Today this blog reached the number 12 million page views.
That means that in the past two years of its existence, someone has read articles posted here.
Some were written by readers, some by me.
Together, we have provided support and encouragement to one another, as well as resistance to privatization and attacks on students and educators.p
But the number 12 has another meaning for me personally.
On 12-12-12, I was married to my partner of the past 28 years. Her name is Mary Butz.she is a career educator in public schools.. She went to Catholic schools– elementary, secondary, and college, all in Brooklyn. She taught social studies, served in various administrative roles, and founded her own small public high school in Manhattan, which was associated with Ted Sizer’s and Deborah Meier’s Coalition of Essential Schools.
What I love about her is not her résumé but her kindness, her humor, and her overall goodness and generosity. Life with her is fun.
So, once it became legal for two people of the same gender to marry in New York, we did.
I established a scholarship in her name at her alma mater, St. Joseph College at 245 Clinton -Avenue Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11205. It is earmarked for a student who is first in his/family to to to college. It is a wonderful liberal arts college that has proved well-educated graduates for many fields, especially education.
If you are ever moved to support a cause that I support, please consider a gift to the Mary Butz Scholarship Fund.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Everyone deserves to go through life with a trusted companion. Life certainly is more bearable when we can share our joys and heartaches with someone close to us. A nice tribute to your partner, Diane. May you have many more years together.
Congratulations to you, doubled and redoubled.
Lucky Mary! And what a nice tribute. I agree entirely.
A lovely tribute in words and deeds, Diane. Spending the past two years online with you has been pure joy. Mary is one lucky lady. Thank you for sharing this with your online family.
Wonderful news! Congratulations to both you and Mary. Yeah….
Congratulations and thank you for sharing with us! It is an honor to know that we are fighting in unison on many fronts!
Congrats!
Thanks for the reminder that sometimes positive change does take place in our society. I am glad you were finally able to marry the person you love. 😉
I am so glad that the two of you were able to celebrate your commitment in this way. It is a shame that it took so long. Baby steps toward progress. I hope in a very short time any same-sex couple, no matter where they live in the United States, (and perhaps one day the world) can marry if they choose.
The time will come, not long from now, when people will look back aghast at the immorality and unnaturalness of the prejudices enshrined in our laws until recently. During the Supreme Court hearing on DOMA, I kept thinking of my favorite protest sign, ever: It read, “I can’t believe I am still protesting this @&$@&**&!!!.”
Hooray for 12 million and 12-12-12. Assume the former number means your fan base is in the millions and we’ll all hope for a speedy knee recovery so you can continue to kick **** And continue the fun with Mary. Joy, sweetness, and good stories to you both.
Congratulations, to you and Mary!!! You both are very blessed to have each other! Also, thanks for sharing with all of us!! 🙂
Happy twelviversary!!! Wishing you much joy, love, and laughter together.
Congratulations to you both! Mary sounds like a wonderful spouse!
Congratulations! I would love to ease drop on the educational conversations in your household! May you always cherish each other and nurture your relationship. Please take care and prayers for a speedy recovery.
It sounds like your Mary embodies one of my favorite Shakespeare quotes, “How far that little candle throws her beams! So shines a good deed…”
Thanks for inspiring us.
Congratulations on 12.
😃
Heartfelt congratulations on 12-12-12:
“Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” [Aristotle]
😎
Mazel Tov!
ditto…
You are both the luckiest people to have found each other and to share in each other’s happiness. Enjoy each moment’s life with passion, laughter, joy, and love.
You Rock!
In the bible, the number 12 symbolizes government! The Kingdom of God is at Hand!! Glory be to God!
Congrats and many more to come to my favorite blogger!
Congratulations on 12 million! Belated congratulations in honor of 12-12-12!
12-12-12 Kingdom Power, Jew and Gentile come together as one new man (or woman : )!) – Congratulations to both you and your partner!
Life should be simple. Love, humanity, kindness, joy….. enhanced by the endless pleasures of flowers, food, wine, books, travel, and whatever else makes this life so glorious for each of us.
