Three for the Week

Saturdays are my time to reflect on what I read, heard, and discussed throughout the week. It is my “exit ticket” for the last seven days. So here are three ideas that made me think this week. (They are not in any particular order.)

1 – My daughter and I have spent a good deal of the quarantine learning about individuals who have fought injustices in the world. This included watching the movie Just Mercy, which is based on the memoir of the same name by attorney Bryan Stevenson. If you have not read the book, please read it as soon as you can. It is a phenomenal book about how the justice system is stacked against the poor and individuals of color, especially in the south. One of Mr. Stevenson’s quotes has been on my mind a lot lately: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. That’s a pretty powerful idea. His speech is one of the best Ted Talks I’ve even seen.

2 – I recently heard the term negativity bias. This is the psychological notion that even if a person is exposed to an equal amount of negative and positive information, the negative information will have a greater impact. This obviously has implications far greater than education right now. This will be a more detailed blog post in the future.

3 – This is a spot usually reserved for an uplifting or funny video. This dad dresses up in costumes every day to keep his daughter entertained during the quarantine. That’s top notch dad work right there!