The Galactic Cow: Conversations about teaching, the Universe, and everything

emareena & ambar
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  • EDUCATION
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY
The Galactic Cow: Conversations about teaching, the Universe, and everything Podcast

Have you ever imagined what role teaching and learning could play in the evolution of our species? Or how teaching and learning might change as we change, or reflect changes we need to make? If these questions resonate with you, or make you curious or excited, we want you to start conversations where you are too! In Season 1, we're going to explore how teaching, learning, and education might transform to reflect our changing needs as humans, and how we exist together.

Episodes

  1. MAY 24

    Liminal Spaces: Teaching to Transgress

    In Fall 2023, I gave a talk at the second annual Higher Ed in Prison conference organized by the Tennessee Board of Regents, as part of their work with the Tenneesee Higher Education in Prison Initiative.  This was the first keynote I gave outside of the Pacific Northwest region and I thoroughly appreciate the experience.   I am learning that each time I am asked to stretch into something new or unfamiliar, my work gets stronger.  I understand it better, how it connects in so many unexpected and unexplored directions.  We are bound by our unresolved trauma, our untended grief, in so many ways.  We are also bound by joy, love, creative endeavor, and care.   A spiritual teacher once said told me that the constant tension between the One and the Many is a Divine Dichotomy and that feels truer and truer everyday.  I often wonder if balancing our connections between joy and anguish are also part of that Divine Dichotomy.  Connecting in only one way or the other denies us the full experience of our humanity, but honoring them equally can seem an impossibility. We spent the majority of our time in a short workshop, so I’ve included only my opening and closing remarks.  As this was a conference about higher ed in prison, my talk was directed to corrections educators, and currently and formerly incarcerated scholars and teachers, but its message is applicable in all learning spaces.

    11 min

  2. 08/07/2023

    Building Emerging Consciousness Cultures

    Welcome to Episode 8, the final epsiode of Season 1!  Our hope this season has been to start a different conversation about what learning and teaching might be, and we think that is happening.  But as often as we say we don't have any 'final' answers, we also want to know how practitioners apply these ideas to how they already teach, or bring them in as fresh perspectives.  This episode features our interview with Omar Marquez, a sociologist, tenured faculty at Everett Community College, and a good friend.  Most of the episode is Omar answering our prompts, so we've included the time codes & questions so you can listen to the bits that you find most intriguing.  We hope you find the interview as compelling as we did, and that you'll join us for Season 2.  Until then, joyous learning ♥ Interview questions & time codes 10:11 - 20:47  Why do you consider language so critical in building classroom culture?  How does language help or obstruct learning? 22:18 - 37:06  Why is bringing our own full selves into the classroom so important?  How does it impact our relationship with students and their relationships with each other?  How does being our full selves help us engage with complexity? 38:12 - 48:15  How do you approach teaching meaning making & building connection, for both yourself and your students? References Our main influence in this episode is Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother’s Hands (our favorite of his books), and our guide in the work of somatic abolition, embodiment, and anti-racist culture building.  We didn't do a full episode on Resmaa's work this season but it is in the plan for Season 2.  Resmaa's work on culture building and somatic abolition have influenced us both deeply, and we consider our work an effort to bring these practices into learning and teaching. We agree with Resmaa that  healing our own trauma is necessary not only for our own good, but for the good of the world.  Production theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (on the interwebs here, here, here) thanks friend! writing:  ambar & emareena editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) artwork:  emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog.

    54 min

  3. 07/18/2023

    Grief Changes Everything

    Of all of the topics we considered for this first season, grief was not one of them.  It didn't become a contender until a few days before we started prepping the episode.  The Abolition X pod had been in the back of my mind all season and it would not go away, so I asked ambar if we could talk about grief, instead of the topic we had on deck.  We started researching and writing, and the episode just...took us over. Grief in education is almost entirely unexplored, but it inhabits the space completely, and that includes our bodies, hearts, and minds.  Neither of us had any idea the episode would be as powerful for us as it was, and it is our hope that you will share that experience with us. References Abolition X pod: XGrief: Mustafa & Ahwoolay, His Incarcerated Friend, and  You're Going to Die pod:  Fear of Death is Our God both with Richie Reseda We’re using the chapter “To Give Your Hands to Freedom, First Give Them to Grief” by Malkia Devich-Cyril, from  Holding Change (AK Press)  Finally, we have been touching the edges of Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care, and Safety (AK Press), curated by by Cara Page and Erica Woodland.  Ambar called in Aurora Levins Morales’ forward and it’s fire. Production theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (on the interwebs here, here, here) thanks friend! writing:  ambar & emareena editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) artwork:  emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog.

