Episode 5 | Care is the Antidote

In this episode we talk about self-care—how we do it, why we don’t—and the ways grief, caregiving, and rest are all forms of self-care. First, we speak with Massachusetts-based social worker Adya Lindo, whose primary work during COVID has become supporting school-age youth in their grieving journeys and educators who work with grieving students—even as they’re grieving loss themselves. We also speak with high school English educator Christa Calkins and her newborn Wilder in rural New York during a time of parental leave. She discusses how her journey as a new parent has made her re-examine her relationship with care, capitalism, and whiteness. Our first Resource Room of the new year is with Cesarina Pierre Santana, an elementary educator in Washington, DC, who talks about being in her 26th year of teaching and what she’s unlearning in order to listen to her students. The convo with Cesarina was so delicious we will share part two in March. We also hear from fifth grader Sabreena, who comes to us from Singapore to share an essay she wrote about her faith, Islam. In this new year of learning, what are you refusing and unlearning? What commitments are you making to your self-care? Send us your responses at dancingondesks@gmail.com, on instagram @dancingondesks, or at dancingondesks.org!

Intellectual Inheritance

• A Burst of Light and Other Essays ​​Audre Lorde (look at the epilogue)
• Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture, Kevin Quashie
• We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching, Bettina Love
• Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy, Gholdy Muhammad
• Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, Zaretta Hammond
• Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom, Matthew R. Kay
• We Got This. Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be, Cornelius Minor
• GrantEd, Grants for Teachers (Sadly, GrantEd is closing its doors.)

Music

“Backseat” @remdolla

“Believer” Silent Partner

“Hot Coffee” Ghostrifter

“J Dilla Type Beat” Lute

"Like Dat" Ackah Dan

“Regimented Instinct” @TeknoAXE

“Green Tea” and “Slowly” Smith The Mister https://smiththemister.bandcamp.com

• Smith The Mister https://bit.ly/Smith-The-Mister-YT
• Free Download Stream: https://bit.ly/s-t-mr-slowly
• Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/b4p9TiftgJY

“Watercolors” John Deley & the Players

Original Theme Music by Mara Johnson and Elliott Wilkes