Love in The Dark Night of the Soul
“Real love always involves a transgression.” George Bataille It’s always important to start and end with love even when we’re conditioned otherwise. Like, how we deal with this strange heaviness about us. This dark night of the soul. Any experience of darkness needs to be looked at with love or else we might get lost, […]
For Working Class, Mindfulness is a Gimmick
When I called my colleague and told him the title of my new book, he told me I had sold out. Sold out? I snapped. I’ve been unemployed for years, while you’re sitting easy in a tenured teacher position. He snickered and told me to calm down. Yesterday, they towed my ten-year-old car away after […]
Looking Through the Cracks: Fighting Ignorance with Mindfulness & Critical Consciousness
Mindfulness is a constant unfolding that gives us new sight, called insight. It moves from the inside out, unfolding outward like the petals of a lotus. It is a way to see out, from the inside cracks of ordinary life. Solomon, Emmonds and Paolini wrote a picture book called, Through the Cracks. It is about […]
Muggles, Witches, Wizards and Yoda
“Learning organizations of the future will be centers where Master Teachers and students study consciousness and practice manifesting ideas into reality.” ~Ríos, Mindful Practice for Social Justice What would have happened to Harry Potter if he had not attended Hogwarts School of Witches and Wizardry? Hogwarts is the highly selective school based on a magical […]
What Happens When Teachers Get Too Attached?
Exploring Engaged Mindfulness In my previous post on compassion fatigue, I talked about the fairly common ailment of teacher burn out, when teachers enter a cycle of apathy and weariness, usually following an intense period of supporting students with countless needs. In that post, I challenged the notion of using mindfulness meditation to detach ourselves […]
The Gift of Freedom for the Holidays
Every year, my family and I engage in a back and forth, group chat style discussion via email about how we want to celebrate our holiday. This year, like the last, I began to notice new, challenging behaviors and a bit of a strain. I’ve been thinking a lot about how what is going on […]
Common Mistakes When Approaching Race in Schools… What Should We Do Instead?
Race is one aspect of human identity that changes reflecting the politics and science of the times. Now more than ever students are identifying as mixed-race or do not identify with any race category at all. The latter is especially true for Hispanics, according to a recent Census bureau research. Racial categories, which have been […]
#TeacherSpring
In 2010 when I lived in the Middle East, I witnessed the Arab Spring. People filled the streets with renewed spirit protesting unfair policies. I remember coming back from visiting the pyramids and getting trapped in a cab in the middle of a perfect storm—hundreds of men, women and children filled the streets that were […]
Wildcat Strike
West Virginia teachers are on a strike involving over 20,000 teachers and 13,000 school staff. It is the eighth day and I am inspired by the activism following the Parkland massacre. West Virginia teachers are not only exhibiting courage and willingness to stand up for the justice and dignity of the teaching profession, but they […]