Episode 80: Rage to Resilience- Choosing Love in Uncertain Times

In this raw and unscripted episode, I’m sharing my thoughts and emotions in the wake of last week’s election results. This isn't just about politics; it’s about my deep fears for my students, friends, and all those in marginalized communities who are now facing an uncertain future. I share the emotions I had and what I'm doing about them now... Thanks for listening and allowing me to support you...

Let's Connect!

My Blog
My YouTube
My Instagram
My Website
My TPT store
Join La Familia Loca PLC

Transcript

Welcome!

Welcome back to teaching la vida loca, the podcast you come to for short and sweet and sometimes spicy episodes full of enthusiasm, magic, and tips and tricks for your classroom. I'm Annabelle, your maestra loca, and I'm here to bring you inspiration, unapologetic authenticity, and ideas to spark more joy in your teaching journey. I'm turning up the excitement and elated to have you right here with me. I'm not just your host, I'm your cheerleader, and I'm thrilled you're tuning in. So, let's do this. Let's tackle teaching la vida loca together.

Last Week…

Hello there. Welcome to Episode 80 of teaching la vida loca, I got an email last week from Buzzsprout saying, congratulations, you're on a hot streak. You have posted a podcast four times in four weeks. You're being consistent. Yay. And then I didn't post one last week, but I didn't do anything last week at all. It was the single most unproductive week of that I can remember, but I was in a state of grief and rage and confusion and loss, as many of you were after the election. I had the luxury of Wednesday not having to go into a classroom, because I'm taking the year off, as you know, and two of three kids were home sick from school. Isla was the only kid at school, and not that Ophelia goes to school, but and I spent the day napping with them and crying and listening to my baby's coos to calm my nervous system. And yeah, it was I pretty much lived in a very numb state, until maybe Thursday night, I think. And then I, no Friday ish, Friday ish, and then I came down with like a stomach bug from hell, like I was so sick until Sunday evening. It was awful. And unfortunately, my mom had flown in to be with us, who was also in the same sort of state. And then I gave it to her, which sucked. So, it was just it was awful. 

Getting My Energy Back…

The stomach bug really was better by Friday night, but the recovery was until Sunday, like I didn't even eat until Sunday, really.  I rallied at one point to try and take Memphis and the kids to the school feria, because he had talked about it all week. It's something he was so excited to do. So, I rallied to take them, and we went, and we took my mama, and it was okay. I had no energy, and I couldn't interact with my students the way that I normally would. 

Students Know Us…

However, one thing that I thought was interesting is a group of my students came up to me who are now fifth graders, who I had as fourth graders last year, and one of them said, who'd you vote for? And about three of them at the same time said you already know who she voted for. And it just made me think about things that you might have experienced in the classroom last week. You know, I was thinking about it, and I thought, yeah, I mean, it's great if our students can guess who we would vote for just because of the voices that we center in our classroom, that we center black and brown voices outside of Latina Heritage Month or Black History Month, that we are constantly advocating for marginalized communities. You know, that's great that they can guess who we would vote for, and I love that my students knew that. But man, it didn't help with how angry I felt and fearful, fearful for my students, fearful for my friends of the LGBTQ plus community, fearful for women, fearful for my daughters, fearful for so many marginalized groups of people, and I know that I had this conversation with a dear friend and Familia loca member. I know that I'll be okay as a white woman of privilege, but I also know that we have a long four years ahead of us. And yeah, so this is unscripted as usual, and I won't be editing it, but I wanted to come and share my reflections on last week and just think about the serious emotions that I felt, the grief, the rage, the frustration, the fear, and then talk to you about what I'm doing next. 

First Action Step

The first thing I'm going to do that's very easy, is to continue to diversify my Instagram feed. My Instagram feed is full of incredibly diverse voices, perspectives, peoples, communities, cultures. I'm going to continue to diversify that feed and fill it with people who are marginalized and who need people to rally and will let me know what I need to do. And it's not on them to let me know what to do, but if I can, you know, center their voices on my feed and make sure that I am tuning into their communities and listening to their needs. I am more equipped with the knowledge of what might be needed. I'm not going to ask them, hey, what can I do for you? But I'm using them on my feed to figure out what I can do to support, what foundations I can contribute my money to, what I can give my time to, whose voices can I amplify? Right? So that's the first thing, and it's very easy and something that you can do right now too. 

Another Thing to Do

Another thing that I saw, and I have tried and tried to find it, but it was a post, and it said, how to channel your rage or your fear, first think about what's something that you're really good at, and then channel your fear and your rage into that. I thought that was great and interesting, and that's why I'm, you know, rallying this week. I'm pulling up my bootstraps. I got dressed today, put on a dress, put on my glasses, put on my earrings. That always helps me feel more like myself. Even though I'm not going to the classroom, it's very important for me to feel like myself when I'm being productive and getting things done, writing blogs, recording podcasts, etc. And I did that because I was like, Okay, what am I good at? I'm good at working with teachers. I'm good at teaching, I'm good at speaking, I'm good at connecting with people. So, I'm going to share with you my plan on this podcast, and hope that it helps, and even if it just helps to hear that you're not alone in all the emotions that you're feeling, and maybe it'll inspire you to figure out what your next steps are, I hope that it gives you that. 

Sending You Love…

So, like I said, I'm going to continue to diversify my feed. I'm going to continue amplifying voices of black and brown communities of the LGBTQ plus community, I'm going to give space for those people to make money before me and to build their businesses and support them first and above all else, what I'm going to do, to channel all my emotions, is I'm going to love fiercely and more fiercely than ever. I'm going to love and promote love and joy and connection and community, which is something I've always, always tried to do, but I'm going to strive for it now more than ever. I'm going to lean on my community, and I'm going to continue to foster la Familia loca PLC and my Instagram community, and my email list community and my teacher conference community and my family network and my friend networks. I'm going to work hard to foster communities everywhere I go, and I'm going to love fiercely each person in my life, each person I encounter, for who they are, as their authentic selves, exactly as they are, and nothing more. And I am going to hope that that love amplifies and gets bigger and has impact, because I believe that love is so powerful and so strong, and I think that we need to be modeling this now more than ever for our kids. So, I will end with the words of a dear friend who texted me the night of the election, and he said, "Love has to win, right?" And that's where I'm at the end of this podcast, love has to win, right? Let's do the work of amplification and of loving each other, and building strong communities and listening closely for what is needed, because love has to win right? Take care, and until next time, I will be supporting you in the best way that I can, through this podcast and through other ways to enjoy teaching la vida loca. I am I am thinking of you so much, dear teacher, love you, love you, love you so much. Bye, bye.