Teaching (toward) the Beloved Community

What “A Different World” taught me 30 years ago

Wow, that title makes me sound old.

(Spoiler alert: I guess I am old.)

When I was in college, one of the few things I watched religiously each week was A Different World. I loved Whitley and Dwayne Wayne and Jalisa and Walter and Kim and Freddie and all the rest. I watched the show in its entirety while it was on, and I have watched it occasionally in reruns over the years when I have come across an episode.

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of being on the campus of Fisk University for a day. It wasn’t my first time on campus, but it was the longest time I had gotten to spend there, and it made me think of how I learned about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the first place. As you might have guessed, I first learned about what an HBCU is through my love of A Different World all those years ago.

Photo of Fisk University Chapel. Taken by the author in 2023.

While on a break between sessions at Fisk, I started writing in my notebook a list of all the things I could remember learning from A Different World. This list includes things relevant to college student life, like internships and facing up to your fears with hard courses, “stepping”, and more about pledging and Greek life for historically Black fraternities and sororities. I learned to appreciate the music of Heavy D and was introduced to who Dorothy Height was. I learned about the power of student activism, including the choice and consequence of having a sit-in in the University President’s Office. While I had learned about apartheid in my AP US History class, I learned more about what we could do about it in the US from the show, such as divesting in certain companies and why students would push the Board of Directors of their university to do that, even if it meant a loss of scholarships. The show also dealt with topics that I can’t remember other shows discussing in that era, including racist stereotypes, colorism, the Rodney King verdict, microaggressions, and long term impacts of enslavement.

I know there are more things I am forgetting…that break between sessions at Fisk only lasted 20 minutes. But thinking about just these, it is clear to me that my life (personally and professionally) was shaped in ways I could not have imagined when I sat in my dorm room each Thursday night. (Thankfully the other show I religiously watched, Knots Landing, didn’t have a fraction of the impact.) I know there are ways in which some of the episodes fell short, but even with shortcomings, I feel this was a powerful show that helped me understand more about race, racism, culture and other social issues.

Are there shows now that are shaping college students in this way? Though I am a professor, I don’t hear my students talk a lot about shows they are watching. What are the current shows that tackle hard social issues? I would love to check them out, for my own viewing and also think about how to incorporate pieces of them in my classes.

I think this is also a reminder to me of the importance of putting good things into my brain. I am not above a beach read or a 90s era rom-com, but it is good to be challenged with the media I consume. I hope in 30 more years to be talking about something I am learning now, or about to learn.

Daughters

A little over a year ago I wrote about teaching in the Integrated Learning Community, part of the general education core where I teach. Last year, I wrote about the synchronicity of learning from my co-teacher and being able to put it in use in the community the following day.

This year we are teaching the same theme in the ILC: an introduction to trauma studies. Even though the core of our ILC stays the same, we change activities and readings up from year to year a bit to make sure we are bringing new energy to the work. This year, we decided to take a block of our two classes to show and then discuss/process the documentary Daughters. I had never heard of it until my colleague told me about it when were planning for the semester, but apparently it was quite the hit at Sundance last year. It is now on Netflix, making it easy to show in class. If you don’t know anything about it, the quick summary is that it is about a group of daughters and dads who are getting ready for a dance. The fathers are incarcerated and most have not seen their daughters in years. The ones who have seen them have mostly seen their daughters on screens. Only one had had a “touch visit” within the past two years at the time of filming.

Since the ILC is structured so that the students have the two linked classes back to back, we started the documentary in her class and got through all but about 15 minutes of it. We had the 15 minute break between classes and then walked to a different building for my course, watched the rest of the documentary, and then asked the students what connections they made between the film and the topics we have been learning about in the ILC. The connections they were making and the questions they were asking were powerful. They made connections about attachment and attachment disruption. They made connections about family systems (roles, stress points, boundaries) and ACES (adverse childhood experiences).

They asked about why the prisons were constructed the way they were, which gave us opportunity to share some thoughts on privatized prisons along with encouragement to the students to watch the documentary 13th (only one or two of them had seen it). We also talked about how education in prison lowers recidivism rates. Finally, we shared resources with them and looped back to prior class discussions on using a two-generation approach when we think about parenting interventions and reminded them of the importance of trauma informed systems.

