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Emotional Literacies

What emotional literacies—embodied awareness, recognition, intelligence, courage, and response-abilities—are needed for everyday living for justice? These posts offer emotional insights through storytelling and investigation into daily life.

Reflection, Retreat, and Recommitment: Learning from the Winter Woods

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Why Vegan? By Beth Godbee December 23, 2020 Leave a Comment

A brown, muddy trail winds through a white, snowy forest scene.

In a year that’s cracked me open (like this cracked tree trunk), the week of the winter solstice feels full of possibility: renewing of light, changing of seasons, warming of spirits. I’ve found that sense of possibility most profound in the winter woods, where the natural world has so much to teach—and I have so much to learn—again and again and again. Too often, I focus on disliking winter and the cold, dark, and snow that go along with it. But this year, in the midst ... Read more ...

Interrupting Thanksgiving: Three Responses to Disrupt What’s Normalized on This National Holiday

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice, Why Vegan? By Beth Godbee November 24, 2020 Leave a Comment

The text “Interrupting Thanksgiving: Three Responses to Disrupt What’s Normalized on This National Holiday” appears against grey wooden planks and green, white, and orange pumpkins.

Each month, I write a Q&A newsletter for Patreon subscribers based on questions I receive, and this month, it felt important to share these responses as a blog post. It felt important because I received three questions all related to the upcoming holiday: How do you interrupt the Thanksgiving holiday? How do you prepare for conversations with white family members? For example, how do you handle situations where people say “let’s agree to disagree” to shut things ... Read more ...

Invitation to Join Upcoming Theatre of the Oppressed Workshops

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee October 13, 2020 Leave a Comment

This screenshot shows the online article “Forum Theatre: Using Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed to Build Receptive Competence by Rasha Diab, Ph.D. and Beth Godbee, Ph.D.,” part of the website Contemplative Practices for Anti-Oppression Pedagogy. It shows a paragraph of text against a blue background and the black, red, and white book cover of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed.

This fall, as part of the 40-Day Practice: Strengthening Emotional Stamina to Counter White Fragility, I’m facilitating two workshops using theatre of the oppressed. I invite you to join one or both of these workshops, if you’d like to experience Augusto Boal’s powerful approach, rehearse interventions into everyday racism, and connect with others engaged in this work. Here are the workshop dates and description: Friday, October 16th 2-5pm EasternFriday, November 6th ... Read more ...

What Is White Fragility?

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee September 30, 2020 Leave a Comment

Against a dark orange background appears the following quote: “It’s important to name that white fragility can manifest in aggression. Or, when not outright aggression, then as defensiveness, which peace studies scholars describe as the first step of offensiveness.”

How can those of us who identify as white, who are conditioned into whiteness, and who have internalized white supremacy recognize and respond to emotions before they do harm? How can we take accountability when they do? And how can we recognize complicity with the long-standing harm and systems that prevent taking accountability? These questions motivate the “40-Day Practice: Strengthening Emotional Stamina to Counter White Fragility”: a daily practice of ... Read more ...

How Do We Build More Accountable Lives?

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee August 21, 2020 Leave a Comment

This image shares this week’s question—“How do we build more accountable lives?”—along with meeting information: “Processing the Pandemic with Heart-Head-Hands. Wed, Aug. 12th.” Text appears in a central box that looks like a letter partially out of an envelope. The colors are red, orange, and yellow.

This week’s processing group asked the question: “How do we build more accountable lives?” In the past few months, I’ve been inspired by and drawn into this question, using it to reflect on how I act on (and fall short of acting on) my commitments. I’m greatly influenced by community organizer Mia Mingus whose work focuses on transformative justice and disability justice. During Wednesday’s group, I read aloud a recent Instagram post by Mia Mingus, and I want to share ... Read more ...

Summer 2020 Is Calling for Change, and Processing Groups Can Support Change-Making Reflection and Re-Commitment

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee June 29, 2020 Leave a Comment

This image shares this week’s question—“What is becoming intolerable and demands real change?”—along with meeting information: “Processing the Pandemic with Heart-Head-Hands. Wed, July 22nd.” Text appears in a central box that looks like a letter partially out of an envelope. The colors are red, orange, and yellow.

Among the many needs of this time, holding spaces—that is, spaces for processing, reflection, somatic awareness, and grounded re-commitment—feel particularly important. With this need in mind, I’m continuing to hold lunchtime processing groups: “Processing the Pandemic with Heart-Head-Hands.” Throughout the spring, these groups felt supportive for me—like I’d learn or remember or release something new with each session. So, this summer, I'm continuing to facilitate  ... Read more ...

