misc-joy

Category: Education

  • Belonging and Co-Liberation

    It has been a little over three weeks since a vice-president said the n-word during the Gender Equity meeting at Santa Barbara City College. During this time, the suffering and trauma experienced by our employees of color has come forth. And it is not only the trauma being experienced at my place of work, but…

  • We gotta find joy, people. Even in the struggle.

    The sense of community, of joy, of celebration, and of suffering was palpable. Last week I attended a conference on race in Detroit. My first conference of this type. And despite many years of personal work along with anti-racism trainings and workshops, I realize that I still know very little. I see and hold the…

  • Three-Month Media Blackout

    I’m planning on doing a 3-month media blackout during my already-established sangha sabbatical (July-September). It will be an experiment on my need to know (probably why I became a librarian and also something that’s been present in me for as long as I can remember). The experiment may allow me to open up some internal…

  • Diversity and Equity in a Community College

    What does it mean to address equity and diversity in a community college setting? More specifically, as an academic administrator at Santa Barbara City College? I recently had the opportunity to reflect upon this very question and the topic feels important enough to share more broadly. Why is diversity and equity important? Addressing diversity and…

  • Being Present for Our Students

    Being present for our students is a true gift we can offer and these experiences with students are one of the reasons why I’ve loved teaching and being part of an academic environment my entire professional career. As teachers, we have the capacity to change lives in ways that we may not always be fully…

  • Transcending White Nationalism and Developing White Racial Literacy

    In over 15-years of teaching information literacy classes, I often used the Stormfront website as a teaching tool because they own an MLK domain. Most students didn’t even know about David Duke, prominently quoted on the MLK site, and now he’s front and center thanks to President Trump. On some level this is okay, because…

  • Happy Teachers Change the World

    This is an important text for teachers who wish to cultivate mindfulness in the classroom. It is a uniquely Plum Village approach and provides concrete examples from hundreds of teachers from around the world. I am honored to have had a very small part in the manifestation of this book through offering feedback along the…