Heart - Head - Hands logo

resistance

Do It Scared

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By 5 Comments

“Do it scared.” I have Dr. E (Dr. Elaine Richardson) to thank for this mantra that I keep close at hand. A couple of years ago, Dr. E talked with my “Writing for Social Justice” class about her book PHD to Ph.D.: How Education Saved My Life, and students asked Dr. E to share advice for writers. Similar to the advice Luvvie Ajayi shares in the TED talk “Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable,” Dr. E talked about pushing through fear and showing up for the work anyway. ... Read more ...

“Pedagogical Too-Muchness,” Or a Call for Shaking up Schooling

Filed Under: Everyday Feminism, Higher Education, Racial Justice By 1 Comment

This year I turned 39, and it’s my first in which I won’t be returning to school. I’ve spent my life in academic settings—as a child and adult, as a student and teacher, as a researcher and writer. Many of my friends are teachers, too, so I understand how August brings both angst and anticipation for the upcoming school year. Recently, I’ve been having conversations with friends about syllabi and course designs. I’ve been reading social media posts about the start of ... Read more ...

A New Spell for a New Space

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Everyday Feminism By 1 Comment

These past few weeks I’ve been focused on moving and settling into a new home. The move has called attention to all sorts of stuff, habits, and emotional swings—things I’d like to keep and release, to shore up and tear down. This process has reminded me, too, of the contemplative practices that contribute to a sense of grounding: grounding needed to stand TALL for justice. One of these practices is spell-casting, which I learned from activist-writer-healer adrienne ... Read more ...

Against the Tyranny of Positivity

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Higher Education By Leave a Comment

On this day of the lunar eclipse in Aquarius, may we allow ourselves to feel. To feel whatever comes up. To feel deeply, expansively, expressively. To feel a fuller range of emotions than we’re typically taught is appropriate or agreeable or allowable to feel. To grieve for Nia Wilson, for Markeis McGlockton, and for many people whose lives are deemed expendable. To rage against white supremacy, patriarchy, colonization, and oppression. To push past easy, ready, ... Read more ...

Naming Trauma as Trauma

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Higher Education, Racial Justice By 9 Comments

As part of my research on epistemic injustice, I’ve been thinking about the power of naming: the power of having the linguistic resources to identify, describe, and call out varied experiences, especially experiences of injustice. Systemic oppression works in a way that denies the ability to name experiences of wrongdoing. When experiences are named, they can be acknowledged and addressed. To me, this is part of the power of the word microaggressions: the word allows ... Read more ...

When Everything Is Horrible, Try Slowing Down and Noticing

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies By 8 Comments

On a recent hike, I found myself complaining about the heat and mosquitoes. I was walking quickly, speeding up to get off the trail, and failing to notice my surroundings. It wasn’t until I took a break on the ground—literally sitting in the middle of the trail—that I noticed blooming mayapples underneath large leaves. All around me but out of sight when walking were flowers promising spring and the summer to come. The more I slowed down and took breaks on the ... Read more ...

Today Healing Looks Like …

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Everyday Feminism By 6 Comments

I was only a few hours into Monday morning, and I’d already had three friends text me about grief, a conversation about not just anger but full-on flaming rage, and multiple conversations about how the word heartache doesn’t even come close to capturing the intense pain of seeing families separated and incarcerated. One friend wrote that “the horrors of this administration are making me physically ill,” a statement that caused me to stop and think about my own bodily ... Read more ...

Countering Resistance Fatigue with a Both/And Approach

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By 12 Comments

In the past few days, I’ve seen countless posts detailing “the horrors of this administration,” the latest of which include separating families and imprisoning immigrants. I’ve seen friends describing their embodied physical and emotional pain, including pain from complicity and always too-small actions. I’ve seen friends accounting their own family stories of separation, as the history of state-sponsored violence against Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) is ... Read more ...

Turning 39 and Thinking about Age(ism)

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By 4 Comments

A few weeks ago, I turned 39. I get excited about birthdays, believing that age is cumulative, as “we’re all the ages we’ve ever been.” I think of new ages as adding experiences and insights while keeping all the previous ones: I’m still my toddler and teenage selves, and now I’m adding multiple adult selves into the mix. I joke that “I’m greedy and want all the ages” as a way to affirm and reclaim the joy of aging. And I do see joy in aging—in experiencing more of ... Read more ...

Learning to Ask for What I Want

Filed Under: Everyday Feminism By 1 Comment

I’m learning to pay attention to small signs and recurring themes that show up in my life, and in the past week, I’ve seen time and again messages to ask for what I want. I’ve seen these messages through friends’ social media posts, through conversations with former students, and even through Chani Nicholas’s astrological reading: These messages are reminding me of how often I encourage other writers to do the big, bold move of submitting work before it feels ... Read more ...