Poem: "Let It Fly Away"
May. 1st, 2018 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the freebie for today's fishbowl, prompted by gingicat and Boychik. It also fills the "despair" square in my 5-1-18 General card for the Pro Wrestling Bingo Fest.
"Let It Fly Away"
Middle school students
know more about stress
than adults would believe,
responsibilities and
expectations piling up
on them like backpacks.
Between school and homework
and extracurriculars required
for even the hope of college,
they despair of finding
a moment to relax.
So they turn to electronics --
Let's Play videos and LOLcats,
Happy Habits and Take a Break --
to relieve the unending stress.
They grow succulents in Viridi
and goldfish in Zen Koi.
It's a way to remember that
they're not stuck in a world where
all they can ever do is endure.
They can give their stress wings
and let it fly away.
* * *
Notes:
"Give your stress wings and let it fly away."
-- Lydia Sweatt
Teens are often more stressed than adults. Notice that nobody in the article suggests actually reducing the pressure on students, only giving them "better support" to cope with the overload. It's abuse to demand so much of people that it ruins their health. Remember that no diploma does any good if you're too sick to use it. Unsurprisingly, constant stress can damage the growing brain. Know the signs of stress in middle school students. Parents can help their children learn healthy coping skills.
Today, many apps exist to help stressed teens relax. Consider Happy Habits, Take a Break, Viridi, or Zen Koi.
gingicat and Boychik. It also fills the "despair" square in my 5-1-18 General card for the Pro Wrestling Bingo Fest."Let It Fly Away"
Middle school students
know more about stress
than adults would believe,
responsibilities and
expectations piling up
on them like backpacks.
Between school and homework
and extracurriculars required
for even the hope of college,
they despair of finding
a moment to relax.
So they turn to electronics --
Let's Play videos and LOLcats,
Happy Habits and Take a Break --
to relieve the unending stress.
They grow succulents in Viridi
and goldfish in Zen Koi.
It's a way to remember that
they're not stuck in a world where
all they can ever do is endure.
They can give their stress wings
and let it fly away.
* * *
Notes:
"Give your stress wings and let it fly away."
-- Lydia Sweatt
Teens are often more stressed than adults. Notice that nobody in the article suggests actually reducing the pressure on students, only giving them "better support" to cope with the overload. It's abuse to demand so much of people that it ruins their health. Remember that no diploma does any good if you're too sick to use it. Unsurprisingly, constant stress can damage the growing brain. Know the signs of stress in middle school students. Parents can help their children learn healthy coping skills.
Today, many apps exist to help stressed teens relax. Consider Happy Habits, Take a Break, Viridi, or Zen Koi.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-05-01 10:56 pm (UTC)Ysabet, you probably know this one, since you know Tom, but there are at least a few newbies here... Rich Fantasy Lives is by Tom Smith and Rob Balder, covered by Vixy and Tony (just the two, no string section on this one).
My take
Date: 2018-05-02 03:37 am (UTC)(In Which I Rob Balder)
words copyright 2007 thnidu
ttto Rich Fantasy Lives (words by Rob Balder, music by Tom Smith)
This isn't Rob's tune (it's Tom Smith's). It's not his lyric. It's not even his title— trust me.
The critics are crying that the genre is dying,
Bled out into romance and horror,
That tales paranormal that turn into porn'll
Be just one-way tickets to nowhere.
But fandom all knows of the wonders that rose
From the pulps while the critics were shriekin',
And yesterday's scandal, today's brightest candle,
Tomorrow may shine like a beacon.
Rich fantasy lives.
The pleasures it gives and the faults it forgives
Escape all the pigeonholes, slip through the sieves.
Rich fantasy lives.
Rich fantasy lives.
Re: My take
Date: 2018-05-02 04:43 am (UTC)Re: My take
Date: 2018-05-02 05:09 am (UTC)Re: My take
Date: 2018-05-02 05:31 am (UTC)Re: My take
Date: 2018-05-02 05:39 am (UTC)Re: My take
Date: 2018-05-02 06:14 am (UTC)Re: My take
Date: 2018-05-04 03:07 pm (UTC)Stay close, this isn't simply a goblin raid! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2018-05-01 11:23 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2018-05-01 11:25 pm (UTC)Stressed middle schoolers
Date: 2018-05-01 11:33 pm (UTC)The stress begins to mount earlier and earlier, and NO ONE suggests that there's something BADLY broken in a system that won't allow a ten-year-old to stay home alone for half an hour, BUT expects them to be actively WORKING toward college admission requirements.
Some days, I think the whole world is crazy.
It's nice to see a moment of sanity.
Re: Stressed middle schoolers
Date: 2018-05-02 12:13 am (UTC)I agree. Nobody's life should be determined by things they did that young.
But then, I think that if college is required to have even a chance at a job that pays enough to live on, it should be rolled into the public education system and provided free to everyone who wants it. Nobody should get shut out of higher education just because they're "not good enough" or can't afford it. Fix that, and much of the stress would drop away.
I think it would also be good to gauge colleges on their completion rates and student health. It's no use if the education breaks people. You can see how some of them are selecting overachievers ... who then burn out or get sick partway through. Turbo is a button you push and let go, not push and hold down.
>> The stress begins to mount earlier and earlier, <<
Painfully true.
They're pushing kindergarteners to be fully literate now, which is completely inappropriate for their stage of development. It's not what their brains are geared for at that age, which means they're missing the stuff they should be working on. Okay, the baby bookworms have already been reading for two or more years, but most kids aren't and shouldn't be.
>> and NO ONE suggests that there's something BADLY broken in a system that won't allow a ten-year-old to stay home alone for half an hour, BUT expects them to be actively WORKING toward college admission requirements.<<
Exactly. Kids are getting more and more adult obligations heaped on them, but no more privileges or freedoms. An adult in a stressful job can quit if it wrecks their health. A child who tries to bail out of a health-wrecking school will be dragged back in chains. Of course they're getting sick: it's the only rest they're allowed anymore.
>> Some days, I think the whole world is crazy.<<
I agree.
It really undermines my willingness to listen when people carp about my habits. Y'know what, assholes? Come back when you've stopped destroying the environment, the food system, and each other. Then maybe I'll consider that you have some idea what you're doing. Until then, I don't give a flying fuck.
>> It's nice to see a moment of sanity.<<
Yay!
Re: Stressed middle schoolers
Date: 2018-05-02 04:59 am (UTC)There is an out, for those as can. Homeschooling. I know several kids who thrive(d) on it. Oddly, it seems to be a middle class thing; poor folk can't afford, and rich folk just send'em to boarding school... but frankly, I think the individual attention and tailoring can make for a superior experience for those as would be bored in public prison-lite.
Like I said, not everyone can, which sucks ass, but we need all the good kids we *can* get... I highly recommend it where it's feasible.
Re: Stressed middle schoolers
Date: 2018-05-02 09:12 am (UTC)Re: Stressed middle schoolers
Date: 2018-05-02 09:26 am (UTC)Poor people do it too -- usually religious ones where the mother stays home with the kids anyway.
>>I think the individual attention and tailoring can make for a superior experience for those as would be bored in public prison-lite. <<
Vastly so.