Emery Marc Petchauer

Emery Marc Petchauer

What I'm up to this week 02/08/21

Reading: I started The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. It’s riveting. I can’t wait to see where it goes. By “it,” I mean both the book and the literal underground railroad train that Cora and Caesar took away from the Randall plantation in Georgia.

Writing: I’m working on an article with two colleagues about the rhythms, networks, and hierarchies of teacher-led organizing spaces. This one has stretched on for quite some time, but that’s fine. There’s no rush. One of the last wrinkles we are ironing out is making sure the earlier dichotomy between physical and digital space is no longer in the article. Because it’s just space.

Teaching: Up this week in Readings in Young Adult lit was All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. This novel has taken the place of To Kill a Mockingbird in some high school English classrooms, and for good reason. Here are some of the discussion prompts from the second half of the week, all through the course focus of anti-racist teaching: >*How is the basketball team and practices an extended metaphor for broader racial justice efforts?

*What do we learn about Rashad’s trauma, healing, identity, etc. through his art – woven through the novel?

*How does trauma and healing circulate through/among the members in his family?

*How does the guilt, loss, loneliness, etc. in his family relate to his letting go of whiteness?

Listening: I’ve been spending more time in the music studio these past few weeks hanging out with records. One result is a mix of vinyl releases – mostly all records pressed, made, or bought in Detroit – I posed on my Soundcloud. You’ll hear music by Kyle Hall, Norm Talley, DJ Holographic & Alex Wilcox, and more. But watch out for that Gustav Brovold techno heater at 33:20. Big ouch!