Resources for Sustaining Momentum and Doing Everyday Racial Justice Work

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee June 11, 2020 Leave a Comment

To provide a visualization of “resources for racial justice,” this photo shows colorful spines of books by Gloria Anzaldúa, Augusto Boal, Patricia Hill Collins, Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Elaine Richardson, and Alice Walker, among others.

We’re in a time of urgent and important work for racial justice: lots of action alongside lots of learning and unlearning. I’m deeply grateful for the leadership, actions, and visions offered through the Movement for Black Lives Matters. I’m deeply grateful for people reaching out, being in the streets, organizing actions, holding space, and diving deep into hurt and rage and grief and more. And I’m deeply grateful for being called to this work: both in this moment and ... Read more ...

Unraveling Whiteness: A Call for More Courage

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee May 28, 2020 2 Comments

This image shares the quote: “It’s lifelong work to unlearn whiteness … And as lifelong work, this is everyday work: work in the moment and work over time”—in black font against a light orange textbox and white border.

I’m thinking about whiteness—the structure, ideology, and everyday enactments—as I try to process (yet again) how white people weaponize whiteness. My heart is hurting with rage and grief from recent events, explained in these articles from The Root: “‘There’s an African-American Man Threatening My Life’: Karen Calls Police on Black Man for Asking Her to Leash Her Dog” “Outrage in Minneapolis after Black Man Dies in Custody Following Brutal Police Arrest: ‘I Cannot ... Read more ...

Wailing with the Wind: On Disrupting Work During the Pandemic

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Higher Education By Beth Godbee April 10, 2020 1 Comment

This photo shows scattered papers (page proofs) across a wooden floor in a bedroom—with a colorful bedspread, pillows, blanket, sweater, plant, air purifier, bedside table, books, window, and white walls all part of the scene.

It’s windy today—the sort of wind that announces springtime. The sort of wind that lulls and gusts. The sort of wind that howls and rattles windows. The sort of wind that whips through rooms, scattering papers. As it has here: The wind has scattered page proofs that I’ve been pushing myself to review, responding to an email that came out of the blue, asking for proofs to be returned in under a week. On the one hand, these proofs represent good news: a chapter written ... Read more ...

Heart-Head-Hands: A Journal Prompt for These Times

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee March 31, 2020 2 Comments

This feature for Agnes Scott College’s #EachForEqual campaign includes logos, the hashtags #IWD2020 and #EachForEqual, and with two images of Beth Godbee wearing orange in nature. The feature has a purple background and includes the following quote: “We can’t just think our way out of incredible injustices … we must feel and act, too. We need our heart, head, and hands for envisioning and enacting a more just world.”

On this last day of March, I’m reflecting on what times we’re in. Truly: what times we’re in! I’ve written this sentence no fewer than 30 or 40 times in the past few weeks, but I’m still writing it, as I find myself at a loss for words. We’re certainly in times that are asking a LOT of us: from recognizing structural violence and witnessing wrongdoing to grieving through a full range of emotions and caring for ourselves and others in deep and sustained ways. My ... Read more ...

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Embodied knowledge matters. So do commitments. And especially acting on commitments as part of everyday life, BIG and small. This website—a mix of blog posts and research writing, along with courses, writing groups, coaching, and other offerings—shares ongoing efforts toward everyday living (feeling, thinking, and doing) for justice.

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This grid shows four colorful cacti (two above and two below) the event information (black font against white background): “Monthly Gathering Space: Recharge and Recommit. For details, see Heart-Head-Hands.com.”This e-course announcement shows a yellow sunflower and blue sky. It includes a textbox with the following information: “E-COURSE AVAILABLE NOW! Career Discernment for Academics: Aligning Career with Commitments. Self-paced study, exercises, coaching, and more ...”
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  • Contemplative Practices (46)
  • Emotional Literacies (65)
  • Everyday Feminism (72)
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bethgodbee

