So you’ve read a post or two, and now you’re wondering, “who IS this person?” It’s a fair question, given the combination of academic lingo, sarcasm, socialist philosophy, and photos of adorable children with toys found at LL.
Seriously: who writes this stuff?
Mads: The woman behind LL. Stay-at-home mom to Bean. Married to Miles. Queer and cis. Full-time grad student. Black Lives Matter co-conspirator. Nail art enthusiast. Nature documentary addict. Future goals: get my Ph.D. in educational policy, start a homestead, continue keeping Bean alive.
Miles: Husband of Mads, father of Bean. Machinist. Contributor to LL. Black Lives Matter co-conspirator and childcare provider. Dislikes this sentence structure. Fan of cheap and goofy anime. Future goals: Start a homestead and cooperative machine shop, quit wage laboring forever, continue keeping Bean alive.
Bean: Daughter of Mads and Miles. Professional toddler. Inspiration for LL’s parenting and early childhood posts. Basically the best. Future goals: “I want to be a doctor ballerina. And grow strawberries.”
Okay, that’s enough of that writing style. Let’s answer your real question: why did I start this blog?
In the summer of 2015, I quit my job as a STEM educator at a girls’ empowerment non-profit (I won’t name names, but no, it was not the Girl Scouts) after realizing I could do a lot more for the community if I abandoned the non-profit industrial complex. I haven’t looked back. Instead, I joined the collective leadership team of Concerned Citizens for Justice (#SQUAD!), went to grad school for my M.Ed. and a second teaching license in Special Education, and, best of all, raised the coolest toddler I know.
In that time, I’ve had a lot of conversations with fellow activists, parents, and teachers about how political policy impacts us personally. I honestly can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with parents worried about the inequalities they’re facing as they register for kindergarten, teens from minority backgrounds who don’t know whether they’re safe at school, and teachers who want to do more for the movement but face threats from their elected officials. Meanwhile, I was gaining more and more knowledge about educational policy and research, and saw that I could help folks by sharing what I know. I created this blog so we can learn collectively!
Leftist liberation politics underpin almost everything I do. Almost being the operative word. There’s lots I love that isn’t political! I’m obsessed with nail art, mountains (green ones, especially), going to places I have never been to, watching too much Parks and Recreation, Miss Fisher’s Mysteries, and anything narrated/hosted by David Attenborough, and loving as fiercely and freely as I can.
Oh, who am I kidding? Leftist liberation politics definitely underpin my fierce love.
Learning Liberation 