Close to the end of our discussion, one of the students raised her hand and said that she appreciated that the film didn’t disclose what crimes the men had committed. She said that this had helped her focus on the relationship between each dad and his daughter(s). This was a really good way to end the discussion: a focus on strengths, and the reminder that every individual, family, and environment has resources, if we are committed to looking for them.

Mutual aid: How we care for each other

The term “mutual aid” is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a collaboration between community members, and a voluntary exchange of resources between them. We generally may think of mutual aid as existing most often in communities that have been economically (and in other ways) marginalized, but mutual aid also exists in faith communities of any income level, and even your local “Buy Nothing” group on social media is a type of mutual aid.

I definitely remember learning about Charles Darwin and his concepts of “survival of the fittest” in junior high/high school biology, and learned about “social Darwinism” concepts at some point in college, probably Intro to Sociology. I do not ever remember hearing a junior high or high school teacher talk about Kropotkin and his arguments and examples that, whether biologically or socially, cooperation and not competition is the key to healthy evolution. Then again, I was a teen in the thick of the Cold War, and probably there was limited discussion anywhere in the US of Russian revolutionaries.

Anyway, back to mutual aid: Probably one of the coolest examples of mutual aid I learned about a few years ago was the free breakfast program for school children started by the Black Panther Party in the 1960’s. Here’s a quick listen on it from NPR and here is a scholarly journal article (open access) that goes into more detail on the BPP Breakfast Program and how it evolved from using donations from people external to the community to being grounded in mutual aid and community empowerment. And here is a really cool piece published just last week on “Food as Power: Lessons in Mutual Aid from Black Led Food Justice Movements” (As an added bonus, read more about 412 Food Rescue, the group that authored the previous link, and see the great work they are doing in Pittsburgh, and read what you can do to start or support food justice work in your community!)

From AOC and Kaba’s Covid Mutual Aid ToolKit

Finally, in terms of sharing resources, here is some great information, including links to other readings and videos, on mutual aid from Big Door Brigade. It is a really in-depth resource from people who are doing the work.

If you use social media, look on your platform for local mutual aid groups near you. Think about how your faith community or other groups you are already a part of could provide mutual aid. Think about how you “show up” in spaces. If you desire to get involved in a mutual aid effort where there are people who are marginalized because of their ethnicity, race, or other aspects of their identity, be very aware of how you take up space. Practice cultural humility. Practice humility in general. Be there for each other.

Photo credit: https://neighborhoodanarchists.org/mutual-aid-sticker/

The one where my students asked what the heck is going on

I feel like if I title this like a Friends episode, it might seem less dystopian.

Night before last, I was preparing for my HBSE class (Human Behavior in the Social Environment). We explore topics across the lifespan, and learn about bio-psycho-social-spiritual functioning at each stage of life, after a few weeks of introducing some core concepts. This week we are in newborn and infancy stage. We look at typical development of each stage, and then explore some “special topics” that social workers and other helping professionals would need to know. One of the special topics we examine in this stage is the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).

One source that I always use on this topic is the Center for Disease Control, aka the CDC. I use CDC website for several special topics, including bullying (a middle school special topic focus) intimate partner violence (a topic we talk about in young adulthood, though of course it happens across multiple stages) and dementia (which I am guessing you can guess…we talk about in older adulthood). Anyway, when I was prepping for class, I saw the dreaded statement at the top of the website that I knew would be there.

When I pulled up the website in class, I saw some students look at the site, look at each other, and look at me quizzically. I asked them if they were confused by the banner of words in pink, about the website modification. They said they were. By now, other students had moved to taking pictures of the website and/or were sharing with peers what they knew about the situation. Most of the students in my class had not heard specifically about health related websites (trusted, governmental websites) being scrubbed of certain information.

This particular class is a BELL Core class, ie part of our general education curriculum, and so there are a number of different majors in there. The students who were the most upset were students going into nursing, social work and PT/OT fields. One of the nursing students asked “How am I supposed to provide the best care for all my patients if I can’t access information?” Another asked “How should I try to respond to this? I have been trying to ignore politics but that isn’t working.” And then another student just said, speaking for many of us, “what in the heck is going on with our country?”

