Lots of news to celebrate, the biggest one, was smashing the 200,000 view ceiling! Here about who’s having a baby and where you can peep my most recent interviews.

This started with some book reviews, a domain name, and lots of experiments. 2 years in and we hit 200,000 baby. So surprised and encouraged. Some posts never get read, and some crazy viral like the 24 Anti-Racist Books for Educators or 15 questions to prepare for your principal interview. Love it. Thanks to my readers and folks out there grinding for justice, engineering for equity, and learning through the process. Recently, I have been getting emails from folks, which is always cool. Here’s the next 100,000!

 

News

 

1) We’re Having Another Baby

Ok, the biggest and best news is that I am expecting my second daughter. (Might already be burping and feeding, depending on when you read this, pray for me) But I am happy to be expecting another little girl into my family. As an only child, family has always been both elusive and mysterious to me. I am having fun with my 2 year old, watching shows, going on nature walks, and building rocket-ships out of boxes. Growing my family is far more important than any accolade, promotion, or award. It is the true work. Expect some blog posts about parents (I can write about whatever the hell I want, it’s my blog). But seriously, I am looking forward to our new little one.

 

2) Dismantling White Supremacy Culture Virtual Training

So, after popular demand and a serious pandemic, I decided to evolve with the times. I’m taking my talents to the internet, to the virtual space of learning and connection. Truth be told, I was thinking of this in late 2019, but it felt like too much to do and there might not be enough demand. But it seems that folks are longing for connection, for learning, and for solidarity in this fight for racial equity. After 2 weeks of publicizing my training, I nearly got 50 people register! That might be a lot for the big timers, but hey, I am just a Principal with website. 🙂 I will take it, and I will connect with anyone trying to grow their practice and learning in community. If you haven’t see it yet, I am planning a 2 Day Virtual Workshop, on June 27th and 28th, about what…you guessed it, dismantling white supremacy culture in schools. We haven’t ended that shit yet, so there’s work to do and we will be doing just that. Sign up and hope to see you there.

 

 

3) Listening Leadership Virtual Summit w/ Shane Safir

I first met Shane virtually, after writing this review of her book, that I love, 2 years ago. Small world and funny how how things happen. We have tons of mutual friends and should have been connected a long time ago. But flash forward, after some collaborations, an interview, and lots of convo, we are doing a virtual summit. When she pitched the idea, you know what I said, “Yeah, I down, let’s do it even bigger.”

We are doing the summit with two more powerhouse women I know. Alcine Mumby and I go way back to my Envision Days in 2007-2010. She was the colleague I always wanted, since we just missed each other by months. Jessica Huang was a Principal colleague at a school in my school’s neighborhood. She’s a fierce equity advocate and know how to push when folks don’t want to be pushed. We have worked on a few racial justice initiatives and now she’s a part of this virtual summit. Sign up or the Listening Leader Virtual Summit here.

 

4) Work on a Book Proposal

I know. I was already working on a book, but I felt like my story was bigger than a chapter in a book. I have much respect for Trevor Gardner for inviting me to the team of Leading in the Belly of the Beast. I got me started on thinking about writing for a book. I even was fortunate to work through some drafts and get feedback, invaluable. But, like I said, I wanted to write more and felt like this piece about White Supremacy Culture in Schools needs a bigger pot to grow. So I’m watering that shit and keeping it in the sunlight. Long story short, I am slowly working on writing a proposal for a new book.  So damn hard, but I love it. One day, in the near to medium far future, I might have a book. For now, I have hella lines and sentence fragments on a google doc, in the cloud. Time to back that shit up. Stay tuned for more updates. (Update, I now have a draft of my introduction/preface, and a rough proposal. Feeling lil bit more real)

 

5) Top Blog Post of the 2020 So Far

Ima be honest here. When I sat down to write this piece, I just wanted to let go of some stress and talk about some issues I was noticing, I expected it to be a short piece and it got long. Then I figured it would go into the category of Truss Talking Shit, and a few folks would read it and move on. But damn homie. Shit blew up and went viral. As of this post, it has 28,000 posts, and sparked a bunch of interviews, callabos, and opportunities. I ain’t tripping at all.

 

6) Some Recent Collaborations and Publications

Once I released the Principal Pandemic Ponderings Blog Post, shit started to move. Fast. I linked up with David Truss, and recorded a Podcast on his Pair of Dimes show.

I next reconnected with my sister Zaretta Hammond, and shot a live video interview.

Then I connected with Tanji Reed Marshall, from the EdTrust to interview for a future article/show. Keep it coming. I later spoke with Ki Sung from KQED Mindshift and recorded a podcast, that should be airing sometime in July.

Hooked up with Here This Now for an interview on April 24th and even UC Berkeley’s Grad School of Education for a webinar on Sunday, April 26th.

I am not mad at any of it. Life comes at you fast, and you have to say yes, or it will pass you by. If you are asking, I am saying, “yes!”

Yes!