Today, I have a new article published in Inside Higher Ed: “Honoring Ourselves and Each Other Through Burnout.” Here’s the opening: In the past few months, nearly all my conversations have focused on burnout. One friend is running on fumes, another wonders how to keep teaching when her body says no and still another rattles off a near-endless list of what’s not getting done. Such stories are nearly endless, too. The recent Inside Higher Ed opinion piece “Academe, Hear ... Read more ...
understanding injustice
Microaggressions: Too Sanitized, Too Safe, and Too Small?
I’m grateful to share a new article: “Do We Really Understand Microaggressions?” which is published online with Ms. Magazine. This piece is co-authored with Rasha Diab and part of our ongoing research on countering microaggressions. Here’s the opening: In recent years and especially since summer 2020, in the aftermath and reckoning of George Floyd’s murder, the term “microaggression” has become commonplace. Every week, new stories highlight racial microaggressions in ... Read more ...
Commitment Statements: Questions and Answers Pointing Toward Action
Commitment statements are living documents: a way to clarify deep dedications and priorities and to make them actionable both in everyday life and for the long haul. For several years now, I’ve been working with commitment statements as a way to better understand my own commitments and where I’m out of alignment with them—and, importantly, to realign and strive toward justice. This work has grown out of my collaborative research on “Making Commitments to Racial Justice ... Read more ...
The Holidays Are Hard: Naming What’s Hard and Offering Support
The holidays are always hard for me, as I know they are for many of us. There are so many expectations, longings, memories, disappointments, and things to grieve. At the same time when the days are shorter and seasonal depression kicks in, there are additional demands on our time and emotional capacity. There are broken boundaries and boundary violations. Family conflicts and forced happiness. Over-consumption, over-indulgence, and over-exhaustion. Loneliness, ... Read more ...
Countering Imposter Syndrome: Workshop Handouts and Resources
Welcome to this page of handouts and resources for the upcoming presentation “Countering Imposter Syndrome and Affirming the Right to Belong.” Designed for students and faculty, this presentation is sponsored by the Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The event will be held remotely via Zoom on Tuesday, May 4th 6:00-7:30pm Central time. Workshop Description How can we (researchers, mentors, advisors, ... 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 ...
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. Update as of 2024: Since writing this post, I've moved subscriptions from Patreon to Momence. I hope you'll join me there. Learn more via the subscribe page linked here. It felt important because I received three questions all related to the upcoming holiday: How do you interrupt the Thanksgiving ... Read more ...
Q&A with Tamika Carey: “Gestures Are Easy. Reckoning Is Hard.” On Prioritizing Wellness and Liberation
I’m particularly excited about this Q&A blog post with Tamika Carey, Ph.D., an interdisciplinary scholar whose work is not only shaping the fields of cultural rhetorics, African American rhetorics, and feminist rhetorics but also deeply impactful for literacy studies, cultural studies, and women’s and gender studies. Tamika Carey is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Virginia, an award-winning author, and a committed educator. I came to know ... Read more ...
Invitation to Join Upcoming Theatre of the Oppressed Workshops
This fall, as part of the 40-Day Practice: Strengthening Emotional Stamina to Counter White Fragility, I’m facilitating two workshops using theatre of the oppressed. I invite you to join one or both of these workshops, if you’d like to experience Augusto Boal’s powerful approach, rehearse interventions into everyday racism, and connect with others engaged in this work. Here are the workshop dates and description: Friday, October 16th 2-5pm EasternFriday, November 6th ... Read more ...
What Is White Fragility?
How can those of us who identify as white, who are conditioned into whiteness, and who have internalized white supremacy recognize and respond to emotions before they do harm? How can we take accountability when they do? And how can we recognize complicity with the long-standing harm and systems that prevent taking accountability? These questions motivate the “40-Day Practice: Strengthening Emotional Stamina to Counter White Fragility”: a daily practice of ... Read more ...
