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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.