Hey, what's up everybody? Before we start this episode,
I want to tell you about our new partners,
Kearney Sandon Associates Kearney,
Sandon Associates helps educators find jobs that support their goals as teachers
and school administrators, an education recruiting firm,
working with K through 12 independent,
private and charter schools across the globe.
Carney Sando provides a free personalized job search service. When you sign up,
you are paired with a highly qualified placement associate who will coach you
through the search process, review your resume,
and advocate on your behalf to schools you're interested in.
With a 45 year history of placing talented people in over 1800
different schools,
you can trust the team to find you roles that fit what you are looking for.
When it comes to job seeking relationships matter, and Kearney,
Sando has the connections you need to find your ideal position.
Visit kearney sando.com/tudo to schedule a time to speak with
a member of their recruitment team.
That's carney sando.com/tudo,
C A r N E Y S A N D O
e.com/tudo.
And you can schedule a time to speak with a member of their recruitment team.
What's up, y'all? I am her.
And this is the Chicano Logs. Um,
this is my new podcast that I launched a couple months ago.
Dropped an episode in there, but it occurred to me that never did a,
a formal introduction of the work that we are doing, um,
over here at Tudo Production. So the Chicano Logs is a tudo production.
You're gonna be able to listen to this podcast both on the Tudo teachers and a
mic feed for a while, uh, as we bring an audience in.
But you will also be able to subscribe to the Chicano Logs Podcast
anywhere you get podcasts. Um, we are out there. Uh,
it's our newest Tudo production. So, as you know,
we here at Two Dope Productions have historically had three
podcasts that we're doing. Uh,
we produce the Exit interview podcast. This is Dr.
Asia Lyons and Kevin Adams talking about black educators
and their struggles and triumphs both within and outside of the
education system. Really beautiful stuff. Uh,
you can go over to the exit interview podcast, uh, on their site. This is where,
uh, Dr. Asia prefers that you listen to it. Um, and of course,
there's two dope teachers and a mike, uh,
for seven years now remixing the conversation on
race, power and education. Uh,
the other thing I wanna share with you is that we have, um,
a new sponsor and, uh, that sponsor is Carney Sando and Associates.
Carney Sando and Associates helps educators find jobs that support their goals
as teachers and school administrators.
An educating education recruiting firm, working with K through 12 independent,
private and charter schools across the globe. Kearney, Sando.
Perver provides a free . I'm doing a really good job on this ad read. Uh,
believe me, uh,
this organization is better than the ad read that I am currently in the middle
of, um, Kearney.
Sando provides a free personalized job search service. When you sign up,
you are paired with a highly qualified placement associate who will coach you
through the search process. And th this is folks,
this is a really amazing thing. Um, however you,
you feel about the situation facing teachers in this country
today. There are some of us,
and I'm one of these people who stayed as a classroom teacher,
in part because I was kind of afraid of seeing what else was out there.
And I'm gonna talk a little bit about that today.
But it would've really would've been cool to have, um,
some career counseling from an organization like Kearney, Sandon Associates. Um,
this person can coach you through the search process, review your resume,
and advocate for your behalf on your behalf to schools you're interested in.
Uh,
with a 45 year history placing talented people in over 1800 different
schools,
you can trust the team to find you goals that fit what you are looking for.
When it comes to job seeking relationships matter, and Kearney,
Sando has the connections you need to find your ideal position.
Visit kearney sando.com/tudo.
That's kearney sando.com/t o o d o p e to schedule a
time to speak with a member of their recruitment team. That's Carney Sando,
C a r n e y S A N D O e.com/tudo,
T o O D O P e to schedule a time to speak
with a member of their recruitment team. And, you know, I gotta tell you that,
uh, Carney Sandos helped us, uh, to improve hopefully,
the quality of this podcast. So in the coming weeks and months, uh, we think,
we think we're gonna come through kind of clean for you.
Head over to our Instagram at Tudo Teachers to see more.
