Latest news with #MaytheFourth
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Beloved Tacoma school crossing guard known for her crazy outfits laid off
As streams of children bounded out of Washington Elementary School in Tacoma's North End on Tuesday, 'Miss Peggy' was there to greet them in the cross walk. For 29 years, 68-year-old Peggy Tonnema has spread joy to kids and parents as the school's vibrant and beloved crossing guard. On Tuesday, she was dressed as Wonder Woman with a long pink wig, red cape, bejeweled pink glasses, glittery blue skirt and hand-puppet gloves as she waved a neon flag and cooed at families crossing the street. Rain or shine, Tonnema always wears wacky and bright outfits when she, twice a day, guides families across the busy intersection. A visit to her costume closet in the school reveals a floor-to-ceiling collection of bright wigs, funny hats, patterned shirts, accessories, boas, gloves, glasses and Halloween costumes. The outfits were donated to her over the decades by parents, students and complete strangers who recognized her on the street. As she stood in the middle of the road Tuesday afternoon, cars slowed to call out to her from their windows. Tonnema said some of the drivers were former students she'd watched grow up and bring their own kids to school. She screams at cars that speed past. She calls out to kids and parents by name, teasing them with her bird hand puppets and reminding them of the late start the following day. Tonnema won't be a crossing guard next school year. Although she works about an hour and a half a day (she also doubles as a school nurse), Tonnema was one of 114 paraeducators who were told their positions would be eliminated in the 2025-2026 school year as the Tacoma Public School District faces a $30 million deficit. Tacoma Public Schools has cited rising costs and insufficient funding from the state as reasons for the cuts. Although she was offered a chance to reapply for her job as an hourly employee, Tonnema said she won't, to stand with the other paraeducators who are being laid off. 'It's not right,' she said. 'I could stay, but I can't. And that makes me sad.' The decision comes with immense grief, for both Tonnema and families who have seen her as a community fixture of joy and support over the years. Tonnema said her outfits have grown more complex over time. She started wearing bright colors, like a bright yellow cap. Then she found some antennae, and the kids begged her to put them all on at once. People began gifting her more items to add to her collection. A 'We Love Miss Peggy' Facebook page documents many of her outfits, which included recent themes for Cinco De Mayo, a Star Wars-themed May the Fourth, May Day, Earth Day and Wacky Wednesday. Tonnema said the kids have a 'Miss Peggy' dress-up day now. When asked how it would feel to hang up her hat, Tonnema said, 'devastated.' According to her termination notice, which she shared with The News Tribune, she was told on May 8 'there would be a change in [her] current position' and her assignment as a 0.2 full-time employee crossing guard 'will conclude at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.' 'Your last authorized workday in this assignment will be Friday, June 20, 2025. After this date, you will be considered displaced and subject to reassignment in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the District and the Tacoma Federation of Education Support Professionals Local 461. Your reassignment for the 2025–2026 school year will be contingent on your ability to qualify for, interview and be selected for an available position,' said HR director Steven Deaderick. 'Please know that this displacement decision is not a reflection of your work or contributions. We deeply appreciate your commitment to Tacoma Public Schools and your support of Every Student, Every Day. Your efforts have made a meaningful impact on our students' success.' On Tuesday Tonnema said she wanted to dress as Wonder Woman 'because I wanted to stand for truth, justice and the American way.' 'Our country is based on our children. Our children are going to move away. We have to educate them. We have to teach them properly. And to do that, we have to have staff,' she said. 'The paraeducators are right there on the ground floor making sure that kids get the extra care that they need — and there's plenty of them that need that.' When her now 34-year-old son attended Washington Elementary in 1996, Tonnema said, every kindergarten had a full-time paraeducator in the classroom. She has been involved in the Parent Teacher Association for decades and has seen cuts to school nurses, librarians, music and art. 