Ep 200: Being Busy, Black, and Unschooled in 2020 An end-of-year sistachat with Maleka Diggs of Eclectic Learning Network

This week on #fofcpod, Maleka Diggs from Eclectic Network and Akilah are chopping it all up about this year. Get ready for an insightful conversation about what they’ve been noticing around deschooling, self care, pervasive whiteness, movement, decolonizing, and then some.

WHAT WE DISCUSS

Self care practices

Maleka shares aspects of her decolonizing journey, the harmony between working and playing and defining priorities around self care practices. Akilah talks about deschooling her leadership practices.

They also talk about the power of stillness and silence, how necessary it is to be more aware of ourselves, our thoughts and our bodies. Akilah shares her experience of reconnecting with herself through dance and movement, the way she gets information about herself from her body and paying attention to what she is noticing.

Unravelings - The joy of failure

They chat about Maleka’s projects and what they have been noticing around pervasive whiteness. Akilah speaks about the sense of responsibility that comes as a Black woman who unschools and advocates for her community, also about her experience working in predominantly White spaces.

Maleka also talks about her love of cooking, and the real roots of curry. She tells how food can be a way of resistance and decolonization, and how every dish has its own journey and meaning.

Then they talk about failure and how it can be understood as an opportunity to pivot and learn, not seeing it as the end of the path but as a direction. That’s one of the skills that we root with self directedness, “the joy of failure”, this will show up differently and will evolve depending on each person’s processes.

Consumption and Schoolishness

They reject the notion of metrics, and connect most forms of measuring and data with consumption and standardization.

LIBERATION WALK

• Get your tickets so you don’t miss The Parenting Decolonized Conference. “The mission of the summit is to provide parents and caregivers with action plans, resources, and tips for conscious parenting during stressful times, reimagining education during the Coronavirus, and the radical shifts required to be more confident, conscious, intentional parents.”
• Check out Eclectic Learning Network’s merch!
• Here are some dope music producers, check out their material!: Jamie a.k.a, Serotonin, Jared Akeem, Rhyan (Richie Flex) and Only Black Cosmonaut
• Our growing community is part of the My Reflection Matters ecology, in our own

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https://schoolishness.com/market/rfp-a-practice-deck/

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https://www.rfpunschool.com/p/manifesto

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