― Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
A Change of Frequency Announcement
― Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
My Life as a Learning Designer
CREATE.LEARN.EXPERIENCE.GROW
The image is by @ashelystraker of a black queen with a crown made of energy silently crying on the inside.
No one wants to hear
a black woman cry
they don’t want to hear the utter truth of reality
of how this society
is not synced within the transmittal waves of the sun
or how the natural patterns of the universe
adjusts to the sounds of our creative souls
our being
that which was is
It is no more
being intermixed within a false reality
this global anti black anthem creates sickness
of blame
at me
at things
at us black man
at you
while we, are in and incumbent slumber of perpetual nightmares
as some of you walk past within your lower vibration
waves
we still love…we still love…we still love
Remember our dreams are mere touch points of learning
they do not define our souls
learning the secrets of
our trueselves
cures
this unjust timing
as our cries go into the darkness of undefined love, misogynistic temptations of children not yet arisen
our tightly knit cries
of untrust
are just
what keeps the world in a midst of silent mercy
Can you feel the change of frequency
Where love resides?
let’s be silent…….
Its time
to recreate our reality again
within ourselves
our family
our community
it will happen only thru black women
No one wants to hear black women cry
except God,
the Universe and the sun..
The elements are our angels, spirit souls connected to our vibrations
So a nation can rise no higher than where have chosen to stand….
Sistas we have work todo within in our own skin.
Let’s lift our vibrations within circles
cut the tv off, stop posting, let our love vibrate faster the sound.
despite the daily pains we take to keep this world in tact
truthful cries covered in false reality
in authentic lies and systems
that keep creativity from breathing…..
No one wants to hear black women cry
except God,
the Universe and the sun..
Time is my lover
It is my friend
It speeds the necessity of flow
Within the veins of all that will be..
all that is known
we once were romantic lovers
we both figured out very early
Sentimentality isn’t the strongest of bonds for us to be in
it’s not real enough for us
we both became disappointed quite easily
across vortexes
So we decided to yield to our natural waves
within vibrational love
Understanding
Care
consistency
In knowing that time only tells with this one life.
Times intention for me is always in lifting me up
To be greater than what I can see within the moment
it’s within that moment I’m able to lay seeds
for the future tense and only time allows me to see
for me..I respect the laws of it’s frequency
So time…
It’s the angel of stillness upon a frosted corner in the middle of a lonely night when only the sounds of nature and the spirit world are active.
it allows me to be courageous
It’s my navigation system within a jungle of oppressive systems
it allows me to be resilient
It’s the brilliant sunbeams that feed my melanin energy at the calm of every story that my ancestors have transmitted unto my DNA
it allows me to create
I allow it to love me
Time
Time
Time
Is my lover
It’s my friend
It’s my twin soul experience of what was before and everything that comes after it
it’ will be my forever meantime
Time is my everything…
Tonight I am writing out my year long intentions that I will focus on throughout the year. These are areas within my life that I’m passionate about and would like to see grow:
Wish me the best or you can join me!
Inspired by adrienne maree brown author of “emergent strategy” and “octavia’s brood”
image credit by artxman “opulence”
We started a few different things at work…one of which is journal club. I have no idea what journal club is suppose to be about other than sharing papers that “management” picks and we discuss. This can be good if the overall goal of this time and focus is shared so it can be mutually beneficial. There’s never any balanced discourse. Everyone agrees with what ever is going on and most of the time the literature is based upon some end goal that is never shared with the entire group.
What i think journal club is suppose to do is be a space for us within the Hub to present papers that are related to the mission and goals and to emphasize an interdisciplinary environment while learning from one another. I’m more of a transdiciplinary type of person. I like to create new things so sometimes I get lost within the rhetoric and space of this activity.
I’m hoping over time that this would be a place for authentic discussion as well as leadership development when it pertains to our roles within and outside the hub. It should also be a place where we find out more in depth about the projects other people are working as the theory they present should match to what they are putting into practice. It would be great that this could be the opportunity to practice mini talks and get feedback from our peers thereby creating a supportive collaborative environment. Instead it seems quite forced feed due to the lack of psychological safety within this new space.
Some behaviors I see that are stopping it from happening:
Instead it’s as if the activity is drifting between aims and goals within the department. Just a trial activity being lead from management and not from the people who are leading the day to day front (the people).
Resources:
How authentic do we want this experience to continue to be? During boot camp nobody receives choices other than to do what’s being instructed in the military. Why should we give our learners choices when our combat veterans had none? What do we do? Is it possible to recreate this feeling of loss of choices? We’re mirroring an experience many of our learners, future social workers and helping professionals, may not ever experienced in their life. There needs to be a learning balance.
Working on this problem of how authentic our simulated experiences should be is tough when designing. As an inclusive designer, I love to give learners choices on how they submit their assignments to help increase the engagement yet should they have a choice on what they do during boot-camp? The die heart immersive designer in me says NO! I always ask, What would Chris say (My brother from another mother). It would be no lol yet I’m glad Emily brought up these question during our work time. Early this week we came up with some amazing ideas on how to give our learners choices on what to do during boot-camp and assigning points while creating a leader board to view the points. lol We go big all the time. Now…we’re back to the basics on allowing no choice in what they do for boot-camp but choice in how they submit. The boot-camp assignments are to build camaraderie. The only way to do is have all of them go through the same thing and share.
Dilemma solved. Love to hear your thoughts.
Resources:
Higher ed
Higher pledge
between the threads
you teach
you propel
you dispell
you dish out
how you were lead
how you were shaped to be
through warped ideas
of ideologies
of inferority
of exclusive dominance
as you continuously
chok… the… fuck
out of all the creativity
from me
out of learning
What’s your intent?
Where’s your nobility
in nuturing minds
in loving
in living
to the passion and desire of
shaping better people
for the greater good…
to create a better existence
yet what I feel, look, see, and touch
are hidden touch points
of bias viewpoints
of top down culture
focusing on subsets, subcultures, subprofit, subdominance
compartmentalizing
the differentiation
of all thoughts
aspirations
dreams
playfulness
curious tinkering
as a detour
to maintain
the supremacy of nineteen hundred year old thinking…
Higher ed,
Higher pledge
to what?
group thought
group walk
group thinking
silos of shame
who can I blame
and non ethical lenses
what are you running from higher ed?
what cards are being played?
while you’re marginalizing
who am
as a disable person
as a veteran
as an immigrant
as a woman
a black woman
a creative
a polymath
of new thinking
what happened to those 21st skills sets you wish to teach and bring forth
through experietial learning
What happened to that entrepreneurial mindset that you wish all your students to seek
as I am here
you exist in fear
So when I say who I am
you then tell me what I can’t be
Higher ed
Higher pledge
between the threads
the lines of the lies
marginalizing creative thought
creative thinking…..
photo credit: @mahanypery by @lucasmennezes for @maybellinenybrasil