By Kimine Mayuzumi Ten years ago, I wrote a short post called “5 Ways to Slow Down NOW.” At the time, I didn’t know whether anyone would read it. I simply felt pulled to explore gentler ways of living and working — especially in environments organized around speed, output, and performance. I kept writing, not because I had a grand vision for what Being Lazy and Slowing Down (BLSD) would become, but because each piece…
By M’Balia Thomas I am a teacher educator within the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Each spring semester, I teach a TESOL methods course required by our Department. The course is designed to prepare preservice teachers (undergraduate education majors) to work with learners of English as an Additional Language. While my Department offers multiple TESOL classes for our students, most will have time and money to take only one such…
By Ching-In Chen When I hurt, I work. When I feel undermined or disrespected, I channel those feelings into more work, as if producing more could earn others’ respect. I place an impossible expectation on myself — to be a perfect teacher (making no mistakes!), perfect writer (no typos or underthought phrases!) and perfect community member (missing no community meetings or events!). When I first read Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun’s framework for the…
By Rodney Hopson When you think about cruises, do you academic types think it as a way to getaway? During winter break, my wife, Deborah, and I thought we would try our opportunity to go on a cruise. Without much inclination nor worry about where we were going, as long as it was a place where Black and Brown people are in the majority and take a minute to unwind from the hustle and bustle of…
By Michelle Boyd If you’re like many scholars I know, you may have found yourself looking around at the end of last semester, wondering how—despite your best intentions—you ended up so exhausted. I recently found myself there too, and the more I listened, the more I found others facing the same problem. These words, from a scholar I’ll call Mina, struck a chord when I read them in one of my online support groups: “I’m…