    42 min

  4. 06/29/2023

    Embodied Love in Teaching

    Are you feeling alone and isolated at the front of your classroom?  Disconnected from your students, your colleagues, maybe even yourself?   Teaching has become a pretty isolated place and connecting with students feels more and more difficult.  But what if we could have a practical conversation about love in education?  How would bringing love and compassion to the front and center of teaching and learning transform our experience and education itself? Join us as we relisten to  The Urgent Need for Compassion with Alok Vaid-Menon in The Man Enough Podcast and Possibilities of Relational Loving with Kai Cheng Thom on the Possibilities Podcast (E32) for their guidance on love, vulnerability, risk, and change. Additional References Wisdom-Keepers on new weapons (and tools) for a new way of thinking, using our voice & our love are those weapons. bell hooks:  All About Love and Teaching to Transgress Solomon Burke, None of Us Are Free Production theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (on the interwebs here, here, here) thanks friend! editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) artwork:  also emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog.

    29 min

  5. 06/14/2023

    Boundaries, Embodiment, and Expansion

    We are finally dropping an episode about the thing no one wants to talk about - boundaries in teaching!  If you are like me, boundaries are confusing enough in my personal life, let alone in the classroom, and there is almost ZERO info on setting boundaries in higher ed (or really any classrooms)!  As teachers, we are constantly being bombarded by demands to set better boundaries or to not be so rigid, and it can bring up issues of shame and feeling not enough.  Join us as we relisten to one of Emergent Strategy's most popular episodes, Boundaried in Love, with Prentis Hemphill.  Prentis is one of our emerging consciousness leaders in embodiment and somatics work, visioning, and facilitation.  A collection of their work can be found here, and their Instagram is here. We don't have a magical solution, but we are offering a different way to think about boundaries, as well as some starting points to consider, so give us a listen and let us know what you think. References Emergent Strategy podcast, Boundaried in Love with Prentis Hemphill Daniel Lim “Building Regenerative Cultures” Alexis Shevrin “Role-Clarity and Boundaries for Trauma-Informed Teachers adrienne maree brown “Holding Change” Production theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (on the interwebs here, here, here) thanks friend! editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) artwork:  also emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog.

    38 min

  6. 05/23/2023

    Bodies, Shame, and Learning

    Are you tired of being a brain in a jar?  A content dispensary?  Do you long for a different way to teach and learn, one that welcomes and embraces you and your students in all your full, radiant humanity?  We want that too!  In this episode, emareena & ambar discuss radical self love and how its presence could transform our experience of teaching and learning.   What do you think would change if we embraced the necessity of radical self love as educators?   Reference material Unlocking Us, with Sonja Renee Taylor: The body is not an apology Unlocking Us, with Tarana Burke: Unbound:  liberation and the birth of the me too movement Offline with Jon Favreau: How the internet is radicalizing young men Additional good stuffs: Sonja Renee Taylor: The Body is Not an Apology and quote on bodily hierarchy and white women Tarana Burke:  Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement Laura Bates:  Men Who Hate Women:  The Extremism Nobody is Talking About Dr. Carey Yazeed:  Black women and vulnerability: what brene brown got wrong Ginwright, S. (2022). The Four Pivots. CA: North Atlantic Books.  Just because:  Lizzo talking radical self love  Production theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (on the interwebs here, here, here) thanks friend! editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable)  artwork:  also emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog.