'We just keep being outraged and quiet. That's over. I can't do it. I can't. They have to let the city know, let the mayor know, let the whole education [system know],' she said. 'It's time to raise a ruckus. That's what I'm going to do.' In February when Tonnema's car was stolen, the community raised more than $10,000 on GoFundMe to help her replace it. Behind a pane of glass in a school cabinet are awards Tonnema has received, like the Safe Kids Child Injury Prevention Award in 2018 and the Traffic Safety Superstars Award in 2006. On the wall by her costume closet are thousands of photographs of Tonnema and kids she's helped over the years, in addition to Christmas cards and other messages from families. 'She's a pillar in the community. It would be very different without her,' said Annie Lindgren, who was walking her first grader and infant across the street Tuesday. 'We turn the corner and we are very excited to see what she's wearing every day. She makes everyone smile and feel important. She knows all the kid's names, she knows the siblings' names.' Lindgren said she lives about six blocks away from the school and thought the district's decision to cut Tonnema's position was 'terrible.' 'We need to figure out a way to keep positions like that for the kids,' she said. 'It's not just keeping us safe, but I think all the paras and everything are really important for our kids and the teachers.' Parent Will Brown said Tonnema is 'way more than a crossing guard,' going out of her way to help support kids and hand them fun things like Monkeyshines. 'The last place we need to be cutting anything from is education,' Brown said. 'It's like, the most obvious investment you can do [for] the future.' Uniquely is a series from The News Tribune that covers the moments, landmarks and personalities that define what makes living in Pierce County so special.
The Citizen
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
Trump's alternate reality becomes republican curriculum
From debunked election claims to Covid lab theories, Oklahoma's new curriculum enshrines Trump-era conspiracy as fact for high school students. US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Picture: AFP Sometimes things are so obviously insane that writing about them seems ridiculous. That is why I don't write much about the lunacy of the Trump presidency any more. Keeping up with the crazy demands a psychology journal, not a 400-word newspaper column. Then something else mad happens and I fact-check it yet again. And it turns out you just can't make this stuff up. Meme culture I'm not talking about the US president posting an image of himself as the new pope, though he did. He isn't even Catholic, the minimum requirement, yet not being qualified or knowledgeable or correct doesn't matter in the current US administration. Nor am I referring to the May the Fourth (be with you) pic of Trump in muscled Star Wars mode, posted by the White House with the call-out to 'Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, murderers, druglords, dangerous prisoners and well-known MS-13 gang members back into our Galaxy'. Nor am I talking about the bizarre e-mail sent by the US embassy in Sweden to the Stockholm city planning department, demanding they agree to comply with Trump's anti-diversity, inclusion and equality policies. (For the record, the city planners binned it.) ALSO READ: The big lesson to be learnt from World War II Propaganda in the Classroom Instead, I'm talking about something quietly contained in the latest academic standards in Republican Oklahoma, coming soon to high school social studies classes. The students will study '21st century turning points' and must 'analyse the significant events during the first Donald J Trump administration'. These include 'identifying discrepancies in 2020 election results by looking at … the sudden halting of ballot-counting … the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of 'bellwether county' trends. All debunked, all now part of the curriculum. Students must also 'identify the source of the Covid pandemic from a Chinese lab'. The answer, presumably, is 'from a Chinese lab.' I know I'll change no minds. I know pointing out what is blatantly obvious – that the West's puppet master is a narcissist with the attention span of a Chappies-wrapper goldfish until there's a score to settle and that his acolytes are causing untold damage now and in future – only entrenches positions more. But, fittingly, Trump's lightsaber was red. NOW READ: Does Johannesburg really need a 'Bomb Squad'?