And this, friends, is where time ran out of official class but some students stayed behind to talk. Some of them are still kind of numb or in shock about some of the things going on, and some are very concerned about their future, both personally and professionally. They want to know how to make a positive difference in the world.

I encourage them in the best way I know how, which is to make your voice heard, and to speak to the elected officials in your area even if you didn’t vote for them. Make your voice heard and try to bring light to the world in ways that you can. Do the next right thing in front of you. Remember to care for others.

What other things would you tell them? What are you doing to bring about change you want to see?

Happy Birthday, Dr. King: I am sorry we haven’t bent the arc more yet.

Though we have an official day to recognize Dr. King’s birthday coming up next week, today (January 15) is his actual birthday.

Going to college in Memphis and spending several years there after college, I visited the National Civil Rights Museum (at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated) many times. I have had the opportunity to take students a couple of times as well.

When Dr. King said, using some words and ideas of minister Theodore Parker in 1810, that “the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice”, I believe he was calling us to be a part of the bending work. Any passive waiting for bending toward justice seems incongruent with my calling to be a good neighbor, to seek justice, to love mercy, and so many other things.

This quarter in our Bible class we have been working through Father Charlie Stroebel’s The Kingdom of the Poor. In one of the chapters, he talks about how he spent Nixon’s inauguration day. He was closed off in his dorm room, in the darkness, and had covered windows and doors so that no light could get in. He said that he knew even then it was a little foolish, a little idiosyncratic, but as a divinity student in DC on that day, he didn’t know any better way to not give any light to that day. He goes on to say that even if you are just a resister of one, it is still important to resist the forces that need resisting. (And we know he also believed even if you are only a party of one, you still need to do the work that is in front of you, which is how he invited two people from the street into his parish, beginning what is now Room in the Inn).

Bending work looks different for each of us. And I struggle with comparing my gifts/abilities to others, and think I am not doing enough. But if we all work to be a part of the bending, we will move the arc toward justice. I believe this, To be hopeless is incompatible with my faith as well, (and with my general constitution for that matter.)

On Dr. Martin Luther King Day this year many people in our country will be celebrating the inauguration of another president. Like Father Charlie and his feelings about Nixon, I would like to not give light to this coming event. I plan to find a way to serve, to work, to bend. Even if it is just a little.

“Small flat rigid squares of paper”: Books that shaped me in 2024

Several years ago, a friend introduced me to Anne Lamott, and specifically to her book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. I have given this book to several people over the years, including to a special student this year who served as a teaching assistant for me. And I have re-bought myself the book a few times because I loan it out and it doesn’t come back. (Fortunately, I have a copy now sitting securely in my window sill!) Anyway, the first part of the title of this post comes from that book..the power of small, flat, rigid squares of paper to change the world.

I did more reading this year than I have in the last several years, partly because my kids encouraged me to do the Goodreads reading challenge, and I didn’t want to lose (even to myself). Also I did more reading this year because I finally learned to appreciate audio books. If you are on the side who says “audio books aren’t reading”, then just keep it to yourself. Not every book I tried as an audio was a good fit, and some I put aside in favor of reading it in print, but that was because of how a particular book was structured. That being said, as I type this out, I do think that the books I am going to write about as the ones that shaped me are books I actually read in the traditional sense….but I sure did appreciate the joy of audiobooks in Nashville traffic this year, letting me have some respite from news.

