adrienne maree brown photo with a stylized hot pink background

We will not cancel us.

This morning, I finished reading adrienne maree brown‘s short book, We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice. I needed to read this book–and, probably, you do, too. brown’s central thesis is that progress does not happen when we are constantly engaging in call-out culture. brown is focused on the behavior of …

two very wide eyes on a bright green/yellow frog

Gettin’ surreal in here

When we’re young, I think we all imagined that one day, we’ll be famous. At least, I know I did. I remember watching The Disney Channel as a kid, especially The Mickey Mouse Club (the early 1990s revival, starring future superstars like Christina Aguilera and Tony Lucca and Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake and Ryan …

A woman wrapped in a blanket reads a book while holding a mug

Favorite reads of 2022

After basically just not writing this post last year — why? I have no idea — I’m back for my sixth (mostly) annual installment of my favorite reads from the last year. Before I get started, please note that these are my favorite reads of 2022, not my favorite books of 2022. Why the distinction? …

a girl shouting

Celebrating Festivus 2022

The Airing of Grievances I’ve never been one to celebrate the secular holiday of Festivus, brought into the public consciousness in the 1990s by Seinfeld. Festivus includes several components: an unadorned aluminum foil pole, an airing of grievances, and a physical strength challenge, along with a meal and labeling easily explainable events as “Festivus miracles.” …

a hand reaches toward the water and is reflected

A spectrum of possibilities

“I know you don’t want to hear this, Liz, but I really think you’re on the spectrum.” A friend said this to me during a particularly tense phone conversation back in the spring. It wasn’t the first time they’d suggested I might have Autistic traits, but it was the most forcefully they’d expressed it. When …

suspension bridge up close

Comfort, even without safety

I was chatting with someone a couple of days ago, working through how I’m feeling about this season in my life. For the last few months (let’s call them “summer”), I’ve been faaaaaar less ‘productive’ than my normal pace of life. If you’ve been around for more than a minute, you know that doing a …

A woman with her hands over her heart

Compassion through betrayal

Hurt people … hurt people. I don’t remember when I first heard this saying, but it has become a near-daily mantra. When someone else’s actions sting, when I’m disappointed or hurt or betrayed, I try to remind myself that it’s probably not actually all about me. Have a seat, Ego. Step up to the plate, …

a woman sits at her desk and is happy

82 days to fall: Caring in classrooms

I have so many thoughts swirling in my brain today, mostly because I’ve been consuming information at a faster-than-normal clip (thanks to all the driving I’ve done in the last week — more than 32 hours in the car over seven days). But for a #100DaysToFall post, I pulled out a book I read over …

A hand on a steering wheel of a boat

84 days to fall: Trusting students (and ourselves)

We only control what we don’t trust. Glennon Doyle As my last post indicated, I’ve been traveling this week — first to (attempt to) visit my brother in Kansas City, then on to my parents’ house in northern Arkansas. I hadn’t seen family since Christmas 2019, in the before-COVID times, so this has been a …

a paper heart torn into pieces

88 days to fall: The hard truth is that we cannot reach everyone

Ostensibly about teaching, this #100DaysToFall series has been a delightful daily challenge to muse over what a teaching-obsessed college professor’s summer life looks like. For the most part, it looks nearly identical to the middle-of-the-semester life, save formal class meetings and the endless waves of guilt for not giving students feedback more quickly. I spend …