Can also follow Tudo Productions, um, on the Handle.
Two Dope Teachers on Instagram and Twitter.
You can also go to www.facebook.com/tudo teachers.
You can head over to our website, two dope teachers.com, where for now,
it's all old episodes, but, uh, there is a little bit of writing there. Um,
there are our episode playlists that we will be putting up periodically.
Got a fire playlist from Dr.
Erica Glover a couple weeks ago that's going up this week.
And we just really hope that you are down
to this. So I wanna welcome you once again to the Chicano Logs. Um,
this, uh, this podcast is, uh, you know,
it speaks to a lot of really important things in my life right now.
Um, the first is, as a lot of you may know,
those of you who know me, I'm in graduate school,
I'm working on a PhD. And, um,
one of the challenges that I actually didn't see coming that's,
that's actually made this program a little bit difficult in a lot of ways,
is the search for my researcher identity. You know, I'm trying to figure it out,
trying to figure out who I am and what I bring into this.
And I've got this incredible network of, uh,
mentors and peers in, in my program,
where the root of a lot of what we're working on is how we figure out
our critical reflexive identity, right? Um,
and so one of the things that I'm trying to do is find my researcher,
your identity. And that's kind of wild cuz I'm 47 years old.
They always told me that, you know, uh, by the end of your twenties,
you should know who you are. And I don't, I'm still on that journey.
And this researcher identity has been really important to me because I
can't separate who I am from the work that I'm trying to do.
I see stories everywhere and, um, I find inspiration, um,
you know, kind of all over the place. Um, so that's part of it.
A second part of it is,
is looking at ways to find incredible stories.
We center the Latinx experience, um,
but it doesn't mean that all the topics will be exclusively
Latinx chicanx, um,
or one particular cultural group. As you know,
there are myriad, um,
groups out there who connect to our community a lot.
Um, we have Afro-Latinos, af Afro-Latina X people.
We have people who are immigrants,
who got people who have been here for generations. Um,
we have indigenous roots that a lot of people aren't,
uh, particularly educated on. And so there's a whole lot of,
um, search for
how we can start telling these stories,
how we can start really getting a part of this conversation.
Um, back in the sixties,
we seemed like we were only capable of talking about race and racism and racial
justice, uh, through the lens of a, uh, black, white dichotomy.
Um,
and while that dynamic is still really powerful,
and we as Latinx people find ourselves on both sides of
anti-blackness as it exists in our society today,
it's extremely important that we recognize that we also have
stories that don't naturally fit into that dichotomy.
And so telling those stories, I think, um,
I think is gonna be a really powerful thing. And I think we can kind of,
I hope we can do that. I mean, and honestly, um,
the third reason that I wanted to start this podcast,
y'all,
I don't really know how to put this in a way that is, um,
that minces words or that sugarcoats it. Um,
we need healing in our [inaudible] y'all. We really do. Um,
you know, the problem that we face is always white supremacy.
It's always white supremacy. It's, um, it's white supremacist capitalist.
I would add heteronormative and homophobic patriarchy
that, that we have in this. So this,
that's the undercurrent of everything that we experience,
and I think it's really important that we start facing that. Um,
but we also need a space where we can heal our own relationships.
And y'all, I,
I speak as a person who has done
his, his share of harm to others in community
times, that I have been disrespectful to people where I have
reinforced, um, the pain and the trauma that our people go through.
I'm not naive to that. And, um, and I hope those of you who know me, uh,
know this to be true, but
we're living in hard times. You know,
I've been working since, uh, August of 2022, um,
as a voice for honest education through the National Network of State Teachers
of the Year. Um, shout out to Nickel the national,
um, youth Center for Law. I think, I think I probably butchered that.
Shout out to rally,
shout out to the National Network of State Teachers of the Year for platforming.
