the name you gave me is a tattoo on my soul. and i know you went to the studio, thumbed through the book, debated and discussed, argued amongst yourselves: torn between the unicorn with the rose and the steampunk mermaid. i know this tattoo on my soul honors a beloved aunt that died before i…
Author: Clio
Degendering your language: An infographic
I designed this for teachers who prefer a visual summary of the key ideas on degendering language. I also have longer text-based pieces for those who want more details: Non-Binary Students; Non-Binary “They” and Style Guides; Non-Binary Students and Pronouns. A separate issue: “Parents” can be problematic because not all of your students will have or live…
symbiotic haze
was it you who dreamed of me this time? we were trapped in a symbiotic haze our semiotic ways stretched out like fingertips to fill the gap between us was it you, indeed? because i remember the details of our shared moments so clearly: i want to own these moments, to coddle them, to watch…
beneath the rage there is beauty
behind the rage there is beauty the fires that burn bright hide the quiet of the afterdawn that settles into the crevices between the then and the to be and in that quiet, a gentle voice wonders: was it always this hard to sleep? were the dreams always this complex? whatever happened to the innocence…
my masc is a mask
my masc is a mask that protects the little girl inside with pointed spines and puts her in a cage inside his beating heart “I never meant to be like this,” he says in quiet tones, “I only meant to keep her safe from the harsh realities of life, but somehow, as days went by,…
Math Education and One True Wayism
This is a common criticism of Common Core (CCSS): It offers these strange new methods that students must use. Except… only the first part of that is true. CCSS does offers some new strategies, but it doesn’t say that students have to use them. This article isn’t a defense of CCSS, by the way. It’s…
Reframing the Quadratic Formula
When I was in school, I was taught the Quadratic Formula. I was taught that it was the most efficient, more reliable way to find the roots of a quadratic function. This is what I was taught: Given a function in Standard Form, \(ax^2+bx+c\), its roots can be found by evaluating \(\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}\). I was instructed…
What’s in a Name?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my name. My legal name is “Paul”. It’s the name I’ve worn most of my life. When I was too young to remember, I was Timmy. That was based on my middle name, which is Timothy. My older brother went by Mark, his middle name, and I went…
Proof: The rationality of the y-intercept
Theorem: Given a quadratic function with rational roots, the \(y\)-intercept is rational if and only if the stretch is rational. Proof: If \(f\) is a quadratic function with rational roots \(m\) and \(n\) and vertical stretch \(a\), then \[f(x) = a(x – m)(x – n) \\ = a(x^2 – (m+n)x + mn) \\ = ax^2…
I will do my best to be kind to you.
I will do my best to be kind to you. It’s hard, sometimes. I am so used to people wanting to hurt me. I am so used to people wanting to be cruel to others. It is so hard to see that cruelty and say, I will do my best to be kind to you….