Season 3, Episode 1 | Girl, I'm Going to Quit This Job!

In our third season of Dancing on Desks, we are exploring pleasure. We are guided by two questions: How might our personal rest and pleasure practices sustain our collective liberation? And how are our rest and pleasure connected to education as the practice of freedom? In this first episode, Philadelphia-based writer and creator Nicole Young joins us to share her story of what became possible when she quit her job as the executive director of a school in New Orleans to write full-time and to create fantasy worlds for Black girls in middle grades novels.

What is bringing you pleasure and rest this month? Send your thoughts to us at us@dancingondesks.org or slide into our DMs on IG @dancingondesks.

Transcript (Finalized Friday, October 27, 2023)

NICOLE YOUNG’S WRITING

• Nicole Young on Book Riot

• “Disaster capitalism, climate change, and the campaign to sell Black New Orleans”

• “Magical Realism is For Us By Us and Toni Morrison Was The Queen”

• Instagram: @ittybittyng

• Twitter: @ittybittyny

INTELLECTUAL INHERITANCE

• adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy

• bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress

• B. B. Alston, Amari and the Night Brothers

• Conra D. Gist, Travis J. Bristol, Desiree Carver-Thomas, Maria E. Hyler, Linda Darling-Hammond, “Motivating Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers to stay in the field”

• Dean Spade, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis

• Desiree Carver-Thomas and Linda-Darling Hammond, “Why Black Women Teachers Leave and What Can be Done About It”

• Kari Smith and Marit Ulvik, “Leaving teaching: lack of resilience or sign of agency?”

• Kalynn Bayron, This Poison Heart

• Paolo Freire, Education, The Practice of Freedom

• Rena Barron, Maya and the Rising Dark

• Tim Walker, “Survey: Alarming Number of Educators May Soon Leave the Profession,” NEA Today

• Tomi Adeyemi, Children of Blood and Bone

• Toni Morrison, “No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear”, The Nation, 2015

• Tracy Deonn, Legendborn

MUSIC

• Dancing on Desks theme song composed and arranged by Mara Johson and Elliott Wilkes

• "Chocolate" Jaydot OR "Only You" Marabe

• “Falling”, YoungSick Beat

• “Get to Know Me”, Jackson Homer x Murabe jackhomer1212@icloud.com and blutopbeats@gmail.com

• “Johny”, The44thFloorBeats

• “Nascarr Still Loves You”, Nascarr

• “Solar” and “The Ride”, Yogic Beats