What is involved in mentoring writers well? How can mentors support writers and writers’ various projects and aspirations? What are starting points for learning to mentor writing?So many of us (especially in higher education, literacy education, community education, and adjacent fields) are involved in mentoring and coaching writers. But, typically, we don’t have much training when it comes to mentoring. And much less for mentoring writing!Back in February, I gave a ... Read more ...
systemic oppression
How Mentors Can Support Writers and Counter Epistemic Injustice
You’re invited to an interactive workshop I’ll be facilitating on Monday, February 12th at 12:00-1:30pm ET titled “How Mentors Can Support Writers and Counter Epistemic Injustice.” The workshop is free and open to the public. This workshop is sponsored by the Ball State University Graduate School and the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and is part of the Building Mentoring Capacities Workshop Series. Thanks especially to Dr. Robin Phelps-Ward, Associate ... Read more ...
Honoring Struggles and Showing Up Imperfectly for Palestinian Liberation
To show up in this piece, which I’ve been trying to get out for weeks, I’ve realized that the only way to do so is to bring my full messy self. I don’t want to polish writing when that’s not true to the process or the way forward. As writers, we often have lots of discarded text and false starts. And we often spend hours weaving threads together into a cohesive whole. I really appreciate this work, and it gives me joy to do the weaving. Stitch by stitch, I understand ... Read more ...
Highlighting a New Publication: Chapter and Supplementary Material in Best of Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2021
I am writing to share a new publication: a chapter in Best of Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2021, edited by Kristi Girdharry, Charles Lesh, Jessica Pauszek, David Blakesley, and Steve Parks and published with Parlor Press (2023).This chapter includes both a reprint of my previous article “Rhetorical and Pedagogical Interventions for Countering Microaggressions” co-authored with Rasha Diab and with contributions by Cedric Burrows and Thomas Ferrel. It also includes ... Read more ...
Gratitude for Journals and Other Spaces for Self-Work
This blog post shares part of my email newsletter, which can be found in full here. This week I completed another journal and started a new one, my eighth since the start of the pandemic. So much of my recent writing has been personal, filling the pages of these journals and not ready to share ... just yet ... But I do have a piece coming out in Inside Higher Ed (I'll be sure to share soon!). And I have several blog posts in-process. And I'm hoping for good reception of ... Read more ...
Can Registration Be Relational? How I’m Longing for Sliding-Scale Registration to Work
This raw reflective post shares what I have been struggling to put into words: a desire for relationship and recognition, even during transactional moments like registration. Specifically, I’m reflecting on what I’m learning and how I’m longing for sliding-scale registrations to be a form of relationality itself—where all people are recognized and resourced. Can registration be relational? What would that mean, especially when money is involved and we live within the ... Read more ...
It’s Valentine’s Day, and I’m Again Writing with Heartache
My heart is with you and all of us grieving, raging, and moving through the day with heartache. My heart is with all of us and our people connected with Michigan State University (MSU) and all people impacted by gun violence. With DC and Southern California, with so many people, so many locations. My heart is with all of us living in a state of terror -- in the terrorizing nation-state of the United States and in the midst of normalized everyday violence. My heart is ... Read more ...
Doing the Holidays Differently: Untangling from the Mythical Norm and Revising Rituals for “the Holiday Season”
Preface: This post took me more than six weeks to write. I started drafting on the winter solstice, so it feels right to publish on the cross-quarter day imbolc. I’ve needed the time to sit with the questions I share in this post—questions that are sure to keep evolving. I hope you’ll come with me on this journey into my spiritual life and desire to do the holidays differently. The Holidays Are Hard. Do They Have to Be? For me and for many of us, the holidays are hard. ... Read more ...
Voting as Harm Reduction, Public Outcry, and Collective Responsibility
On the eve of elections in the United States, I share three orientations to voting: voting as harm reduction, public outcry, and collective responsibility. These are three ways I think about voting as everyday action aligned with striving toward justice. Three ways to vote even when it hurts, even when the heart aches. Why My Heart Hurts on Election Day and Why Voting Still Matters As I wrote back in 2018, my heart hurts on election day. And it does today, leading up to ... Read more ...
Continuing to Respond to the Supreme Court’s Decision Overturning Roe
Dear Beloved Reader, I began this post during Friday’s writing group, where I was when the Supreme Court released the Dobbs decision—overturning Roe v. Wade, restricting legal abortion access, and undercutting reproductive justice. I felt held in deep companionship through the news. And I remain incredibly grateful for activist-educator-writer-friend-colleagues who show up in the world with commitment and care. Now, more than ever, I feel the need for community—for ... Read more ...