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. This is the first book I finished in 2024. It is a realistic look at foster care, having a parent who has an addiction to substances, and life in small towns in Appalachia. This book introduced me to the Melungeon community, which I then learned more about this year through other types of reading and research. Barbara Kingsolver remains one of my favorite authors.
Everywhere the Undrowned: A Memoir of Survival and Imagination by Stephanie Clare Smith. I read this book in June and I don’t think a week has gone by that I haven’t worked this book into conversation somehow, including holding my two BFFs captive pool side about it at our annual “Girls’ Weekend”. This book could trigger you if you have ever experienced assault, particularly sexual assault, and it could also be triggering if you were abandoned (literally or emotionally) by your family. But this book is the best example of how resilience is dynamic, not static, over the course of a lifetime. When people are given resources (like therapy, stability) and sometimes through time itself (different developmental stages), resilience can manifest even years after experiencing trauma. This author’s story is also a great example of the power of safe, stable nurturing relationships, even just one, in our lives. This is a powerful, powerful memoir.
Clutter, an untidy history, by Jennifer Howard. This book is part memoir, part “how-to” and part history of why we collect “stuff”. It was fascinating. This book shaped me in helping me thing about cleaning, organizing and “keeping”. I have always been the one to want to hold onto tangible things because of memories and have had a hard time letting things go. I wouldn’t say it is super easy for me now, but I have a different perspective on keeping things and letting things go.
The 1619 Project, by Nikole Hannah-Jones. This was a re-read for me, because I assign it in my policy class, but every time I read it (this makes the third time for me) I tune into something that I missed in a previous read. This book stimulates discussion like no other book I have ever assigned in a class. If you want to learn more history, a deeper history of the US, read this book.
The Penderwicks series, by Jeanne Birdsall. This is a series I wish I had read years ago, and I wish I had done a read-aloud with my daughters. They have already read the series, some of them multiple times, and it was through them that I was inspired to read it. Reading these shaped me in the way of remembering that it is good to read books that are just for pure enjoyment, even if they are officially “juvenile” books. For the past several years my “fun” reading has been limited to a couple of weeks in the summer, and this year (and the good old Penderwicks) were a reminder it is fun to read “just because”.
The Kingdom of the Poor by Charles Strobel. Charles Strobel is well known to many Nashvillians, as the founder of the organization Room in the Inn. But this book is a great read even if you have never been to Nashville and don’t know what Room in the Inn is. This is a bit of a cheat to put on here because I haven’t quite finished it, but even half way in I can honestly say this book has shaped me in thinking about what it means to live into the Beatitudes, how we hear our call to service and how we’ve seen it modeled, the importance of being in community, remembering that people are not “cases to be managed”, how, as Charlie says, we are all poor and we are all worthy of love, and more. I have also been challenged to think about my life’s version of holy water and warped floorboards. Who and what do I pray for constantly? Who and what should I be praying for?

Here’s to more reading for fun, for instruction, and for edification in 2025.

Getting out the vote: All kinds of resources related to voting

I haven’t written in awhile, first because of the start of the semester, and then because of general malaise, and then (and most importantly) because I have been doing the work in different ways that I am now writing about. In other words, I have used spare minutes and nights beyond work and family to make sure people know deadlines for voter registration, that they know where they vote, that they understand what the ballot will look like before they get to the poll, and more.

And today is the deadline to register to vote in Tennessee. Fellow Tennesseans, if you read this on Monday October 7th and aren’t registered, you can still register online here

Other states have later voter registration deadlines, so if you live somewhere other than Tennessee and you know you aren’t registered to vote, check the deadline for your state here.

If you aren’t sure whether you are registered or not, you can check your voter registration status here.

Sweaty after knocking on doors for three hours this past Saturday!

One of my favorite resources to understand voting issues is the non-partisan Voting Rights Lab. They track election related legislation and voting issues in all 50 states.

I have written on this site about voting and elections before, once in the summer of 2020, where I outline some of these above resources and also party platforms and the electoral college and how I approach teaching about these concepts with undergrads.

I also wrote here about some of the movement and resistance work that went into the passage of the Voting Rights Act, including the testimony of Fannie Lou Hamer, and how this could be incorporated into your teaching.

And one more look in the archives of this blog shows me I wrote about RBG and her concerns about voter suppression, and it also has a link to Dr. King’s speech “Give us the Ballot”.

Last week I did a session on campus with a couple of other colleagues as part of diversity week. The focus of our session was on equity and disparities in voting. I can’t figure out how to link the slide deck here, but if you email me (sabrina.sullenberger@belmont.edu), I will be happy to share it with you.

FINALLY…. I hear several students say that they are thinking about not voting because they don’t like any of the candidates. And after some discussion with them, usually what I learn is that they don’t like the presidential candidates. So, it is always good to have a discussion about down ballot voting. I tell students that the farther down the ballot, the closer it impacts their daily lives. (You can argue with me, but whatever…it usually gets them to reconsider not voting.) Related, here is a good discussion on down ballot voting.