. Even without all the details, they know some people did some terrible sh*t and faced no consequences. I wonder if they may even, in some dark corner of their understanding, admire that kind of untouchability.

What struck me wasn’t the question itself, but their assumption that I might be too sheltered, clueless, or just too old to know. I was caught off guard. I only managed “Yes, I know about him” before the moment passed.

Looking back, I realize I probably missed a crucial opportunity to help them understand the inherent responsibility of leadership, the importance of accountability, what an effective, dependable, and trustworthy leader actually looks like, and why we can’t let exhaustion, and some people’s willingness to shrug and look the other way, stop us from demanding all those things from those in power. 

A lesson I’ll carry forward, even if I can’t reclaim that particular moment.

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DRC News

Weekly Wrap-up

We had a weird week before midwinter break. We had several kids out sick most of the week. On Tuesday, we closed early because of impending snow. On Thursday, a few spent the day on my land, playing in the snow, hanging out, eating chili, and entertaining my cats.  And on Friday, we had most kids back and made “ice cream” for Valentine's Day in Kitchen Sink Science.  

The idea was to use packed snow with salt instead of ice to surround the bowl filled with the ice cream mixture. We did one outside, one inside, and the bag method, where you put a Ziploc filled with the ingredients inside another bag of snow and salt. The inside mixture came closest to ice cream, but that may have been due to CM's dedicated, vigorous whisking. At the end of the day, we poured our efforts into cups and called it a milkshake.  

Thanks to the SLU CBL students who helped kiddos look at snow, dish soap bubbles, and hot sauce with the microscopes. In case you were wondering: yes, there were very much alive, and wiggling, microscopic critters in all that snow you ate as a child! 

As mentioned, the DRC Crew is on midwinter break this coming week. We will be back to our adventures on Monday, 2/23. 

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Fundraising Raffle 
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Purchase your chances to win $100 worth of NYS Lotto Tickets from any DRC family or online here. Drawing is on March 17th.

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Thank you!

Thank you to Stewart’s Shops for the $350 grant towards essential needs. We are grateful for their continued support over the years. 

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Even though DRC Canton has next week off, the Pop-ups Peeps will meet this coming Thursday, 2/18, at the Massena Library.