I once used a spell to get a job I’d applied for. I regretted it later, but it worked. That’s how I learned that focus, when clear and consistent, is power. And that’s exactly why schooling, media, and capitalism work so hard to train us out of our own. Because attention is power.

My most meaningful lessons grew out of what was happening in the community—the needs of the students right in front of me. Curriculum can be alive, responsive, and rooted in love. This post shares the first of many free resources: a lesson on the art of speaking and listening.

It all begins with an idea.

This blog begins with bell hooks, whose teaching and vision of love have shaped me profoundly. In All About Love, she reminds us that “love is an act of will—namely, both an intention and an action.” Love, in this sense, is not passive or abstract but a practice we commit to in relationship with ourselves and our communities.