Thank you Diane, for giving an incredible giving group of people, a place to gather as we each try to make a difference in this world. Like all teachers, you not only educate us about education, but you open our hearts to the beauty of life, and I thank you for doing that in such a global way.
Strength to Mary as she supports you through this temporary challenge. We’re rooting for you, Diane, as you go through these tough days of healing. The best is yet to come! Hopefully by 12-12-14, you’ll both be dancing once again!
How wonderful that you have a companion and that there is love in your home. Anyone who has someone to love is blessed.
We teachers are all supporting you during this time of medical healing. Thanks for working so hard to make our lives better!
I was worried about you when you return home. I am glad that you have such a wonderful companion. I am married for 51 years to a very kind man. My older son is a cardiologist (so if YOU ever need a second opinion…
My younger son is CEO of an internet security start-up company in Austin. I have 4 grandkids… 2 boys and 2 girls. My Texas grandkids are home schooled.
Diane, take a look at this site ImprovED.com
Enjoy a moment not related to tests and the shenanigans out there
. Hamleta is my granddaughter, and ImprovED is the Shakespeare theater company for home-schooled children that her mother, a filmmaker and actress, created. Bob Shepherd and other where, realized the THIS is what education can be like. You should hear my grandkids speak… it is not just their vocabulary, but the way they use language. Now, if only she would tie some writing to the program…
This is the Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/
Sending them to a Texas school was out of the question for these kids. I remember when Zia was 9, and played Prospera in The Tempest, before Andee made the theater her project for homeschool.
Thank you for sharing your life.
Relax… heal.
Susan, you remind us that teachers very often make great mothers and have high-performing children. Our children, not our SATs, reflect our true abilities.
Thank you for noticing. The career did not end the way I expected, but motherhood has been rewarding. Now I watch the grandkids find their way into the adult world. It’s a trip!
Judging from the “numbrt” 12 I see the drugs are working well lol
You must be a new reader if you haven’t become accustomed to Diane’s occasional typos. They’re part of her charm! She’s 95% brilliant education scholar and 5% “grandma on the internet.”
Diane, best wishes and mazel tov to you and Mary. Have a speedy recovery, and thank you again for your tireless efforts.
You, your work, and this blog, have become the center of resistance against an unholy alliance of wealth and power seeking for over a decade now to dismantle public education, destroy teacher unions, undermine the profession of teaching, and subject children to mechanized destruction by the state, with the end of enriching themselves either directly from the education system or indirectly though political power funded by that same wealth. Backed by pseudoscience and the manipulation of data, and the muscle of raw political power that would rather crush opposition than listen to it, promulgated by a compliant and complicit media by turns ignorant and corrupt, it seemed that nothing could stand in their way. Individual voices were ignored, or silenced, or smeared. Their own accountability was minimized, the inevitable inconvenient results either covered up or explained away by scapegoating others. But now there is a place to go, a place to provide support, to learn the truth, to share information. Almost singlehandedly, with unbelievable perseverance and determination and unbendable integrity, you have rallied the forces of common sense, those whose only interest is teaching, education and children, gathered together lonely voices of dissent on the internet, to where all our voices may be amplified. Where would we all be without you – where would our kids be without you. This is an historical moment – that you have made history and changed the future is undeniable It is up to us all, and dependent on us all, to form the future we want, but without you, a small, silver-haired 75 year old wife and mother, speaking quietly but clearly, standing against billionaires, political power brokers, and media vipers, we might have never had this chance. Stay well and keep up the fight, you are needed more than ever. And thank you.
Congratulations! Thx you for all that you do! Happy Mother’s Day!
A speedy recovery and a happy 12th everything to you Diane and to Mary. Happy Mother’s Day!
What a lovely tribute! Congratulations and Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you have a comfortable and speedy recovery. Thank you for all you do.
Congratulations!
You continue to inspire and guide me. Thank you Diane for your open, honest heart. Congratulations for all the 12’s in your life!
Thanks for sharing your words, your intelligence, and yourself with your following. You have inspired us all, and the amazing thing is that with all the 12 million views, you make each one of us feel that our relationship with you is not only professional, but personal. This current post is a prime example of that. You have become an important part of my life, and have made me feel encouraged to speak up for what I know is right and important. I see in all these comments a very personal caring and regard for you. If positive thoughts sent your way are an aid to healing (and I believe they are) you will be back on your feet and feeling well very soon.
