Either they’ll get called into the counselor's office, there will be some big "heart-to-heart" with the kid and the parents, maybe run a little workshop during homeroom—and then what? The teacher keeps preaching about non-violence, but the whole thing just hits a dead end because there are zero actual consequences. A few talks aren't going to change a bully, especially when most of those issues stem from deep-rooted problems at home anyway. During homeroom, all we can really do is talk and hope someone is actually listening. I don't know how it works in other districts, but in my school, parents usually start breathing down our necks when kids transition from elementary to middle school. They seem to think homeroom teachers are somehow omniscient—like we’re supposed to know every single whispered word or playground spat happening in every other classroom. Honestly, regarding that fight between the two classes mentioned earlier—as a teacher, I'm often at the mercy of whether the kids actually trust me enough to come forward. And once again, we’re back to square one: talking and hoping it actually makes a difference.
And what about the kids who aren't actually bullies, but they have ADHD, mental health struggles, or issues stemming from a rough home life? They end up disrupting the whole class—kids who are probably just counting down the minutes until they can finally go home. In some perfect utopia, they’d be working with school psychologists or specialists, but let’s face it, our schools are woefully understaffed in that department. On top of that, you've got students with IEPs who struggle to stay focused for even half the day; forcing them to sit in a classroom until 3:30 PM is just unrealistic. There needs to be an option for CN. If some kids want to stay, fine. But everyone else? They should be able to study after a break—walking around, reciting things out loud, or even just lounging on the couch in the evening. We can't just lump every single student into one giant, messy category. @Bryan Wells11, I'm with you 100%. And honestly, what about the parents who see victimization in every little thing? The ones who take every joke personally—which basically teaches their kids to be just as sensitive—or the ones messaging classmates online pretending to be kids themselves? We can work on prevention at the school level and talk sense into the students until we're blue in the face, but there's nothing we can do about raising the parents.
One of the things that really grinds my gears about CNN is this whole A2 program and how they actually thought this would work. In any given classroom, I’d be looking at at least 25 kids—looking at my current classes, there'd definitely be that many—and I'm supposed to run supplemental instruction for all of them. You've got maybe 10 advanced students mixed in with everyone else who just needs help finishing homework for... I don't even know how many subjects. I won't even get into the fact that it’s physically impossible to learn something AND finish homework in a 45-minute block. With the way things are right now, when 10 kids show up for extra help, it's already too much because these are the kids struggling with the subject matter; they need actual explanations and practice time. By the time I've spent enough time with each of them, those 45 minutes are gone and I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. Then you have the kids who just want to practice, the kids who can barely say "I'm ten years old," and the kids who are actually doing fine but were just absent and just need a quick recap of what we did last. The way they pitched A2 is just going to infuriate parents—they'll expect kids to get everything done at school so they don't need tutors, which is impossible, and then they'll end up blaming us for not teaching them properly. If they actually want to make A2 high-quality, the only way is through small groups, with everyone in their own classroom—which, let's face it, is impossible in our US schools. I agree with what was said above regarding the need for elective-based reform. We should have a few core subjects and then let everything else follow student interests. Even those core subjects should be split into basic and advanced tracks, rather than having a single class where I have three honors students, six kids who totally get it, and nine others who haven't even mastered the basics yet.
Honestly, right after Divjakica, I was actually rooting for Fuchs—mostly because I thought he’d be the fix we desperately needed after her tenure. If I were to get into what I *really* think about her, I’d probably be flagged by a moderator before I could finish my sentence. He did leave us alone, though I’m not sure if that’s actually a good thing, given how much work the education system needs. I'm genuinely terrified that if things don't change, we'll end up in an even worse spot than we were under Divjakica. She completely butchered the curriculum, especially for my two subjects—it’s gotten to the point where I can’t even watch anything on TV without wanting to start swearing uncontrollably.
