This blog post shares a career discernment practice: K-W-L, a way of mapping what you already know, want to know, and need to learn. Career discernment coaching involves, among many things, listening to and learning from fears, uncertainties, and the many unknowns involved in making change. Sometimes what’s needed is recognizing fear—allowing it to speak, be witnessed, and given a right-sized role. Other times, what’s needed is a way to list and begin to answer ... Read more ...
questions
Writing Process Support: Supporting Postdoctoral Fellows as Writers
As writers, we need support not only for our products—what we are creating—but also for our processes—the how, when, where, who, and why of writing.This spring, Candace Epps-Robertson (of Full Circle Writing) and I have been offering a program that addresses these fuller needs and offers writing process support to postdoctoral fellows at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Briana Mohan, Program Director in Research Education & Training, invited us ... Read more ...
This Valentine’s Day, Here Are Questions to Hold with Care
This Valentine's Day, I want to share gratitude and say again that I'm making it through these times because of community care and creative interventions, including many small affirmations that add up to being here, breathing in and out, writing little by little, and taking it truly day by day.In these times, gifting feels more important than ever, so for the coming months (in my newsletter, via social media, and through YouTube), I'll be offering more prompts and ... Read more ...
Q&A with Pam Jones, Ph.D.: Butterflies, Kaleidoscopes, and Monsteras. Together, Educators Are Dreaming a New World.
Pam Jones, Ph.D. is someone I want you to know. Pam is a compassionate, visionary, and infinitely wise voice in the world of education. Since we've been working together, I've learned so much about intergenerational literacies and imaginative world-building. Pam teaches and inspires me (and so many of us) and holds such hope for what’s possible in striving toward liberation and justice. And now, thankfully, she’s offering to hold space and work one-on-one, with small ... Read more ...
Forum Theatre: Using Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed to Build Receptive Competence
This post shares a reprint of a lesson plan “Forum Theatre: Using Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed to Build Receptive Competence” co-authored by Beth Godbee and Rasha Diab. In 2015, Beth Berilla assembled and published the website Contemplative Practices for Anti-Oppression Education, and we were not only grateful to be part of the collection but also regularly turned to and shared contemplative practices from the collection. Unfortunately, the website is no longer ... Read more ...
After Academia: Career Paths in Community Writing
I am grateful to be presenting tomorrow (Saturday, October 25th) at the 2025 Conference on Community Writing, speaking on the roundtable “After Academia: Alternate Career Paths for Designing Justice.” Thanks to Megan Faver Hartline, Ph.D. (The Grants Clearinghouse) for organizing this session. And lots of gratitude for co-panelists Sonia Arellano, Ph.D. (Tampa VA Research and Education Foundation), Rachel Bloom-Pojar, Ph.D. (Confianza Collective), and Candace ... Read more ...
Mantras for Writers
I feel deep gratitude that my life allows me to write, to be in community with writers, to support writers, and to bring writing into the world. And part of being in writing community—writing with and alongside others—is knowing intimately how much can undercut and derail us as writers. Many pressures weigh on our writing and ourselves as writers. And, as writers, we often need inspiration to bring us back to writing. So, this post shares a form of inspiration: ... Read more ...
Meaningful Writing Doesn’t Always Make Its Way into Writing Portfolios
I recently created a new writing portfolio, which I am excited to share! Because my SelectedWorks page was sunsetted this summer, I needed a new way to share publications. The portfolio highlights some, while linking to a fuller list (what I’d share as part of an academic CV). I start with academic publications and then share pieces from public and community writing. And I include a final section of meaningful writing that doesn’t always (or even often) make its way ... Read more ...
Q&A with Sarah Gettel: Consultant, Operations Support, and Capacity Coach for Heart-Head-Hands
I am excited to introduce Sarah Gettel, a good friend and accountability partner who’s been working behind the scenes with Heart-Head-Hands: Everyday Living for Justice. Sarah and I met in 2019, soon after I’d left my faculty career, through mutual contacts engaged in racial justice organizing in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We deepened our relationship in the early days of the pandemic, forming an accountability pod and meeting regularly with Rasha Diab ... Read more ...
Recommitting and Reconnecting With Your Writing
The month of May always feels like a time for recommitting and reconnecting: recommitting and reconnecting to creative work, to writing projects (especially those set aside), and to ourselves and the people we write with and for. There's an invitation to start again, as spring is in full bloom and the promise of summer awaits. It's not that the everyday efforts end, but there's the potential of more levity with longer days stretching ahead. There's the potential for ... Read more ...
