During graduate school, there were many weeks of being so overloaded by assigned reading that I couldn’t do it all and felt constantly behind. I recognized that the goal was to learn to skim and to put my hands on more and more research, even if I couldn’t savor many pieces. The trouble was that the more I couldn’t savor what I was reading, the more I associated reading itself with feelings of being overwhelmed and behind. When I shared with a mentor how stressful ... Read more ...
teaching
Announcing “Outside Higher Ed” in Inside Higher Ed
Today the first of four articles about my experience leaving academia appeared in Inside Higher Ed. As a series of articles, “Outside Higher Ed” seeks to identify processes that can be used by academics questioning whether and/or when to leave academia. Over the next four months, I hope to share my chronological process of leaving a tenure-track position, walking through four stages: (1) origin—recognizing the seed or origin of the idea to leave, (2) ... Read more ...
“Pedagogical Too-Muchness,” Or a Call for Shaking up Schooling
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 ...
In the Midst of Big Changes
Big changes have been rumbling through my life, and I’m finally ready to announce them. After seven years at Marquette University (in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), I’ve been promoted with tenure, and I’ve also made the big decision to leave academia to pursue public writing and community education. I’m hoping to combine writing, teaching, and even Reiki and hiking. I’m now in the midst of planning a move back to Washington, D.C.—moving closer to family and to the Appalachian ... Read more ...
A Barrage of Microaggressions
Some years ago I began recording everyday microaggressions toward learning to recognize racism, which is so often coded and which whiteness has taught me not to see. This recording project aimed at building a repository of common microaggressions to teach with and practice interventions using Augusto Boal’s theatre of the oppressed. The project emerged from conversations with colleagues of color, who shared how often white colleagues failed to believe their experiences. ... Read more ...
Crocheting Granny Squares, Connecting to Grandmothers, and Crafting a More Just Future
Recently, I felt inspired to pick up crocheting again, after many seasons without touching a needle, hook, or yarn. Feeling the call for creative self-care, I ordered vegan yarn in the colors of the 7 chakras and laid them out, planning a small afghan of granny squares. Thread yarn onto hook. Chain five, and connect stitches, making a circle. Days after purchasing the yarn and only a few stitches into my first granny square, my mom shared some news. Betty, the woman ... Read more ...
A Love Letter to Students Surviving Sexual Violence
As we near the end of spring semester, students in both my “Contemplative Writing” and “Writing for Social Justice” courses are pulling together projects to make interventions in some way. Several students are addressing rape culture, and one student is compiling a book of letters by and for survivors of sexual violence. She hopes that others at our university will read the letters, write additional ones, and add threaded response—facilitating healing through ... Read more ...
Revisiting Fear Through Walker’s Essay “Everything Is a Human Being”
This spring I’m reading Alice Walker’s Living by the Word slowly, mindfully, as part of my “Contemplative Writing” course. I appreciate this book of essays for many reasons, including its title, which makes an argument that we live by the words we put into the world. As a writer committed to everyday living for justice, I am taken with this idea of “living by the word.” I am taken, too, with Walker’s reflections on her many relations, including with her father and ... Read more ...
5 TED Talks for Developing Emotional Literacies for Racial Justice
Today marks the final day of the 40-day practice I’ve been leading for a local, predominantly-white church on developing emotional literacies. We’ve been focused on building and strengthening emotional awarenesses, knowledges, intelligences, and response-abilities for racial justice. As part of this practice, I’ve been sharing resources, including TED talks that provide language for understanding emotional literacies. In this post, I share five of these talks that are ... Read more ...
Triangulating the Heart, Head, and Hands for Justice
This spring I’m teaching a new course titled “Contemplative Writing.” I’ve visualized the course design through triangulation, or three intersecting points that rely on the others for fuller understanding. Like a compass, triangulation helps with navigating complicated terrain. It shows locations (or ideas) in relation to each other, highlighting multiplicity. In the case of “Contemplative Writing,” triangulation brings together three semester-long focuses, audiences, ... Read more ...
![Since posting about turtles earlier this week, I’ve been thinking about the mantra “slow and steady.” Though I’m often hard on myself—noticing all the ways I fall short or don’t act on this mantra—I had a recent reminder that simply doing something regularly, even if less often than I’d like, allows for growth.
.
Specifically, this week I “flashed” my first 5.9 climbing route (meaning that I got up the wall on my first try). I’ve been climbing for almost 16 months, and my learning has been slow, slow, slow … More often than not, I feel like I’m struggling. I feel clumsy and shaky. I bump my knees and tweak my shoulders and cry a lot. Yet, by sticking with the work (in this case, climbing), I’m meeting new milestones. A few months ago, I began trying 5.8s, then 5.9s, and now I’m regularly getting up those routes.
.
Like a turtle, I’m moving from my starting place, perhaps slower than others and slower than I’d like … but steadily, I’m becoming a “climber,” and surely, I’m learning to stay with what’s hard to develop the stamina and strength to keep going.
.