Congratulations and thank you for your support of teachers and American public education. May you have many more twelves, many more years of happiness and advocacy.
Your joy is a bright hope. Congratulations. Thank you for your own tireless labor for teachers and children. Thank you for the enduring inspiration of this blog. Be well.
Your best blog yet. Thank you for sharing. I’m your age and a retired Detroit teacher. I’m amazed at all you do. You make me feel as if I live my life in slow motion. There is one area where I’ve got you beat, however. I’ve been with my partner for 38 years. (There’s no marriage in my state.) My partner was a Detroit teacher also. We know a lot of gay teachers. We used to have a joke that if all the gay teachers called in sick, they’d have to close the school system. A little bit of an exaggeration, perhaps, but it was so nice not to be in the minority all the time……My best to Mary.
Very awesome. 12/12 is also the day of another Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe. She’s a strong woman who came to tell a conquered people that everyone is loved by God, and we are all equal in the eyes of God.
Much continued happiness to you, and I hope your health is getting better as well!
That is wonderful!
Sent from my iPad
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Diane,
What a beautiful letter, congratulations to you and Mary for your enduring love for one another and our children, all of our children. May you both enjoy many more years together and continue to reap the blessings of the love, sweat and brilliant dialogue and discourse you have spread throughout the world in support of public education.
I knew all along there must be someone pretty damn special walking along with you every step of the way.
Kudos to Mary too, for the 12 million hit mark on your blog, it belongs to both of you… And you, my friend, belong to the ages.
We are writing some lines for you in Walt Whitman’s, “Song of Democracy.”
Happy Mother’s Day, Diane and Mary,
Maureen
I must add my own congratulations too. We are so VERY grateful for the expertise and valor you have displayed in quality education. AND now you have the courage and grace to come forward with another love, one that is shared by so many people now. For far too long this has been anathema to too many people. Love is love wherever one finds it. One must see the beauty in our fellow creatures and in our fellow human beings whoever or whatever they may be. That is a vital part of education in its best sense. Bigotry of all kinds must be faced and fought. It is WAY too easy to categorize people by ethnicity, religion, or some such category, the refuge of little minds and little understandings. Bless you for ALL that you do
AND
I hope your recovery from surgery is fast and complete.
Congratulations on the 12s! I, too, took the plunge last summer for the second time around. Wishing you and Mary many more years of happiness! Speedy recovery, Diane. 🙂
One of the first things I do each day is check your blog. You bring me hope and joy. Thank you and congratulations to you and Mary.
Get well soon. We need you!
Congratulations on the significance of the 12th!
Besides being educators, we have something else in common, Diane. I’m Jewish and married to a Catholic too! Mazel Tov.
Congrats! Get well soon.
Congratulations on your marriage and 12 million page views. St. Joseph’s College brings back wonderful memories because it was the first educational institution I encountered as a parent. The Dillon Center for Early Childhood Education–at the time led by the remarkable Sister Helen Kearney–set such a high standard with its focus on child-centered learning that it never occurred to me to expect less from the public schools that followed. “Sharing is caring” could have been the Dillon Center’s motto, and I still think that, together with the imaginative play that the school encourages, matters so much more than any academic instruction for young children.
Most heartfelt congratulations on the symbolic anniversary. The scholarship fund is just exactly what is needed to help aspiring students. Mary sounds like a love and a delight, as well as a sound educator. May you have many more happy years together.
Michigan is moving in the right direction on same-gender marriages, but hasn’t gotten there yet, although I am sure it will in spite of a few rural troglodytes who are blocking what is surely a rational direction.
Conservatives do sometimes embarrass themselves on social issues. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t right about some other things, mainly the size of government and its intrusion into the private lives of a free people.
Liberals will hardly let same-gender partnered people be conservative, but I wish that bias wasn’t there. It should be ok to be conservative in fiscal matters and be for equal rights under the law in social matters as well.
Thank you. You mean so much to so many. Thank you.