So, once we finish—oops, let's call it "enriching" the curriculum—we trudge home by 5:30 PM just to prep lessons, grade homework, and deal with parents if we’re lucky enough to be assigned as homeroom teachers. Or better yet: after all that enrichment, we have to sit through a grueling session at the University of Virginia or some faculty board meeting, and *then* we go home to do all the stuff mentioned above. All this madness just for a potential 25% raise—which only applies to the base salary, not the total take-home pay—that hardly anyone will actually see. As for hitting full hours through actual teaching? I know very few colleagues who can claim they do that with pure classroom time. Most of us are sitting at about 16-17 hours, which we then pad out with advisory duties, tutoring, or extracurriculars, so our Secretary of Education is definitely lying when he claims nobody is going to lose their job. But hey, at least I still have the rest of the world and my own sanity.
Can someone help me make sense of these urine test results? They've been consistently bad for at least 8 months now—which is weird because I don't have any symptoms at all. I've already gone through two rounds of antibiotics (Klavocin), but the results just won't budge.
My white blood cell count was high and they found bacteria in my urine, so they sent me off for a culture—but I’m staring at these results and honestly, I have no clue what they mean: leukocytes positive (~15), erythrocytes and nitrites negative. Microorganism count 10^4 CFU/ml. Resident flora of the distal urethra.
The only performance that actually moved me to tears was from C. Cornell's daughter 😢 I’m really hoping they keep going—whenever that happens—because it’ll be months before things even start looking up. I just don't know which way they'll go, though... honestly, replacing Chester is a nearly impossible task.
I think it’s way too early to jump to conclusions—I can only imagine what they're going through right now. Mike looks like he hasn't slept in days in that photo, and he looks like he's lost a ton of weight. In that letter they sent out to the press after Chester Bennington passed, they mentioned that their hunger for music would never die, but honestly? I don't see how they can keep going without Chester Bennington's voice—at least not live. Sure, they could bring in guest vocalists for studio albums, but how do you even attempt those old classics? All in all, I’m not expecting anything this year—no new releases, and probably no decision on whether they even move forward at all.
I honestly don't know if they just didn't take him seriously or if they genuinely thought he was doing fine—which is what we all assumed since he looked so much better at the start of the year—even though they had to know alcohol had taken over his life again last year. But maybe this is just a string of terrible coincidences. It makes you wonder why his family and the rest of the band didn't see the warning signs. Why didn't his friend Ryan—who he’d been opening up to just a few weeks ago about the hour-by-hour struggle to stay sober—step in? Why wasn't there another intervention like the one ten years ago? I mean, it's pointless to speculate now. It’s just a tragic human fate, and I imagine his family and the band are hurting the most right now because they're stuck asking those exact same questions. We can debate the "why" a thousand times over, but it won't change the fact that he's gone 😢
I don't personally know anyone who actually listened to them—or even listens to them now—so my only option was to go hunting online just to find some kind of connection. It’s honestly depressing that it took this long for us to finally link up. I came across an article today suggesting that everything traces back to that damn alcohol and his struggle with addiction 😠 It's been two weeks, and I'm still thinking about him every single day 😢 I was scrolling through Rolling Stone earlier too, and the most striking thing was this piece by a journalist claiming that during an OML presentation, Chester Bennington told everyone he’d been having suicidal thoughts recently 😢
Is anyone interested in heading to Washington, D.C. for a memorial in Chester Bennington's honor? They've been holding these gatherings in a bunch of different cities, and honestly, it’d be a real shame if we didn't host one here in D.C. too. I've already set up a Facebook group—if you're down, just shoot me a PM here on the forum.
I honestly can't bring myself to listen to anything except Meteora right now—it's pretty much the only era of their sound that feels manageable. The whole album feels like it’s channeling Chester Bennington's pain. Songs like Numb feel like a final goodbye, and then you have Shadow of the Day, which feels like something we fans would want to say to him. And TTT? I can only imagine how his wife felt watching him struggle through everything two years ago. I’ve tried branching out to their other stuff, but I just can't do it—it’s all too intense, there's just too much of Chester Bennington's raw energy in there. As for their live shows... don't even get me started. I tried watching one and just completely broke down; it’s just too much to handle. I really hope we get some kind of closure soon, because this whole situation isn't exactly healthy.
