November Check-In

Hey folks… welcome back to my pink room!

Grab a seat, get comfortable … we might be here for a little while. It’s actually been quite a few days since we last chatted, so I hope you are still remembering to breathe (and all the other good stuff of course). While I have been a way, I have been doing a lot of thinking, so I thought we could just spend most of today thinking through a little bit of my new plan around this blog and some other disparate thoughts/updates. So let’s jump in.

As some of you may have already noticed I have started making some changes to the blog layout but also concerning the timing and types of posts. Let’s first talk about the layout and types of posts you can expect moving forward and then a little bit of the schedule of various posts.

So first for types of posts I am thinking of and then where you can find them.

I would like to post probably three different kind of things:

1. Random thoughts, ideas maybe book debriefs, etc. Right now these are post like “2D Shenanigans” or “I Love Musicals (and plays)” but also “Books and Executions (Part 1 & Part 2).
2. Creative things… like poems, theatrical monologues, and other creative like essay writing. I am a theater minor and a closeted artist, so I figure what better place than here to explore those parts of myself. These are post like “Rebellious Breathing” and “Pink Room Poetry“.
3. Specific themed explorations of things happening in the world . Right now that would be our series about the values undergirding schooling in my district, Pink Valley (if you haven’t yet, check out “What is School Really?” to get started on that series). In theory though, these posts can be about almost anything as long as they give me opportunity to explore various themes, ideas and more importantly apply the knowledge I have been gathering to the real world. Some possible directions we might go is looking at discomfort and christianity within my church family or my thoughts on the intersections of genius and whiteness within the Math department at my University. So definitely stay tuned for these.

Okay now on to where you can actually find them. Of course if you are subscribed to my blog you will get every post no matter which kind sent to your email. But if you have not yet subscribed, I have created some new sections on my website for you to check out . For posts of type (1), you can just click on the menu to “Blog“, and all the post you will find will be of type (1). For posts of type (2), on the “Blog” page you will see 2 new buttons, click on “Pink Room Poetry” and you will find yourself in the world of all things creative. And finally for post of type (3), I will make a new section for each series, so right now you will see a button titled “Schooling & Abolition” to access our current series and subsequent thoughts around schooling.

Finally our new tentative schedule:

Each week I will aim to publish at least 3 posts, so that would be every other week day. I will also try and post at least once a week related to a particular series we may be exploring together so for right now that means a post each week related to Pink Valley District and its roots.

Okay that is all our housekeeping and just for some quick updates on me:

1. I can’t believe it has been nearly a month since I first let you all join me in my pink room. It has been a blast but also challenging. I am still trying to find a balance that I feel good about. I don’t want this blog to become just another stressor (I have enough of those already). I don’t want to lose sight of the purpose of this blog and that is to be a place where I can heal in public and out loud and maybe find community along the way.
2. Trauma is real… like actually real. I have had the time over the past several months to delve into my own trauma and I am finding that the wounds are both deep and real. They impact how I live and function but I am so grateful they are not the end of my story. However, if I hope to heal I must first begin to tell myself the truth even if it is painful.
3. Community organizing is hard but also teaches you a lot about people, leadership and team building (oh and a lot about yourself of course). I have since June been co-leading a local grassroots educational initiative with my best friend and I swear our friendship went from deep to like bottomless-well deep (not sure if that is actually an expression but going with it). I am learning a lot about people and how to lead but also how to inspire others to lead alongside you. I have learned to develop a stance of patient urgency and raging empathy.
4. Comfort with uncertainty and just not-knowing is a muscle most people really need to strengthen. This is why, despite the kind of nightmare my time as math major was, I will be forever grateful for it. Because it is during that time I was forced to relentlessly train that muscle…building up my endurance thorough uncertainty. It is this muscle that is keeping me alive during COVID, personal loss, and my daily pursuit of justice.

Okay that’s all from me guys… see you back here on Friday in the pink room and we will finally get back to the roots.

Till then!