Essays Archive - Page 21 of 131

The Invisible Labor of Asian Americans in New York Fashion

On the complexity of curating a fashion exhibit around identity

May 9, 2022 • by Shweta Nandakumar

To make plain the fact that there exists no singular Asian American aesthetic, the student organizers of this FIT exhibit made the unusual choice not to make reference to the specific heritages of the featured creatives: “We want viewers to focus on the craftsmanship that goes into the work the ...

The Invisible Labor of Asian Americans in New York Fashion

Higher Ed

The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives

Jonathan Malesic on the history and psychology of burnout and the origins of the high ideals we bring to our dismal jobs

May 6, 2022 • by Jonathan Malesic

I have arrived at the antithesis of the good life I had glimpsed when I was a student. The professor whose life I envied was never pedantic. In class, he sat with us in a circle and nodded his head as we spoke, inviting us to “say more” when we ...

The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives

Sex & Gender

Radical Republicans Are Birthing the Nation They Want—and Most Americans Don’t

Never forget that banning abortion has always been a minority position in this country, one that does not represent the will of the voters.

May 3, 2022 • by Claire Potter

Outlawing abortion is the outcome of a radical conservative minority. The success of this minority has been entirely driven by megadonors and organizations that create voter turnout through disinformation and motivating extremists. The notion that a cluster of cells that cannot survive outside a human host, one that has no ...

Radical Republicans Are Birthing the Nation They Want—and Most Americans Don’t

Education

A Black Pedagogy Is an Engaged Pedagogy

How an American Studies professor went to law school and became a teacher for the twenty-first century

April 28, 2022 • by Duchess Harris

Why did I become a student again when I could have more easily turned my attention only to the research and writing that would have advanced my chosen academic career? The answer is simple: I felt it was time to apply my political and theoretical beliefs to action-oriented work that ...

Education

Are You Sure?

Asking white students to question their own innocence

April 28, 2022 • by Charles I. Nero

My pedagogical task in a situation such as this is to encourage students to recognize how devious, yet seductive, white supremacy can be when it erroneously conflates innocence with wisdom....

Education

Generations

Toward a Black Love Teaching Ethic

April 28, 2022 • by Terrance Dean

I fell in love with Black writers who were telling me their variations of Black love. How it showed up. How it looked. How it engaged, fought, struggled. Black love about the streets reminded me of my family members. I saw them, regular Black folk loving, cursing, drinking, and ...

Education

Black Is in the Job Description

Or: whatever I am doing, I’m probably doing it wrong

April 28, 2022 • by Erica L. Ball

I’m not ashamed of my background. Besides, I happen to know what my more pedigreed colleagues do not: there are many other Black faculty like me hiding in plain sight. I also recognize that these sorts of perceptions actually depend on the context. On any working-class campus, with a significant ...

Education

I Want to Know Who I Am At Work When I Am Not Under Duress

Riffs on Boundaries, Protection, and Inspiration

April 28, 2022 • by Gina Athena Ulysse

Survival is not guaranteed. In between the invitation to participate in this special issue and sitting down to write, bell hooks and Valerie Boyd joined the realm of ancestors. When Black women in the academy die, Black women in the academy take notice. ...

I Want to Know Who I Am At Work When I Am Not Under Duress

Education

Just Say No

Why saying no allows you to say yes to the work that can make a difference

April 28, 2022 • by Dorothy Brown

Often, they do not want Black faculty there to hear our views; they want us there either to stay silent or validate theirs. But they need our Black faces present in order to feel good about themselves. They are after all, on a diverse faculty! They like sitting in diverse ...

Education

Teaching and Modeling Freedom

As a Black artist and scholar, bringing my whole self to the classroom teaches students how to live

April 28, 2022 • by Lisa B. Thompson

I teach freedom as both an artist and a scholar. I could have settled on the life of an English professor with an unfinished novel in my desk drawer (next to the half-empty bottle of scotch), but I decided that the world would have to refuse all my dreams. When ...

Education

“‘Look, a Negro’ … in the Academy”

When white students say what they really think, our Black bodies become a battlefield

April 28, 2022 • by Davarian L. Baldwin and Bridgette Baldwin

I was not prepared for the lesson the students would teach me. “Professor Baldwin is the worst professor I have ever had, and she is Black, enough said.” Did I just read that correctly? Am I the absolute worst professor? Is it because I am Black? Is my Blackness a ...

Education

Leading While Black

An introduction to the special issue, “Teaching While Black”

April 28, 2022 • by Dwight A. McBride

Indeed, the sad truth is that many of the slights, insults, and aggressions experienced by the dedicated teachers collected here (I don’t think of the casual ugliness which many of us navigate as “micro-aggressions”) are duplicated within higher education’s administrative spaces....

Essays

The Invisible Labor of Asian Americans in New York Fashion

On the complexity of curating a fashion exhibit around identity

The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives

Jonathan Malesic on the history and psychology of burnout and the origins of the high ideals we bring to our dismal jobs

Radical Republicans Are Birthing the Nation They Want—and Most Americans Don’t

Never forget that banning abortion has always been a minority position in this country, one that does not represent the will of the voters.

A Black Pedagogy Is an Engaged Pedagogy

How an American Studies professor went to law school and became a teacher for the twenty-first century

Are You Sure?

Asking white students to question their own innocence

Generations

Toward a Black Love Teaching Ethic

Black Is in the Job Description

Or: whatever I am doing, I’m probably doing it wrong

I Want to Know Who I Am At Work When I Am Not Under Duress

Riffs on Boundaries, Protection, and Inspiration

Just Say No

Why saying no allows you to say yes to the work that can make a difference

Teaching and Modeling Freedom

As a Black artist and scholar, bringing my whole self to the classroom teaches students how to live

“‘Look, a Negro’ … in the Academy”

When white students say what they really think, our Black bodies become a battlefield

Leading While Black

An introduction to the special issue, “Teaching While Black”

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