Knowing that stamina is especially needed for white folks to stay in the work for racial justice (and for all sorts of learning-living anti-oppression work), may the image of the turtle and the mantra of “slow and steady” help as guiding points.
.
Two steps forward, one step backward, but stepping, still … Step after step after step …
.
[This photo of me climbing is from a few months ago, but it shows me working the route. :-)]
.
.
.
#bloggersofinstagram #socialjusticeeducation #climbing #climbingtraining #climb #climbing_lovers #climbing_photos_of_instagram #belayon #climbon #learning #climbinglessons #slowandsteady #slowingdown #longhaul #slowprogress #slowprogressisstillprogress #stickwithit #steady #saturdayvibes #saturdaymorning #reflection #storytelling #lifelessons #alwayslearning](http://scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/7044bea515c5aed622b735fa2e0fdcf2/5CEAE4AC/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/c0.134.1080.1080/s640x640/51275780_538507049971301_4950861348305084968_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com "Since posting about turtles earlier this week, I’ve been thinking about the mantra “slow and steady.” Though I’m often hard on myself—noticing all the ways I fall short or don’t act on this mantra—I had a recent reminder that simply doing something regularly, even if less often than I’d like, allows for growth.
.
Specifically, this week I “flashed” my first 5.9 climbing route (meaning that I got up the wall on my first try). I’ve been climbing for almost 16 months, and my learning has been slow, slow, slow … More often than not, I feel like I’m struggling. I feel clumsy and shaky. I bump my knees and tweak my shoulders and cry a lot. Yet, by sticking with the work (in this case, climbing), I’m meeting new milestones. A few months ago, I began trying 5.8s, then 5.9s, and now I’m regularly getting up those routes.
.
Like a turtle, I’m moving from my starting place, perhaps slower than others and slower than I’d like … but steadily, I’m becoming a “climber,” and surely, I’m learning to stay with what’s hard to develop the stamina and strength to keep going.
.
Knowing that stamina is especially needed for white folks to stay in the work for racial justice (and for all sorts of learning-living anti-oppression work), may the image of the turtle and the mantra of “slow and steady” help as guiding points.
.
Two steps forward, one step backward, but stepping, still … Step after step after step …
.
[This photo of me climbing is from a few months ago, but it shows me working the route. :-)]
.
.
.
#bloggersofinstagram #socialjusticeeducation #climbing #climbingtraining #climb #climbing_lovers #climbing_photos_of_instagram #belayon #climbon #learning #climbinglessons #slowandsteady #slowingdown #longhaul #slowprogress #slowprogressisstillprogress #stickwithit #steady #saturdayvibes #saturdaymorning #reflection #storytelling #lifelessons #alwayslearning")
![Still in my first year as a #smallbusiness owner, I can say that this work isn't possible without a strong, supportive network. There are many people to say THANKS to specifically, but let me say today (on #ValentinesDay) that my heart swells whenever I think of the support that's flowed my way this year. Today, may each of us feel a little more love flowing in our directions, a little more love filling up our reservoirs and making possible the work we're each called to do. Truly, you are loved. I send love. <3
.
.
[Image description: This Valentine's Day card is primarily yellow and blue with pink-red flowers lining the bottom. It reads "you are loved" in large script, followed by "Happy Valentine's Day" in all-caps. Below that is the message, repeated in script: "Thanks for your support this year! With love, Beth (Heart-Head-Hands.com)."] .
.
.
#supportwomen #gratitude #lovenothate #love #valentinesday2018 #valentines #grateful #gratitude #loveyou #instalove #lovenote #veganblogger #bloggerlife #bloggersofinstagram #womanownedbusiness #womanowned #womanownedbiz #youareloved #youarelove #thankyou #support #supportivefriends #supportnetwork #sendinglove](http://scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/3aaa1eed7631b4856bd3035d1d0ee8e0/5CEDC5A1/t51.2885-15/e35/c96.0.479.479/51321814_116709839443439_8702693490264459485_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.cdninstagram.com "Still in my first year as a #smallbusiness owner, I can say that this work isn't possible without a strong, supportive network. There are many people to say THANKS to specifically, but let me say today (on #ValentinesDay) that my heart swells whenever I think of the support that's flowed my way this year. Today, may each of us feel a little more love flowing in our directions, a little more love filling up our reservoirs and making possible the work we're each called to do. Truly, you are loved. I send love. <3
.
.
[Image description: This Valentine's Day card is primarily yellow and blue with pink-red flowers lining the bottom. It reads \"you are loved\" in large script, followed by \"Happy Valentine's Day\" in all-caps. Below that is the message, repeated in script: \"Thanks for your support this year! With love, Beth (Heart-Head-Hands.com).\"] .
.
.
#supportwomen #gratitude #lovenothate #love #valentinesday2018 #valentines #grateful #gratitude #loveyou #instalove #lovenote #veganblogger #bloggerlife #bloggersofinstagram #womanownedbusiness #womanowned #womanownedbiz #youareloved #youarelove #thankyou #support #supportivefriends #supportnetwork #sendinglove")
