Ruptures

My first full-time teaching job was as a sociology instructor at Career U. Unlike other career schools, this one actually gave me freedom to design my own Intro to Sociology courses—certainly not the norm at most career schools. I met some pretty cool students in those classes, and we did good work. My job helped [...]

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Iskolar

When I was young(er), I wanted to grow up to be Jamie Robinson. When that proved difficult, my ambition changed to something slightly less fanciful—transnational feminist scholar activist.
No, I didn’t use that term until years later, when I needed to name it for the grad school application. And now, it’s the end of the year, [...]

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Beautiful Music

The discussions on feminism and capitalism have been intense and somewhat discouraging (if you’re following the feminist blogs, you know where to look). So I need good news, and am thankful for this.
I shared a letter earlier this week from a young Filipina teacher who was teaching music theory and guitar performance to students [...]

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Lend a Helping Guitar

This is for readers in the Philippines. Or maybe you’re not in the Philippines but can think of a way to help. Excerpts from a letter from a young teacher and community activist:
Dear Readers,
I am currently teaching a guitar class at the U.P College of music as part of my thesis. My students [...]

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Two Students

About a year ago, a heated exchange broke out between two of my students. This was a community college, where most of the attendees were first-generation college students. The discussion topic touched on career goals, and a shy nursing student, I’ll call her Cam, spoke for the first time.
Cam did not really want [...]

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