Dear Reader,

A banner hanging outside the Diana School in Reggio Emilia - and in so many other schools inspired by the Reggio Approach - reads “Nothing without joy.”

And yet, joy can feel distant from practice.

This week, Susan and I met with a group of teachers in the American Midwest, some of whom expressed sadness in the gap between their vision of a joyful experience for children rich with play, the arts, and meaning, and the mandates that dim the lights and narrow the possibilities - mandates that, in the words of one of the beloved teachers, make the children and the educators alike feel like failures.

Joy felt a long way off; a word rarely spoken.

I’m reminded of Ross Gay, who reports that when he describes his work, he is regularly asked, How can you focus on joy in the midst of all [throwing their hands in the air] this?

But that’s not how these teachers responded. Quite the opposite, in fact: At the end of the call, a teacher who had earlier described her sadness said that rather than heading home she was going to turn right back into her classroom and engage with the children in a playful, arts-rich experience.

This month, as we step into our Studio throughline of love, I can imagine some asking, How can you focus on love in the midst of all [throwing your hands in the air] this?

For those doubting the relevance of centering our work on love, Valarie Kaur offered a rejoinder this week:

“...When I'm looking back at the big picture, we cannot concede the love ethic. All is lost if we concede the love ethic. Demagogues succeed in waging entire campaigns of dehumanization because they've shut down our capacity to wonder about each other as ourselves; to love each other. For a long time, my community… has been on the forefront of so much hate violence. Sikh Americans, since 9/11 - for 20-some years - at the forefront of so much racial violence, and I just thought the solution was just to tell people who we are, if they just knew us… that would be enough. And it took me all this time to understand and to learn, like, Black people are known; Indigenous people are known; Queer people are known; Trans people are known. It's not enough to be known. It's not enough for America to know us. America has to love us. We have to love each other in order to create communities of belonging and care, [and] liberation that last…

“We are called to be brave with our love. And even using the word! This is the time! Those who are standing for inhumanity, they are not shrinking away from their language. They are not shrinking away from the chaos and cruelty that severs us from each other. And so what does it mean for us? Dr King said, we have to be extreme in our love if they are extreme in their hate. So what does it mean for each of us to be bolder and braver than ever before, to stand in the love ethic, and to know that we are together in it, and that is a promise that we have, that will be staying with you, equipping you as a project, knowing that the this is a long, long journey that we cannot feel like we're showing up alone.”

In the midst of another time of massive crisis, Dr. King wrote of striving towards The Beloved Community. He described a community not devoid of conflict, but where we live committed to mutual concern and wellbeing; where we practice, in the framing of john a. powell, belonging without othering.

At this fork in the road, I think that we have few places more fertile to sense what it feels like to live in that space than our schools and classrooms - even while recognizing that the othering and inequalities living in our educational systems are, as Eve Ewing writes, more features than bugs. A practice steeped in a love ethic requires brave commitments: To beauty; to listening; to co-creation. We can be more courageous when we recognize those gaps and face those chasms together.

And at this fork in the road, we must: As Heather Cox Richardson tells us, the antidote to authoritarianism is strong communities and people acting with joy; love shows authoritarians that they have no place to root.
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Now in The Studio LOVE What is the love we need for these times and how do we find it in ourselves? How do we practice it together? ​ Join us

WATCHING, LISTENING, READING

Good things:

Susan and I treasured our experience at Inspire 2023. If you are able to be in Sydney next month, we can't recommend this more highly.

Susan and I provided a small contribution to this new book.

We're looking forward to hosting John Nimmo and Debbie LeeKeenan in our March Guide Line conversation. Watch their new film "Reflecting on Anti-Bias Education in Action: The Early Years" here.

The conversation on centering love reminded me of our conversation about care with Junlei Li. Studio members at the Inspire and Transform levels can view that here.

“If the Sun is the source of flow in the economy of nature, what is the "sun" of a human gift economy, the source that constantly replenishes the flow of gifts? Maybe it is love.”

— Robin Wall Kimmerer

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