Tonight is our annual Eclectablog/GOTMFV Show fundraiser and we’re totally excited. For those of you who are coming, here’s what the 2018 Eclectagrog beer glass looks like: IMPORTANT: While we are asking for a $50 donation, all comers will be welcomed and will receive a beer glass + free food and drink. Donate what you can afford, even if that […]

We all suspected this was going to be a VERY rough enflamed duck session and we all were right. Two bill introduced this week seek to hurt Michigan’s environment. The first is House Bill 6532. This bill would do away with Michigan’s law that requires non-reusable containers to have a deposit which encourages people to return them to the store […]

This week marks the painful beginning of the lame duck (or, as I call it, “enflamed duck”) session in the Michigan State legislature. With a Democratic governor about to take the reins, Republicans are hell-bent to pass as much regressive legislation into law as they can before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer moves into her new office. One of the worst is […]

When the GOP loses their bets, they use their gerrymandered majorities to make workers to pay UPDATE, 12/4/18: Michigan’s GOP-controlled House has voted to gut both the One Fair Wage minimum wage increase and earned sick leave. The bills now go to the desk of the governor. If you wonder how that’s going to go, the Detroit Free Press reports, […]

I think we need to start being very intentional with the language we use when referring to organizations like Teach for America (TfA) and the persons who decide to join them–and having made some of the mistakes I’m about to point out myself, I’m taking the liberty of making the following suggestions: • There are no TfA “teachers”–teachers decide to […]

Lots of news to share with you about our Eclectablog 2018 Annual Fundraiser on Friday, November 30th at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti. First, we are thrilled to announce that, in addition to Jordan Zakarin from Progressives Everywhere, we will also have superstar progressive attorney and former Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer joining us. While the passage of Proposition […]

I read a lot of stuff on education policy, written by a wide range of authors. Some are bright, well-informed, and experienced teachers. Most are not. But this piece here maybe the silliest article on education reform I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s by an author I have to admit I’d never heard of until today…Robin Lake, from […]

So what does that mean for 2020, huh? You can’t clone Jon Tester or Joe Manchin. And you probably wouldn’t want to or you’d get a bunch of mini-Manchins shooting holes in whatever happens to be the least popular policy of the moment. But we may want to clone Tammy Baldwin. In addition to the biggest Democratic House wave since […]

Every time I go out to observe one of our music student teachers, I come away thinking three things… 1. These new music teachers are really, really good. Much better than I was just coming out of school. More musically versatile, more aware of the profession, so passionate about teaching kids about music. In spite of the doom & gloom […]

We normally do our fundraiser in late spring but some health issues on my end foiled that plan. Then came the midterm election. Then came the general election. So, now that the dust has settled, we are finally getting the opportunity to hold our annual fundraiser. And we NEED to! Our coffers are nearly depleted! This year we’re thrilled to […]

Perusing the Facebook pages of some of the Democrats who won their elections last week, I came across a post by Jeff Irwin, the newly-minted Democratic Senator in Michigan’s 18th state Senate district. In it, he reveals that Democratic members of the state Senate are given $129,700 plus two staff benefit packages (for two staff members.) Republican senators, in sharp […]