Megan Stewart77 said:I honestly can't even wrap my head around how crushing depression actually is—it's such a brutal illness. I'm sure the people in his life were doing everything they could to help him, especially since he had his family and such an incredible band behind him. But it feels like the way he passed... like it wasn't some long-planned thing, but just a moment where the depression finally became too much to carry. It’s such a massive tragedy because he truly had so much left to give—to the music and to all of us fans. I'm still having a hard time sleeping, if I'm being honest; it hit me harder than I expected. I feel like maybe only other fans really get it—everyone else just thinks it's ridiculous that we're grieving some singer from halfway across the country. It’s actually pretty moving to see how many fans there are and how much support everyone is showing the band.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy J7 using Reddit
I broke down when it finally hit me how heavy depression is, and that he had been struggling with it forever, with only those brief flashes of happiness. 😢 He gave us so much, and I think it's going to be incredibly hard to listen to the lyrics now without feeling that weight. Everything feels different—now it feels like every song on the radio is singing about this. 😢 I don't think he planned this months in advance; with suicide, they say it's often just one overwhelming moment that breaks you. No one understands me either—to them, he was just some celebrity, and they just tell me, "Oh, relax, you'll get over it soon."
My old high school English teacher used to say that you can't have a truly great musician without some massive personal tragedy behind them. 😢 And man, he really did go through it—that’s actually one of the reasons I look up to him so much. He’s my hero because, despite everything life threw at him, he managed to build this incredible career while remaining such a kind, positive person with so much energy to give. I honestly feel terrible that people didn't see the sheer amount of pain he was masking after Chris took his own life; it’s obvious he needed help, but you can't really point a finger at anyone—there’s just no single person to blame. That’s why this whole thing hit us all like a ton of bricks. 😢 For him, 2015 was an absolute nightmare—he was diagnosed with clinical depression and was open about it, which takes a hell of a lot of courage. The other fans said it perfectly: "you wore your heart on a sleeve" ♡ I’m slowly starting to process the shock, and talking to other fans helps a lot—it reminds me how many millions of people he actually touched with his music.
It’s just beautiful 😢 I think my favorite part was the middle section—the way they described how infectious his laughter and optimism were, and how he basically lit up every room he walked into 😢 Honestly, that bit about fighting his demons while keeping such a genuine heart? That one really hit me hard 😢
Megan Stewart77 said:I’ve been sitting here thinking—even if they actually decided to find a new singer, I honestly have no clue who could ever step into those shoes. 😢
I just realized recently that I’ve been listening to them since the very beginning—all seventeen years they've been around. For me, this truly feels like a massive tragedy.
One of my absolute favorites is Final Mascarade. I know, kind of a weird choice to bring up now. But when you're at a concert and they start playing, every single song hits so hard that they all become your favorite in that moment. It was such an incredible feeling, and I’m just glad I got the chance to be part of it.
I can't even wrap my head around hearing anyone else besides Chester, let alone the idea of them actually looking for someone. They've been a brotherhood since 1999—they grew up together. I keep dwelling on him—trying to figure out what broke or pushed him to this point (it's honestly hard to even talk about). I feel like Chris's passing played a role in this, even though Chester mentioned in interviews before the OML release that being alone inside his own head wasn't a good place to be. Maybe he was reaching out for help, but everyone probably thought he was doing okay. I know it’s useless to play the "what if" game, but I can't help myself. I am so incredibly grateful I decided to go to that concert on June 27th in Budapest; getting to see them in person was always the dream. It felt like everything just fell into place perfectly. It still doesn't feel real—I was just listening to AT&T and had to remind myself he isn't here anymore. It's all so surreal. I’m out with friends, laughing and talking, but he's constantly on my mind. It's probably not the healthiest way to be, but his death hit me incredibly hard.
Kenneth Clark18 said:A huge chunk of my childhood just died. 😢 It’s such a shame—Linkin Park was honestly the light at the end of the tunnel for me. Between AT&T and Meteor 😢
Man, MTV and the whole 2000s era... they're just gone now...
I know it's way too soon to even ask, but what do you guys think the future holds for LP?
Honestly, I think it's too early to say anything because the rest of the band still needs to process everything that happened—that kind of healing doesn't happen overnight, if it happens at all. They could always release old recordings, but as for continuing without Chester... I don't know, it feels unlikely. I haven't been able to wrap my head around it since I read the news. I didn't think the death of a celebrity would hit me this hard, but for me, Linkin Park wasn't just some random band.