This interview with Chloe de los Reyes highlights connections among language and literacy education, lived experiences and positionalities, and striving for social justice. Chloe is a faculty member (Assistant Professor of English) at Crafton Hills College in Southern California. Prior to this position, she worked as and advocated for adjunct faculty for many years. We met almost two decades ago when both teaching and researching in campus writing centers. And we’ve ... Read more ...
storytelling
Slowing Down to Clarify Commitments
Earlier this summer, I had covid and slowed to a snail’s pace. Everyday care (like bathing and brushing) took incredible effort. Because I had such little energy, I had to make tough decisions about where to put that energy. In many ways, being sick provided time for review. That review clarified my commitments, helping me consider if where I’m directing energy is truly where I want to be putting it. For the most part, I could answer: yes. I am clear about my deepest ... Read more ...
Journaling and Drawing Exercises for Times of Transition
Recently, a Patreon subscriber wrote to me with the following question: Could you share a few journaling or drawing exercises to help find focus/calm/mindfulness during a time of big transition and change? I found myself nodding when reading this question, reflecting on how much feels in flux for me as well. As we’re heading into the third year of the pandemic, we continue to live with a lot of unknowns and uncertainty, a lot of change asked of us regularly, and a lot of ... Read more ...
Lessons from Turtles, or How I’m Practicing Saying “No” to Say “Yes”
Recently, I moved homes, and throughout the move, I kept seeing turtles. Turtles walking across trails, peeking out of shells, and sunbathing on logs.Turtles in real life and on divination cards and in photographs.Turtles of different sizes and species: box turtles and snapping turtles. At first, I thought these turtles were symbolizing that home is with me wherever I am. To go home, go within. This message continues to be comforting as I create a new home-space. Then, I ... Read more ...
Q&A with Cedric Burrows about His New Book Rhetorical Crossover: The Black Presence in White Culture
This Q&A blog post features Cedric D. Burrows, Ph.D., an assistant professor of English at Marquette University and author of the new book, Rhetorical Crossover: The Black Presence in White Culture (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020). Cedric’s scholarship focuses on African American rhetoric, cultural rhetorics, social activism, and the legacies and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Movement. As a colleague of Cedric’s, ... Read more ...
Words Matter: Naming, Inspiring, Truth-telling, Revealing, and Reckoning with This Moment
Words That Matter and Inspire Me Now There are so many words to say today (in the midst of insurrection in the United States), but I want to share some words from adrienne maree brown. brown’s blog post this morning—what is unveiled? the founding wound. (poem/directive)—speaks to my soul. It speaks to festering wounds and the need to name violence and to break white supremacy: “denial will not disappear a wound.” I hope you’ll read this blog post in full. Along with this ... Read more ...
Reflection, Retreat, and Recommitment: Learning from the Winter Woods
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
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 ...
Career Discernment for Academics: An Interview with Self-Compassionate Professor
I’m grateful to Danielle De La Mare of the Self-Compassionate Professor for inviting me to do an interview that’s become “Episode 19: Career Discernment with Dr. Beth Godbee.” This interview relates both my career discernment story and how I understand career discernment as a lifelong, ongoing process of finding and following the “strong yes.” Here’s what Danielle says about the interview: “Former professor, Dr. Beth Godbee, joins me for the first episode of Season 2! ... Read more ...
Wailing with the Wind: On Disrupting Work During the Pandemic
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 ...
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#Repost @chiara.acu with @use.repost
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let us feel this one in our guts
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nourishing kinships of care is resistance against capitalist dehumanization
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sometimes fighting for more just worlds is less about the big picture stuff and more about building connections to each other,
connections that are vital to create possibilities outside of competition, commodification, isolation, trauma, and the privatization of care
connections that make our organizing possible, and that build up our immunity to conflict, fracturing, and manipulation from a system that wants us divided and alone
connections that quite frankly make life worth living
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a shout out and big love to tanuja for making space for me to work on this art, to oona and cole, to giselle, ace, ebony, robin, crystal, micah, loisse, karen, diana, tulia, brian, molly, mary, and nazafarin for the care shared in the past couple of weeks
i am so grateful❤️
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[image ID: one rectangular slide with semi-transparent rainbow letters spelling "nourishing kinship of care is resistance", and pearl-colored letters spelling "against capitalist dehumanization". The background shows green and blue vines growing from a multicolored flower meadow. shiny hearts, stars, and flowers are scattered throughout]](https://heart-head-hands.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
