I have been building understandings and fighting for racial, economic, and linguistic justice ever since I attended the University of Colorado Boulder. I learned about myself, our collective struggle for justice and equality, and I had those differences in my face every day. I used my angst in my music and my poetry/writings and recently I have picked these things up again.

I believe there exists a balance between what we as educators expect for our students to know, do and understand and how we nurture their passions and interests; we do students a disservice when our learning situations are not set up to nurture them through the lens of cultural equity.

I believe student collaboration is the key to deeper understandings and confidence as a learner, especially when the teacher actually takes the time to see their students in a way that locks in value for teacher and learner.
This country carries a collective sorrow and angst due to the actions of those who hold the power and refuse to acknowledge humanities’ value. We teach that sorrow and angst (whether we admit it or not), and our students continue to learn it.

We need to work toward showing students the truth

Especially about how we got here

It will be up to them to fix the world we created

So let us all take this time we have left to give them all of the tools possible to make this beauty possible. Millennials are much more in tune with the reality of each other than we ever were;

the flame of humanity burns bright with them

And so we carry on in the spirit of our ancestors….