Irish Post
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Why Gulliver's world reflects our own
ACCORDING to Dublin writer Jonathan Swift, on May 4th, 1699 Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon sets sail on The Antelope from Bristol harbour on his first journey. May the Fourth is today widely known as Star Wars Day. But of course no one said to Lemuel as the ship sailed out of port that spring morning headed initially for the South Seas, 'May the Force be with you.' Instead his adventures and meetings 'Into Several Remote Nations of the World' saw him involved in various intrigues, fights and disputes. His misadventures become more calamitous and grim as time goes on. He is shipwrecked, abandoned, then attacked by strangers, then attacked by his own crew. Plot: Lemuel Gulliver travels to strange places such as Brobdingnag and Lilliput to meditate on their ghastliness. But the self-important Gulliver fails to see that the terrible worlds he visits are entirely like his own. He embarks on four voyages in total, each darker and more misanthropic than the last. In the voyages Swift presents a complex understanding of how lying and honesty fit into human nature. Message: We are all condemned to vanity, misanthropy, or at best indifference. (At best, Swift offers indifference as a form of salvation. (And yes, this was published 299 years ago, in 1726) Is the message usually adhered to by film makers? Rarely. Most feature wacky high jinks in Lilliput. You'd hardly know that Gulliver ends up preferring the company of horses to people. Inspiration of main protagonist: It's claimed that the idea of Gulliver came to Swift as he passed the profile of 'Napoleon's Nose' on Cavehill in Belfast. (Jonathan Swift, served as vicar in Kilroot, near Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim so would have known Belfast well). But it would have to be stated this is only speculative, and no contemporaneous evidence that Swift got his giant idea from a hill in Belfast. Influence: There is a Tyrone connection as well, probably equally speculative. All the same, see what you make of this . . . On BBC Radio 4, Dr Ben Garrod explored the phenomenon in his programme Bone Stories, The Irish Giant. Dr Garrod spoke first to a Tyrone man called Brendan Holland who at the age of 14 was already 6ft 7ins. In 1972 Brendan journeyed to London looking for work, but inexorably his health deteriorated. He was eventually diagnosed with gigantism at St Bart's in London. Gigantism, or acromegaly, is a disease caused by over-production of growth hormone in the pituitary gland. Dr Garrod then went on to talk about 18th century Irish 'giant' Charles Byrne who grew to a height of 7ft 7ins. He was also from Tyrone — from a village close to Cookstown. It seems there may have been a cluster of acromegaly in Tyrone. Ben Garrod finished this fascinating programme with an observation: 'In 1776 Gulliver's Travels was published,' he said. 'It was written by Jonathan Swift on a journey to Co. Tyrone [indeed while he was staying in Cookstown]. Surely not a coincidence.' And the name 'Gulliver' — it's not a common Belfast name, or even a Dublin one? No indeed. To investigate more we need to make our own journey — to St Mary's Church in Banbury, Oxfordshire. In the preface to the 1726 edition of his novel, Swift mentions observing "several tombs and monuments of the Gullivers" in the churchyard at Banbury, suggesting that the name of his protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, was inspired by these gravestones . Although the original tombstones no longer exist, a later one bearing the Gulliver name remains near a commemorative plaque in the churchyard. The Gulliver family had a longstanding presence in the Banbury area, with records tracing their lineage back to the 16th century. Places visited by Gulliver: Lilliput is the one that has entered popular imagination. Gulliver doesn't seem to like it one bit: 'I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth," he announces. Brobdingnag fares little better: "The learning of this people is very defective; consisting only in morality, history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel,' he says of the inhabitants. Example of Swift's true political satire: The war between the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians in Lilliput. The war is based on a reading from the holy book of Lilliput the Brundecral which states in no uncertain terms: That all true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end. This is Swift at his best satirising the