This has been hard. Gerardo is at his breaking point. Hard week, and Kevin noticed that it’s starting to boil over a little. He’s a lil snippy in department meets, scowls in front of his camera during staff meetings and is running his mouth without thinking first. Kevin is concerned. We have a little therapy session, the fellas blow off some steam, discuss all kinds of stress-inducing events from an attempted takeover of Congress to return to school which is just days away for us.

We close out by commemorating Dr. King and his lessons for us today.

Mind the volume on this episode, it’s a loud one.

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Class of 2020 High School Seniors, please contribute to our #SeniorStories2020 series by completing the form below! Contact us at [email protected] if you have questions. https://forms.gle/oQ4exReZVvsGwMrZA

Bonus Episode! Gerardo (minus Kevin, whose phone hates Gerardo) interviews two former students, Anpa’o and Sofia, powerful young women of color enrolled in Women’s colleges. The experience has been nuanced for both of them, while overall positive. On the one hand, the small discussion-based and familiar environment is empowering. On the other hand, most of these institutions are historically white-dominated, and women of color still experience ignorance and stereotype threat, as in other Historically White Institutions (HWIs). We laugh and reconnect, and this bonus episode is an opportunity for teachers to step back and see the big picture of our work with students and their communities.

Drop: Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo of Choose

Music: Kevin Adams

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Gerardo and Kevin are back after an unplanned hiatus. The dog days of the school year are here. It takes patience, resilience, and smart pacing, like in a race, to get through the winter. Students are feeling ground down, teachers using up a lot of energy, and anxieties brought about by budget cuts, leadership uncertainty, and a looming testing season, and it’s hard to be optimistic and positive. Especially when it’s still dark in the morning.

The boyz have had a lot on their minds. In Episode 54, they do a Brain Dump–anything and everything on their minds, from musical composition to the RIB process to leadership transitions to a lot of other random stuff. This episode is from the front lines, from the grass roots, and from the heart of teachers during the toughest part of the year. We make jokes and get serious, and celebrate RIB Spirit week. Keep it locked right here. No texting!

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Kevin and Gerardo sit down for the last episode of the decade! Kevin gets called to jury duty–and likes it! Gerardo feels bad, and as it turns out, engaging where we can leverage power is critical.

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The fellas are back this week to introduce Phillip and Omar, co-hosts of the BHOOF Hip Hop podcast, and 11th graders at the Denver Center for International Studies. These young fellas have a voice and a set of opinions, and discuss Hip Hop’s Drill movement. We discuss podcasting, violence in hip-hop, Chicago, and the Boxer Rebellion. Yes, you read that correctly. Listen today!

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The fellas are finally back after a long layoff! Summer is here, and is a time for reflection, recharging, and anxiety dreams about the first day of school, all while trying to complete long-overdue projects in the house, to say nothing of restoring relationships to our significant others and families which may have been broken during the turbulent 2018-2019 school year…but we digress.

This episode is the first track from our #Revolutionaries #Mixtape, our live shows from the NEA’s Racial and Social Justice Conference in Houston, Texas on July 1 and 2. We have the incredible honor of sitting with Jesse Hagopian, co-editor of Rethinking Schools’ Teaching for Black Lives, Kaitlin Kamalei, and Bruce Jackson, all public school teachers in the great state of Washington, and who were instrumental in a number of successful initiatives in the Seattle area, including the statewide optout of testing, the creation of an Ethnic Studies graduation requirement, and the establishment of an Ethnic Studies support office in administration. They discuss what they have learned from participating in community action, and offer insights and lessons on would-be educator-activists in a fun and inspirational conversation.

The #revolutionaries #mixtape will include five hours of tracks, and will feature our conversations on educational justice with revolutionaries from all over our educational landscape. Amazing people doing amazing work from coast to coast will share their ideas. Enjoy!

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Sorry to Bother You, but our summer mixtape rolls on! This track features the incredible revolutionary artist Boots Riley! Best known for the landmark film Sorry to Bother You, Boots has been a mainstay in grassroots movements all over the world. Raised by community-minded revolutionaries, Boots eventually became identified with the rebel hip hop collective The Coup, and has amplified people’s movements all over the world.

As keynote speaker, Boots graciously agreed to spend 40 minutes with us to discuss the intersections of schooling, art, activism, and community organizing. We discuss the state of community organizing, schooling, and hip hop.

This interview was made possible by the National Education Association’s Shilpa Reddy and Stephanie Luongo, during the NEA Conference on Racial and Social Justice, as part of our live show in the NEA Organizing Studio.

Six tracks remain on our #Revolutionary #Intersectional #Mixtape. Keep it locked right here. No texting. (listen to the episode for that joke)

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