Me and my friends, Monica Washington, Tracy Nance, um,
TA Nashi and Chris Deer as we try to write and
speak and train and push back against these legislative and
policy attacks on our people in history. Um,
so I've been doing that and I've been seeing how ugly it gets. Um,
there's some people out there really spreading some hatred. And, and, you know,
this is, this is as much a racial reckoning as any other,
um, because we're seeing this, uh, this BA backlash. Um, and that,
um, has, has revealed to me that a,
the forces of white supremacy are just extremely well organized.
Um, they know their talking points,
they roll them out there,
and they know how vulnerable people in their own communities are, um,
to hear these things.
The second thing I've noticed is that our voices often get drowned out.
Black, brown, indigenous, um,
voices get drowned out in this conversation. And it, you know, we're not,
we're not together on a lot of this. You know,
I think some of us are fearful of the consequences if we speak out
rightly so, uh, there's a threat to black and brown life that, um,
doesn't exist for a lot of white folks. Um, and,
you know, these are things that we have to,
we have to be able to acknowledge at the same time. Um,
if we allow,
if we allow books to be taken off shelves,
if we allow for attacks on black and brown educators
to continue, then that hurts us all.
So it's become really, uh,
clear to me that we have to act and we have to, we have to do this.
So it's been really hard, um, to kind of watch this happening and, um,
and to see that in a lot of ways we aren't together as
communities. And you know, I say that acknowledging that there's,
there's a lot of harm. There's a lot of pain out there.
And I'm not a person who can sugarcoat that.
I'm not capable of saying that people's pain can be
minimized. Um, but I do think that there's a way,
there's a way for us to start a conversation. And, you know, I,
I sort of hope that the Chicano logs is, um,
is a place where this can happen. I've lined up a lot of guests, some really,
really amazing people who will make you laugh, cry, think deeply,
some people that might even make you a little bit angry and,
and that you may disagree with. But, you know,
I really want to host these conversations, and I want, I want to enter the chat,
so to speak, um, that a lot of you out there have been in for a while.
I'm gonna take a quick break when I come back,
I'm gonna talk a little bit about my week and talk a little bit about what I'm
up to. Uh, keep it locked right here on the Chicano logs.
Welcome back to the Chicano Logs. Everybody. Segment two of two.
It's here out the muno, still here, came back. Um, and, uh,
I hope y'all are having a really good day. Um,
I think this should be dropping on Mayday, um,
check out our emergency podcasts with, um, with some folks, uh,
who are attempting to organize a mayday walkout, um, and, uh,
a general strike for safety of children in schools. And so,
really hope you enjoy that conversation. Um,
it's been a really interesting week as we conclude. Uh, April,
it's so wild to me that it's like may already,
because I just feel like Covid did something to
really screw up our sort of, uh,
relationship with time. Where, where, I don't know, man.
I keep talking about decolonizing time, uh, something I learned from my friend,
Marilene Sunga. Um, but man, it's like the realist.
Um, like I can't believe that as I record this, tomorrow is May 1st.
And, uh, you know, Tudo teachers are gonna be super sweet with, um,
with some, uh, interviews with Asian American Native,
Hawaiian Pacific Islander teachers and educators from, um,
from across these networks I've been so blessed to be a part of.
So that's gonna be really cool. Um, but I gu I guess I had a little bit of a,
a wonderful reset about a week ago. Um,
I had an opportunity to go and, uh,
do a workshop with Dr. Uh, Yemi Embridge. Um,
for those of you who are unfamiliar with Dr. Yemy, I mean, first of all,
you gotta get familiar with him, man. You really do. Um,
this dude is phenomenal. Um, and, you know,
if you're somebody who knows me, you know that there's, I just haven't, um,
I've been doing a lot. I've been working really hard to, um,
to discover what's important to me. Um, over this academic year,
I left teaching, I now work in the central office of Denver Public Schools.
Um, and I'm continuing my graduate program working on these fellowships.
I'm still,
I'm trying to take the podcast to the next level and do these kinds of things.
And so I'm a really busy person.