religious schism created by Henry VIII's break with Rome, leading eventually to the English Civil War. It's also a prototype for all wars driven by minor dogmas. Words invented by Swift, now part of the language: The first name Vanessa, and the word 'yahooo' - the vicious disgusting creatures which Gulliver encounters in his fourth voyage. Yahoo is now a Silicon Valley company. Parts often left out of children's books: The Academy of Lagado's attempts to 'reduce human Excrement to its original Food.' The Academy's plans to extract sunbeams from cucumbers is usually preferred. What they thought then: The novelist Thackeray thought the Travels were brilliant, but qualified this by saying it was 'filthy in word, filthy in thought, furious, raging, obscene.' Voltaire hailed Swift as the 'English' Rabelais. Michael Foot (former leader of the Labour party) declared: 'Everyone standing for political office in Dublin, the United States or London should have a compulsory examination in Gulliver's Travels.' George Orwell and Aldous Huxley were both influenced by the book. What we think now: A classic, a satire, a proto- Black Mirror , a proto-science fiction and a forerunner of the modern novel. What Swift would have made of the fact's that Gulliver's Travels is usually mistaken for a children's book: He would have appreciated the bitter irony that the book, which he wrote as a biting satire aimed at a depraved and miserable universe, has become a children's story of Disneyland proportions. Swift's Spiritual Descendant: Henry Hazlitt? Hazlitt, in Economics in One Lesson, described an island where everyone is employed doing everyone else's laundry, thus boosting GDP — but accomplishing nothing. It's a Swiftian parable of economic absurdity. Gulliver's Lagado and Hazlitt's laundry island are two sides of the same satirical coin. See More: Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
May the Fourth be with you: 7 ways to celebrate Star Wars Day in the Twin Cities
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Welcome to another year of relishing or completely ignoring Star Wars Day. (There is no in between.) The mega movie and TV franchise is celebrated across the country on May 4 — because "May the Fourth be with you" — and shops around the Twin Cities oblige, hosting parties, costume contests, and movie screenings. Here are some of the ways you can indulge your inner Star Wars fan this year. (All events are on May 4 unless otherwise noted.) 'The Star Wars Holiday Special'Lucasfilm/Disney Rogue One and more on screen The Parkway is kicking off a month-long series of Star Wars movies with a screening of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) on May the Fourth. After that, the first three movies, plus The Force Awakens, will play once a week through May 31. Additionally, you can catch Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) at Bald Man Brewing in Eagan and all three in the original trilogy during the party we're talking about next. The Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis Related: Movies to see this week: 'Scream,' 'Rogue One,' 'Noroi: The Curse' An Insight May the 4th Be With You Star Wars Celebration Blue milk hard seltzer shakes, live screen-printed merch, a flash tattoo pop-up, trivia, lightsaber duels from The Saber Legion, and screenings of the original trilogy are part of the festivities at Insight Brewing. It's going to be a busy day in a brewery far, far away. (Depending on where you live). Insight Brewing, 2821 E Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis Star Wars Day celebration at InBound The brewery has a full day of activities lined up, including a blue milkshake drink, Star Wars vendors, trivia (12–2 p.m.), Star Wars bingo (3–5 p.m.), a cosplay contest (5:30 p.m.), and a DJ spinning 'sick Star Wars beats" from 6–11 p.m. InBound Brew Co., 701 N 5th St., Minneapolis Star Wars trivia Trivia Mafia finds your lack of knowledge about Star Wars disturbing. Prove 'em wrong when it hosts a Star Wars-themed trivia night at The Savage Tap. There will also be Star Wars trivia events at The Rusty Bumblebee in Blaine and Giesenbräu Bier Co. in New Prague. Elm Creek Brewing in Champlin will also host a Star Wars trivia night on May 6. Various locations Running of the Jedi 5K A Star Wars-themed fun run for charity starts and ends at Back Channel Brewing on Star Wars Day. Dogs, kids, and everyone else is welcome. There will be live music, food trucks, and Star Wars-themed games, as well as a costume contest. Registering for the fun run gets you one drink from the