    59 min

  7. 05/03/2023

    Nothing Changes Until We Change

    Welcome to our first relisten pod!  We're not quite exaggerating when we say we kind of started this podcast so we could relisten to some of our favorite and most influential thinkers, dreamers, and visionaries, and adrienne maree brown was always going to be first ♥  In this episode, we discuss two of her interviews and how her work applies to transforming teaching and learning.  Join us and explore your own vision for a new way to learn and teach. Pod relistens:  Finding Our Way podcast, S1E2 “Visioning” and On Being “We Are in a Time of New Suns” Grace Lee Boggs here and here Find adrienne https://adriennemareebrown.net/podcasts/  https://adriennemareebrown.net/blog/  https://esii.org/resources/  https://alliedmedia.org/speaker-projects/emergent-strategy-ideation-institute  Book Reference:  O’Neil, Cathy. Weapons of Math Destruction (2016) Production theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (on the interwebs here, here, here) thanks friend! editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) artwork:  also emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog.

    36 min

  8. 04/18/2023

    Moving With Hope

    This is our second episode talking about language and the last before we start our podcast relisten series.  This week, we're discussing ability to learn, change/transformation, and practice, connecting all of these our hope for creating a new vision of teaching and learning.  We know part of that work is a different way to relate to education, and that can’t happen without a reshaping of how we vision, define, and embody teaching and learning. We’re watching our systems dis-integrate, K-12, higher ed, and beyond, which means we have an opportunity to reimagine and create a system of education that is adaptable/flexible enough to reflect rapid changes in culture and society, able to provide equitable access to all learners, and balanced across learning, content, integration, collaboration, and growth If you like what you hear, make sure to Like, Subscribe, and Share.  Find emareena on Substack and Mastodon. Books we referenced “Awe” (Dacher Keltner) “We Want to Do More than Survive” (Miriame Kaba) "Building a Trauma-Responsive Educational Strategy: Lessons from a Corrections Classroom" (emareena danielles) "Emergent Strategy" (adrienne maree brown)   theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (here, here, here) thanks friend! editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) artwork:  emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog

    22 min
  9. Begin at the Beginning

    04/04/2023

    Begin at the Beginning

    Welcome to our first full episode!  For this ep, our guiding questions are "How are we defining ‘teaching & learning’? How are they different from (organized) education?"  In this episode, we're discussing how we define organized education, teaching, learning, and emerging consciousness.  Talking about new ideas means new language, or old language used in new ways!  If you like what you hear, make sure to Like, Subscribe, and Share. References “All that you touch, you change All that you change, changes you The only lasting truth is change god is change” ~ Octavia Butler “Parable of the Sower” "The principles of emergent strategy include: fractal adaptation interdependence and decentralization nonlinear and iterative change transformative justice and resilience creating more possibilities" ~adrienne maree brown “Emergent Strategy”  Production theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (on the interwebs here, here, here) thanks friend! writing:  emareena & ambar editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) artwork:  also emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog.

    19 min
  10. Meet the Galactic Cow ♥

    03/20/2023

    Meet the Galactic Cow ♥

    we recorded this mini-episode to answer the question "why are we here?" but only for the podcast, not to cause an existential crisis!  we liked the idea of introducing ourselves separately, so here we are - it was just that simple.  emareena and ambar are both adult educators and are interested in how teaching and learning need to grow and expand, just as humanity needs to grow and evolve.    we started our work together as part of a state-wide diversity and equity collective, and have been moving together in that space for several years.  we discovered a mutual fascination with emergent strategy, justice, tending relationship, liberation, bell hooks, paulo friere, and joy in teaching and learning.  galactic cow is a place for us to bring these ideas and more into practice, as a way to fundamentally reshape learning and teaching.   references:  emareena's book "Building a Trauma Responsive Educational Practice:  Lessons from a Corrections Classroom" (first book about the impacts of trauma and adult learning and the first guide to teaching in prison), and the Wisdom of Hafiz oracle deck.  here's the card, Dream Wide Awake (#31), and its explanation:  theme music: composed and performed by Alden Zac (here, here, here) thanks friend! editing & production:  emareena (who is relieved this is mostly listenable) logo:  emareena, who loves Galactica very much, and will be occasionally posting on the blog

    7 min
  • 10 Episodes

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About

Have you ever imagined what role teaching and learning could play in the evolution of our species? Or how teaching and learning might change as we change, or reflect changes we need to make? If these questions resonate with you, or make you curious or excited, we want you to start conversations where you are too! In Season 1, we're going to explore how teaching, learning, and education might transform to reflect our changing needs as humans, and how we exist together.

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