#Repost @charisbooksandmore with @make_repost
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Today’s Pre-Orders are centered around social justice! From Intersectionality, Prison Abolition, to ACT UP! These books are full of history and steps toward a more just world. 
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1. The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs (@annastea_honesty) Publisher: @flatiron_books On Sale: February 2nd, 2021 Event: 2/10
2. Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi (@ibramxk) and Keisha N. Blain (@keishanblain) Publisher: @oneworldbooks On Sale: February 2nd, 2021
3. Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition by Ruth Wilson Gilmore Publisher: @haymarketbooks On Sale: February 2nd, 2021
4. #sayhername: Black Women's Stories of State Violence and Public Silence edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@kimberlecrenshaw), African American Policy Forum (@aapolicyforum), Foreword by Janelle Mońae (@janellemonae) Publisher: @haymarketbooks On Sale: February 16th, 2021
5. We Do This Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba Publisher: @haymarketbooks On Sale: February 23rd, 2021
6. Abolition. Feminism. Now by Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, and Erica Meiners Publisher: @haymarketbooks On Sale: March 2nd, 2021
7. Our Work Is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans Resistance by Syan Rose (@syanrose) Publisher: @arsenalpulp On Sale: April 6th, 2021
8. Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation by adrienne maree brown (@adriennemareebrown) Publisher: @akpressdistro On Sale: April 6th, 2021
9. We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell (@tracisorell), illustrated by Frane Lessac (@franelessac) Publisher: @charlesbridgepublishing On Sale: April 20th, 2021
10. Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman (@schulmanny) Publisher: @fsgbooks On Sale: May 18th, 2021
11. Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women's Digital Resistance by Moya Bailey (@transformisogynoir) Publisher: @nyupress On Sale: May 25th, 2021 Event: 5/25
#Repost @blklivesmatter with @make_repost
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Join Black Lives Matter and Clergy 4 Black Lives for a #RadicalKing Twitter Storm on Monday, January 18, 2021, from 12-1pm PST. 

Access the toolkit at:
tinyurl.com/RadicalKingTwitterStorm 
#MLKDay
#Repost @thebodyisnotanapology with @make_repost
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Instagram took down our repost of this quote by Martin Luther King, Jr., posted ON MLK’s birthday, for being “hate speech”. If that doesn’t prove the enduring virulence of white supremacy that Dr. King lost his life as a result of, we don’t know what does... well, that or the Capitol coup!! Reposting again, because fighting for liberation against #BodyTerrorism will never be equivalent to enacting oppression.
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[image description: quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. in black and red on a white background. The quote reads, “Whites, it must be frankly said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to re-educate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.”]
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#TheBodyIsNotAnApology #TBINAA #RadicalSelfLove #Whiteness #BodyTerrorism
#Repost @thebodyisnotanapology with @make_repost
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Posted @withregram • @privtoprog 🗣 @jemelehill ➡️ Yesterday, @michellesaahene and I (@thewildsister) recorded an interview for @nbaontnt with the incredible disruptor @carichampion (Thank you, Cari!). We talked about the calls for unity. And as I said on that interview, and will repeat as long as it takes, there can be no unity without acknowledgment, understanding, and intentional action to remake our systems that were built on white supremacy. That’s a foundational human concept—in personal relationships and in society, no problems are ever corrected without doing the work to repair the wrongs. #ShowUp 

PS the show airs Monday on @nbaontnt! 
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[image description: tweet by Jemele Hill on an orange background that reads, “When pretty much every American institution has deep, racist histories that were never adequately addressed, and allowed to persist, this is what you get. This idea that racism was simply going to fade with time without any real work done always was woefully naive.”]
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#TheBodyIsNotAnApology #TBINAA #RadicalSelfLove #Whiteness #BodyTerrorism
Dear writers, If you’re looking for writing co Dear writers,
 
If you’re looking for writing community or support in moving projects forward, check out these writing groups and writing retreats with various dates open in February and March.
 
Upcoming writing groups: 
https://heart-head-hands.com/product/online-writing-group/
(link in bio)
 
Upcoming writing retreats: 
https://heart-head-hands.com/product/writing-retreats/
(link in bio)

May writing continue to ground and guide, to create possibilities and lift visions of justice,
 
Beth

[This image shows writing tools (phone, keyboard, journal, pencil, and pen) along with the event information: “Online Writing Groups. Tues & Fri mornings. 9 weeks: Feb-Mar. 10am EST  9am CST  8am MST  7am PST. Come Write Together: Heart-Head-Hands.com.”]

#writing #writers #WritingGroups #WritingCommunity #WritingSupport #WritingAccountability #SupportForWriters #WritersSupportingWriters #writer #WritersOfInstagram #AcademicLife #Academics #Written #HigherEd #WritingInspiration #WritingRetreat #WritingRetreats #OnlineWriting #OnlineWritingRetreats #OnlineWritingGroups
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About Beth Godbee

I'm an educator and former college professor who believes our fully embodied selves matter in the world. We can’t just think our way out of the incredible injustices, dehumanization, violence, and wrongdoing that characterize everyday life. We must feel and act, too. [Pronouns: she/her.] Read more ...

This image shows books alongside the words: courses, coaching, consulting. learning + unlearning.

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