I had initially sent out to write a blog about all that I’ve been learning on this trip to Jacksonville, Florida for the Association of Teacher Educators annual meeting, and particularly what I’ve learned being a part of this year’s W. Robert Houston ATE Leadership Academy. It’s been a moving experience that has challenged me […]
Tag: Integrity
Showing Up
I’ve been reflecting a lot this weekend on how I show up and who I show up for. I started rereading How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community by Mia Birdsong, a book that was gifted to me during an earlier part of the pandemic by my dear Sister-Friend, Ruchi, and that I had […]
Dear Friends
Dear Friends, A few weeks ago, I tweeted, “Work is an addiction that will literally kill you. We are all replaceable to institutions, but not to those who love us. Reminding myself because I need to hear it.” I was feeling the heaviness of all the labor, paid and unpaid that I have been doing, […]
Protocol Over People: Why (Educational) Institutions Need to Stop Dehumanizing People of Color
In the fall of last year, I was asked to participate in a faculty diversity panel for a leadership retreat at my university. I did so. I rescheduled my week, drove 8 hours roundtrip, prepared my words carefully, spoke from my heart, and did it all for no compensation. As part of my participation, I […]
Choosing Wisely
Now that I’m on day 3 of the 30-day writing/ blogging challenge that I’m doing with my friends Wes & Darlene, the ideas for blog posts have started rolling. Today, I thought about writing a post on the idea of beloved community or a companion piece to yesterday’s piece on my daughter about my son. Those posts […]
New Semester Resolutions
Yes, it’s the end of January, but my life seems to be driven more by the academic calendar than the calendar year, so it seems like this resolutions post comes just in time. In writing this post (and making sure that I hadn’t already written a New Year’s Resolution post because it’s 3 weeks into […]
Complicity, Contradictions, Criticality: The Challenges of Finding a Voice
I don’t even know how to characterize this week except to quote from the title of Angela Davis’s collection of essays, interviews and speeches to say that, “Freedom is a constant struggle.” Dr. Davis, in this text that I’ve been listening to on the long drives to visit with my aunt or the shorter drives […]
Kindness and Generosity
I spent my second Monday in a row, with a friend, along the coast, sipping a delicious minty tea beverage while overlooking the water. Yes, I live a ridiculously privileged life. Yet, I am often not present to the beauty of it all, caught up in all there is to do to prepare my tenure […]
Let the Light In
My latest academic piece is a chapter in an edited book on women in academia. It’s incredibly personal and was very difficult to write. The struggle I had with writing this piece differed from my normal struggles because it brought me back to a series of intense times that started in my late adolescence, with […]
I Am No Longer Here for Your Approval
For pretty much all of my life, I have lived for the approval of others. It was the path of least resistance and I hate confrontation. Just do what you’re told. Do what’s expected of you. Be good and when someone says you’ve done something wrong, believe them, apologize, repent, think about what you’ve done […]