Choose to be Curious Lynn Borton

The well-deserved accolades pour in -- Newberry Medal, Coretta Scott King Award, Cyblis Award, and more -- but what caught my eye about Amina Luqman-Dawson's wonderful book Freewater was her deft deployment of curiosity.

Whether as a springboard for her own writing and research, as an invitation to her readers, or the force that enables her characters' growth and literal freedom, curiosity in everywhere in this rich, evocative story of children escaping enslavement and finding their power.

"Curiosity," she says, "is a wonderful place to begin."

More about Freewater and Amina Luqman-Dawson: https://www.aminaluqman-dawson.com

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Home, Home at Last” by Warmbody, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Amina Luqman-Dawson Photo Credit: Zachariah Dawson

I had no experience with audio, radio, production, editing -- anything -- when I first undertook this show nearly 7 years ago. But I was an eager learner, improbably on the cusp of being on-air. 

I had big ambitions and, like many newbies, I had no earthly idea just how big they were. I wanted to open my first show with reveille from the Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall. That shouldn’t be so hard, right?

Lucky for me, I teamed up with filmmaker, musician, composer, sound engineer and teacher Antonio Villaronga -- and a friendship/mentorship was born.

When Antonio released his new narrative short film, You, Too, I wanted to be his first stop on the media tour. And so here we are!

Check out the You, Too trailer and Antonio's other work at Cineronga: https://cineronga.com

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Curio” by Vacant Distillery, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Just in time for Valentine's Day we consider curiosity and how we experience and express love.

Hailey Magee is a certified coach, educator, and writer who helps folks worldwide set empowered boundaries and break people-pleasing patterns.  She says curiosity is her love language. That seemed like a conversation we would all want to have!

Check out Hailey Magee: https://www.haileymagee.com

Read Hailey's original blog post "Why Curiosity Is My Love Language"

Gary Chapman developed the idea of love language: https://5lovelanguages.com

Take a moment to enjoy the poetry of Robert Frost, kindness of the Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-frost

Theme and other music by Sean Balick.

How might choosing to be curious about language influence our familiarity with, understanding of, or comfort around the very words we use to express curiosity --- or anything else? That's where this fascinating conversation with University of Arizona linguistics professor Sonja Lanehart started. 

But it wasn't long before we were talking about new words for curiosity, the forthcoming Oxford Dictionary of African American English, and curiosity as a privilege reserved for those who have already managed to establish legitimacy for their fields of study.

Get to know Sonja Lanehart: https://coe.arizona.edu/person/sonja-lanehart

Learn more about the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, and help crowdsource words: https://public.oed.com/oxford-dictionary-of-african-american-english/

Curious about Michael Harriot, Whypipologist? He explains all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spC2QSrM7f4

One of the breadcrumbs in my “inspiration trail” for this episode was Pip William’s lovely book The Dictionary of Lost Words: https://pipwilliams.com.au/the-dictionary-of-lost-words/

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Tuck and Point” by Onesuch Village, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Natural Curiosity is both an entity and an idea. The entity, a nonprofit organization based in Toronto with a lab school and eponymous teaching guide, embodies the idea that environmental education must center our relations with all things, seen and unseen.

Propelled by unequivocal recommendations from Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Natural Curiosity brings indigenous perspectives into environmental education. It is, as they put it, "the starting point of an important conversation about learning in relationship with Mother Earth."

Alysse Kennedy and Aleksa Nitsis join me to unfurl what "indigenous perspectives of inquiry" entail, especially in the hands of non-indigenous teachers and learners. And we learn a few things from some 6th graders who model these lessons in a powerful way.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “A Palace of Cedar" by The Pine Barrens, via Blue Dot Sessions.

More on Natural Curiosity: https://www.naturalcuriosity.ca

What if there was a way to help people meet and talk with others whose lives are very different (or not!) from their own?

The Human Library does just that, by creating a safe space for dialogue, an opportunity for challenging stigma and stereotypes, and the chance to "unjudge" someone. 

Co-founder and CEO Ronni Abergel joins me to talk about "publishing" people as "open books." Others come to the library as "readers." And then the magic happens.

Check out The Human Library: https://humanlibrary.org

Read more about Joe Keohane and The Power of Strangers: https://joekeohane.net

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Come As You Are” by Cauldron via Blue Dot Sessions.