brewery, your choice of a collector's pint glass or running series swag, and access to the day's events. Back Channel Brewing, 4787 Shoreline Dr., Spring Park, fun run at 11 a.m. A Star Wars variety show with trivia Silver Slipper Productions is hosting an appropriately-themed variety show at Can Can Wonderland. There will be spacey cocktail specials, trivia, and the vague but enticing promise of racing "a friend in our pod racers down the arcade hallway." Costumes are encouraged, and it's free to attend with the standard Can Can entrance fee. (Bonus: you get to play unlimited arcade games with that admission.) Can Can Wonderland, 755 Prior Ave. N, St. Paul Related: Movies to see this week: 'Scream,' 'Rogue One,' 'Noroi: The Curse' Free Comic Book Day It's not specifically Star Wars-themed, but Saturday, May 3, is Free Comic Book Day. (And there are plenty of Star Wars comics in stock at most shops, so, boom, connected.) Pop into your favorite comic book shop and grab some of the free comics that are given out annually. Many shops will have other activities going. Hot Comics will have Jason Walz and Zander Cannon signing comics at its Minneapolis location, Mind's Eye Comics will have a DeLorean on-site, and Most Wanted Comics will have Frank Fosco signing comics and making sketches. Here are some of the shops participating in Free Comic Book Day. Comic Book College: 1430 County Road C W, Roseville Dreamers Vault: 4701 Hiawatha Ave., Minneapolis Dreamers Vault Games: 3015 Utah Ave. S, St. Louis Park Hot Comics and Collectibles: 4400 Osseo Rd., Minneapolis Hot Comics and Collectibles: 26 W 66th St., Richfield Hot Comics and Collectibles: 224 Broadway St. S, Jordan Issues Needed Comics: 15465 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis Level Up: 1425 LaSalle Ave., Minneapolis Mind's Eye Comics: 200 E Travelers Trl, Burnsville Most Wanted Comics: 9919 Lyndale Ave. S, Bloomington Nerdin' Out: 1802 2nd St. SW, Rochester Nerdin' Out: 9079 Buchanan Trl., Inver Grove Heights Nerdin' Out: 3050 Coon Rapids Blvd., Coon Rapids Rockhopper Comics and Games: 8016 Medicine Lake Rd., New Hope Source Comics and Games: 2057 Snelling Ave. N, Roseville Uncle Sven's Comic Shoppe: 1838 St. Clair Ave., St. Paul A discount for showing your fandom Over at Trove Brewing, you can get $1 off pints all day if you're wearing Star Wars gear. Trove Brewing, 1719 County Rd. 42 W, Burnsville Related: All the comic book, anime, and geek culture conventions happening in Minnesota in 2025
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Illinois Governor Pritzker reshares Jedi photo after White House posts Trump with red lightsaber
Just hours after the White House shared an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump wielding a red lightsaber for Star Wars Day , Illinois Governor JB Pritzker reignited the spirit of the franchise in a more traditional fashion resurfacing an old photo of himself and his wife dressed for the occasion, with a blue lightsaber in hand. 'May the fourth be with you, Illinois,' Pritzker posted on X, alongside a 2022 photo showing him suited up as a Jedi while his wife, MK Pritzker, posed as Princess Leia. The image quickly attracted attention online for its wholesome take on Star Wars Day, a celebration long marked by fans with the pun, 'May the Fourth be with you.' The moment stood in contrast to an earlier post by the White House, which had sparked controversy. On Sunday morning, the official presidential account shared an AI image of Trump dressed as a Jedi warrior, bearing a red lightsaber, commonly associated in the Star Wars universe with the Sith the villains. The post wished a 'Happy May the 4th' to everyone, including 'Radical Left Lunatics,' while accusing them of trying to return 'Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners & well-known MS-13 Gang Members back into our Galaxy. ' While the intent appeared tongue-in-cheek, the choice of a red lightsaber for Trump prompted ridicule online. 'Red lightsaber. You know that's the bad guys, right?' one user quipped. Others asked whether any Star Wars fans were involved in crafting the post. 'A red lightsaber signifies a lust for power and the dark side of the Force. Rebels would never use it,' another wrote. In contrast, Pritzker's blue lightsaber, traditionally the weapon of Jedi and peacekeepers, seemed to position the governor on the more heroic end of the Force. While the White House message leaned heavily on political jabs and provoked heated debate, Pritzker's post was widely viewed as light-hearted, nostalgic and appropriately themed.
