Flipping It Horizontal

By Baxito - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 In 2018, I wrote a piece in Left Voice about the ecological nature of CUNY education: “I believe that CUNY is an educational ecology with relations flowing in many directions, meaning that what affects us as adjunct professors affects our students, which in turn affects their engagement … Continue reading Flipping It Horizontal

Crying us a river: the New York Times’ lament of the poor education of detained migrant children

The expression "cry someone a river" according to Wiktionary has two definitions: (idiomatic, often sarcastic) To weep profusely or excessively in the presence of another person. (idiomatic, usually sarcastic, by extension) To try to obtain the sympathy of another person by complaining or sniveling. I'll focus on the first definition. The New York Times published an … Continue reading Crying us a river: the New York Times’ lament of the poor education of detained migrant children

Our educational ecology: adjunct professors and our role within our communities

I was invited by Left Voice to publish a version of a speech I gave yesterday at the Graduate Center's rally for better compensation and conditions for adjunct professors (like myself) who struggle with precarious labor conditions yet comprise the majority of labor in higher education across the country. The link to the story, entitled … Continue reading Our educational ecology: adjunct professors and our role within our communities

Protesting the GOP tax bill: yet another attack on public higher education

Today I and my classmates at the Grad Center are joining forces with students from NYU and Columbia in a Walkout to protest the Republican text bill, which will tax tuition waivers and reduce our already small incomes as graduate assistants and teaching fellows. (For those of you who don't know, adjunct professors like myself … Continue reading Protesting the GOP tax bill: yet another attack on public higher education

Daring to be dumb in educational practice and scholarship

Like some of my other posts, I decided to leave this post title without a clarifying subheading. It refers to a suggestion made by Brad Heckman, an educator and specialist in conflict resolution with a background in international peacemaking who now leads an organization that provides conflict mediation training for police working in urban communities. … Continue reading Daring to be dumb in educational practice and scholarship

Is love an emotion or an act?: White nationalism as a complicating complement to Bakhtin’s philosophy

Is love an emotion or an act? I recently asked this in a student working group where we discuss topics including whether men have a right to contribute to the shaping of public discourse about sexual harassment (appropriate as the #MeToo movement has emerged to inspire and to generate new questions) and how community college students can … Continue reading Is love an emotion or an act?: White nationalism as a complicating complement to Bakhtin’s philosophy

A case against charter schools: send back your saviors

As a professor, I work with public school teachers who are in the process of becoming certified to teach in the New York City Department of Education in a program called the New York City Teaching Fellows. These new teachers support students from all over the world, many of whom are immigrants or children of … Continue reading A case against charter schools: send back your saviors

Learning with lions: public pedagogy in NYC

Recently, a friend of mine shared with me an amazing opportunity to join a reading group with Stanley Aronowitz, professor emeritus and world renowned public scholar in the fields of sociology, political science, and critical theory who taught at the Graduate Center for over 30 years. My advisor at UMass Boston had mentioned Aronowitz specifically … Continue reading Learning with lions: public pedagogy in NYC

Public schools: the starting point for questions, for possibility, for the anti-dictate

I am a field mentor for student teachers getting their masters degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at New York University. I myself am not a public school teacher, and for this reason, I love coming to schools and working with student teachers and their mentoring cooperating teachers over the course … Continue reading Public schools: the starting point for questions, for possibility, for the anti-dictate