258/365

if you’re here to be a dutiful student
and jump through academic hoops
to get the right answers and chase grades
in order to be successful and play the part
and go to university to get a good job
and make good money
and do what your told and always follow the rules
and be afraid and timid to get things wrong
or to share your opinions, or to take a risk
or be your true self-
then you might be in the wrong place
and wasting our time.

we are in the business of miracles and magic.
we are discovering, unpacking and building
our identities. the thinking work we do in here
should follow you like a shadow everywhere you go.
these windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors
are your ticket to all the freedom you can imagine.

we are not concerned with you telling us what you
think we want to hear. we are concerned with depth,
complexity, independence, agency, safety, inclusion.
we are interested in justice and belonging.  
we are here for peace.

we are here to be our true selves. alone and together
to discover the joy and pain in the world and in our hearts,
to construct meaning together
and render ourselves vital in the service
of others.

sit up straight.
open your mind.
class is about to start.

254/365

radical dreaming-
what does liberation feel like?
making the wokeness real.

we don’t need to be progressive.
we need to be free. the tears flow
when the performance ends.
no more saviourism in the throes of
white supremacy. searching
for the authentic me.

a lifetime of internalised oppression
yearning to be white:
assimilate. belong. erase.
this is white supremacy

i didn’t need to be alone in the trauma
i won’t perpetuate it into perpetuity.

nothing without us is for us without us.
we make the path by walking.
nothing without us is for us without us.
we make the path by walking.
nothing without us is for us without us.
we make the path by walking.

this work is about rehumanzing.
i need you to be my accountability partner:
no one cares about your intentions.
they’ll only document the impact.  

my discomfort is a gift.
you discomfort is a gift.
our discomfort is a gift.
discomfort is a gift.

justice will not wait for us
to sort out our shit.
we need to fumble toward
freedom. false generosity
loses value daily.

it’s not us versus them.
it’s us versus the systems.

this true self matters.
my true self matters.
your true self matters.
true selves matters.
this is freedom.
this is healing.
this is justice.

we are radical dreaming
and we are wide awake.

237/365

how ya’ gonna be free?

talkin’ to kids

about: autonomy. and agency.

diversity. and equity.

inclusivity. and advocacy.

talkin’ to kids

about how ya’ gonna be free?

to thrive in this society.

how ya’ gonna

exercise ya’ rights

if ya’ don’t understand

which rights ya’ got?

position papers

and meetings.

discussions

and glossaries.

when all we gotta ask

the kids is

how ya’ gonna be free?

curriculum is power-

how ya’ gonna be free?

let’s map our identities-

how we gonna be free?

learned complacency-

how ya’ gonna be free?

education needs to be a path

to freedom and not much else.