In the summer of 2012 I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. In retrospect I think I had been having symptoms, constant thirst and always running to the bathroom, for two years before that.
At the time of my diagnosis my blood sugar level was nearly 500 as as my cholesterol level. My A1C was over 13. And my weight was 30 pounds heavier than it is now. I went from a size 38 waist to 32.
I am not on insulin, yet I am on Metformin, Glimepiride, and Jardiance for the Diabetes and Lipitor for the cholesterol. My cholesterol is now normal and my blood sugar, well it can always be improved, but my A1C is usually around 7 (it should be less, closer to 6.5) but I have cut out a lot from my diet.
I'm saying this because I remember several years ago talking about going on a hunger strike. Hunger strikes are hard. No food at all. Only water.
What's easy is going off my medications (OK, I have opened myself up to a litany of jokes!) . Flush it down the toilet. Stop going to CVS once a month for refills (except my Lipitor which comes mail order).
Why am I sharing this? Because something needs to be done with how our union elections and how decisions are made.
The UFT is calling, or at least exploring, earlier than usual elections for 2019. ATRs still have no voice, no functional chapter, no nothing. All teachers, all members of the UFT vote for every single officer. Why as an elementary teacher am I voting for HS VP? What purpose does an at-large executive board serve? Why at the DA is modern technology not used for voting of resolutions (simple, use an app to vote yes or no). There are a slew of other things to complain about.
That is one group. The other group is the MORE Caucus.
The MORE Caucus has gone bat shit crazy of late and is controlled by its patróns at the ISO and Gus Hall Superfriends Club, not to mention some truly demented human beings there. Worse yet, the purges of earlier this year in which the MORE Caucus stuck to the playbook of Stalin, Mao, and Saddam Hussein. The MORE Caucus still cares more for all this extraneous bullshit stuff rather than for the rank and file.
So what am I thinking.
I am really think choosing one of these two groups, that if things don't change I am going to go off the meds and set myself if I go hypoglycemic, or worse, so be it. But at least I will be doing it for for change, for the rank and file, a for a cause that means something.
If I do this I will be all in. Live on camera and streaming I will take my blood sugar. Instead of seeing between 90 and 150 2 hours after I eat, what will be seen are numbers like 600, 700, 900 or higher two hours after I eat. If I stroke out let it be on the UFT or the MORE Caucus.
I'm getting tired of the bullshit. I don't know what else to do. I am open to other ideas.
This the normal progression of being an ATR. I know exactly how you feel - it’s beyond frustrating because ATRs have no voice in anything. I don’t see that changing. I talked to a big shot yesterday and was told the UFT has no intention of fighting Fair Student Funding - there for the ATR pool will be kept well stocked. You’ll eventually come to the same conclusion I did; get the fuck out as soon as you can retire - after about 4 years in you’ll start to go crazy, especially if they lengthen the rotation to once or twice a year. Good luck and remember the UFT simply doesn’t care about ATRs. If you need reassurance on this basic fact, try to start an ATR chapter.
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