even and odd

this post is dedicated to my single and fabulous friends.

i realized today, when teaching a math lesson on even and odd numbers, that society teaches at a young age that it is normal to be paired up. as an educator, the most simplistic way to teach students the difference between even numbers and odd numbers is to use manipulatives to show pairs. when something has a "partner", it is called even. when one is alone, unpartnered, it is called odd.

it stuck me immediately. even the pure word of someone or something that stands alone, without something to be coupled up with is referred to as "odd". even being in a happy, partnered relationship, i don't view someone standing alone as strange, abnormal, or bizarre as the thesaurus puts it.

so from now on, in room 113, we have even and fabulous numbers.