This week’s recommendation comes from:
Michelle Rimbey
ELA Fellow
Michelle says, “I was first introduced to the work of bell hooks in a doctoral course over 10 years ago. As part of the course, we read and discussed Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994). Her work pushed me to rethink my purpose and role as an educator that extended well beyond content. She wrote, ‘When education is the practice of freedom, students are not the only ones who are asked to share, to confess. Engaged pedagogy does not seek simply to empower students. Any classroom that employs a holistic model of learning will also be a place where teachers grow, and are empowered by the process. That empowerment cannot happen if we refuse to be vulnerable while encouraging students to take risks’ (p. 21).”
bell hooks remembered: “She embodied everything I wanted to be”
Reni Eddo-Lodge, David Olusoga, Jay Bernard, Johny Pitts, Jeffrey Boakye, Margaret Atwood, Candice Carty-Williams, Aminatta Forna, Afua Hirsch
“Generations of thinkers owe a debt to her legacy of thought in areas of racism, feminism, marginality and their various intersections. Her words will remain vital, stirring and ultimately rooted in the soil of compassion.”– Jeffrey Boakye, author
Nine leading contemporaries of bell hook—authors, journalists, activists, and artists—share how the late author, activist, and professor influenced their work and lives with her compassionate, thoughtful, and courageous writing and encouraging conversations.