I should probably actually be reading right now. I need to be doing my homework,
which I will. Um, but I had this opportunity,
uh, the University of Northern Colorado in conjunction with another org,
whose name escapes me right now. Um,
brought Yemy in to do a workshop with us.
He's got a new book coming out called Brilliant Teaching, um, which is really,
you know, he, you know, we,
we had a chance to talk about what's gonna be in that book. Um,
he's also got previous books that he's written, and a lot of what his work,
um, really focuses on is authentic,
culturally responsive equity work.
So his first book is called Culturally Responsive Education in the Classroom and
Equity Framework for Pedagogy. And the thing I love about Yummy the most,
besides the fact that dude is just funny,
and I'm hoping we get him on two dope teachers to come and talk.
The thing I love about Yummy is that there's no checklist for
equitable practice in classrooms.
There's no list of items that if you get
through the entire list,
you have achieved equity in your work with kids
and youth.
There isn't a smart goal around equity.
Um, I mean, there is, but it's, equity is one of those things that,
like equitable teaching is one of those things that requires a level of
consistency and constant reflection in order to really work.
And if you're not doing the work, it's just not gonna happen.
It won't be sustained. And,
and so what yemi really advocates for is artful thinking
and, um,
and work on one's own mind and identity
as as equitable practice.
So it was a really beautiful thing when that book comes out.
Y'all gotta check it out, go see it. Brilliant teaching. Um,
and it's just got some brilliant stuff in it. And that really,
honestly set the tone for the week. Um,
I think the week has been a really good week, as I've kind of, you know,
I've reached May, so I'm not gonna lie to you all. Like,
I'm really happy that the sun is out more .
I'm trying to get a little bit more exercise, trying to eat a little bit better,
trying to drink more water, trying to enjoy my Denver nuggets. I mean, whoa,
we gotta do a whole episode to talk about the Denver Nuggets in the Phoenix Suns
and, uh, how game one was just a vibe, a whole vibe. It was really beautiful.
Uh, big NBA fan, if you don't know that already, I really am. Uh,
I would say the vast majority of my tweets are actually about the Denver
Nuggets. Um, and so on. I,
um, I had a really good week in that way. Uh,
got to play some pickup basketball at my alma mater,
the manual high school on Wednesday morning. That was really fun. Uh,
even when one of my teammates said, said, go guard that guy.
He runs less . That's good times. Uh,
I'm not a young person anymore.
I don't know how to turn off my damn phone notifications super annoying. Um,
I usually can't hear them, but now I can. It's weird. Hope you can't hear them,
but whatever. Uh, it's authentic. And so, um,
I think that, uh, you know,
that as I try to do that stuff and try to live a little bit healthier, um,
it's because what Yemi taught me last week is to really
be true and clear about the role of joy
in artfulness in one's life to, you know, Elliot Eisner, uh,
wrote about these aesthetic, um, experiences within education, um,
aesthetic meaning these feelings of beauty,
these feelings that touch the spirit,
these feelings that get to a spiritual identity and aren't always about the
technical and operational aspects of, of being an educator and beyond.
And so I think that that will just really touch me deeply. Um,
you know, and so today, uh, you know, I also joined an over 40 men soccer team,
so I'm excited to go and play. I I play here in a couple hours. And, uh,
believe me, you will know how it all went. Well,
that's gonna put a wrap on, uh, this introductory, uh,
episode of the Chicano Logs. Uh, you know, I'll be back,
um, with guests. If you know of anybody,
or if you are anybody who wants to be a part of this,
uh, grand experiment in, uh, in, uh, education, uh,
hit us up two dope teachers gmail.com. Also,
feel free to jump in our dms on Twitter or on Instagram or on Facebook
to, um, to connect. You know, we're trying to build community here.
I'm trying really hard to find a path to myself, um,
and a path to the rest of you. Um, so until next time,
um, stay beautiful, stay brilliant,
stay connected. Uh, stay yourself. I'm Munos.
We'll catch you in the next episode.