And This Guy is Thankful to Facebook Live! I Had a Seat at the Kitchen Table (sort of)

No hate on the quality of the photo I snapped while hearing the brilliance of Drs. Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz, Marcelle Haddix, Gholdy Muhammed, and Detra Price as they presented "A Seat at the Kitchen Table: A Conversation About Black Girls' Literacies" from NYC. The intent was to be there with a team of phenomenal young educators from Fairfield University, but the summer planning for CWP needed my attention. I sent a cohort, but couldn't attend the conversation myself.

Here, however, I first need to be critical. In year one of my CWP directorship, I did a presentation on my work with African-Born males with limited and interrupted formal education and a teacher asked, "What about females?"

She was 100% correct in calling me out on this, and I had to explain that my study with young male writers, alone, resulted with guardian permissions from elders (many of whom didn't think it culturally appropriate for me to allow me to work with their daughters) and because, well, as a male teacher/scholar I was always interested in male resistance to reading and writing in school.

I've always recognized the shortcoming and am proud that others, with similar interests as my own, did similar studies with female youth parallel to the stories shared with me by the boys. That is why I was drawn to the expertise of these 4 panelists in a conversation of what educators should be aware of in promoting the excellence of young Black females in school. I could learn from these 4 all day long. Dr. Marcelle Haddix has been more than gracious in mentoring me, and because of her I've been introduced to the scholarship and leadership of Yolanda, Detra, and Gholdy. On the rare occasions I'm in the same facility with them, I simply go numb with appreciation. The collective knowledge they hold is tremendous. The grace in which they share what they know with others is something rarely found in higher education. They offer togetherness, hope, strength, wisdom and poise, and I've always been drawn to the energy they exude into the universe. As individuals they are phenomenons; in a room, together, they bring explosions. Epiphanies arrive in stereo.

Over the years, I've come to recognize my biases as a White male teacher/researcher of literacy, especially one who has had a vast majority of teaching experiences in educational settings where youth populations bring diverse, multicultural, and rich perspectives. My goal has always been to uphold the exceptional intellect of each and every student and I hope that I've been smart enough to always look to others where I feel my limitations inhibit me. This is why I was thrilled to see the panel streamed (there needs to be more of these dialogues in academic settings). There is so much more I still have to learn and experience.

At the closing of the talk, a male in the audience made reference that a majority of participants at the talk were female and he wondered where other males were. There was conversation about who shows up and participates in conversations such as the one offered by the panel and it made me think how much better we, male scholars, need to be as colleagues and professionals to the rich contributions of others.

I'm thankful to have the Facebook Live link, as I want to revisit their blended brilliance. I needed their talk, especially at the end of a semester when I'm trying to collect myself and figure out what needs to happen next, for whom, with another year of investment toward Connecticut youth communities, especially those we're not reaching.

If only these 4 had offices down the hall from me.

I am thankful they opened their doors, from their institutions, to offer us a seat at their kitchen table.

I will go to my grave in total admiration for the contributions all four of them make! Marcelle often says you can feel a person's energy from the hugs they give. Marcelle, Yolanda, Detra, and Gholdy hugged the universe last night - I am hoping the Great Whatever felt it!