This article uses excerpts from poetry, memoir and epistolary genres emerging from research that has utilized close writing practices to interpret the interplay among memory, narrative, and agency. Biographical, historical, archival, and interpretive processes are used to reveal deferred, not noticed, and/or not counted experiences of those…

The paper focuses on gratitude as a way to honor dignity and build a flourishing future. Our world is marked by war, global warming, pandemic, racial injustice, and wanton destruction of peoples and lands, all supported by worldviews and patterns of living that emphasize private gain and undermine compassion. What is missing is appreciation for…

This reflection uses poetry to illustrate how the COVID-19 pandemic uniquely illuminates the holistic nature of academic development. The virus stripped away the pretence that the success of higher education rests on select parts of the whole. We are all precarious and expendable; we are all integral and important. Each one of us, each part of us,…

This article explores the "daemons" that many university students face by exploring Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in a creative way. Using a poetic method called "erasure," the author of this article cut fragmented descriptions of Victor Frankenstein, and stitched them together to craft a poem about the need for…

In this photo essay, I enact how a creative pedagogue engages with artistic practice and contemplative inquiry. As a poet, at home in words, photography represents a creative risk. This vulnerability is felt in the sharing of the work through the lens of (re)search. Hence, I ask: Does it have wings? By delving in expressive forms toward the…

As colleges and universities--particularly predominantly White institutions (PWIs)--look to offer healing and reconciliation for racialized transgressions, it is important that these institutions also honor the sacrifices of those brave students who not only broke barriers but also held open the door of opportunity through which others may walk.…

This poem was written as a final project for the author's Critical Perspectives in Education course at George Mason University in Fall of 2021. In addition to having students read critical works, Dr. Dodman, the professor, encouraged creative reflections and non-traditional reading responses. The author also engaged in an Extended Communal…

Do you remember boom-boxes with two decks so a personalized playlist could be recorded onto a cassette tape? Perhaps you received a playlist from a friend, family member, or lover? In this project, 14 colleagues first compiled and shared their curriculum playlists--their favorite texts/performances about curriculum including some of their own…

As a poet, researcher, and teacher in the academy, I have pursued my vocation with an abiding commitment to both creative and critical discourse. I inquire into my autobiographical experiences as a poet, researcher, and teacher in the institutional contexts of a Faculty of Education by creating a performance of poetry that seeks to honour…

This article uses poetry to show how we might reimagine the body and movement in ways that speak back to and subvert dominant and neoliberal conceptions of health and physical education (HPE). Drawing on the notion of poiesis and Arnold's conceptualisation of physical education as "in through and about movement," I explore possibilities…

Love and loss is facing the truth behind the facts that bears deep in our hearts. A child is not born a racist. Racism is something taught through words and actions. The fight against hate begins by demonstrating love and acts of kindness. The difference between love and hate is within the context of the idea of inherent expression conducted…

The challenge and conundrum are to integrate within ourselves the dark/light cycles of the natural world, yet flourish in times of grief and pain. But how does one lose and be grateful? How does one create harmony between body and soul? Here we explore the lessons of a snail wedded to the earth, astute in its slowness, in its minute shadow; we…

Following the devastating result of the May 2015 general election in the UK, the Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home organised "Compassion is dissent: Manifesto Slam." It put out an open call for participants, asking them to bring a three-minute manifesto as means of admission to the event. Here, the Institute showcases…

Black men are often seen as problems, threats, and thugs. The mere existence of a Black body is often met with fear. Using autoethnographic mystory, I blend personal stories, poetry, song lyrics, and analysis to subvert the angry Black man mantra and explore the productive use of anger to stimulate change.

This paper focuses on the importance of narrative beginnings to narrative inquiry, arguing that an examination of narrative beginnings is essential to positioning the researcher within the research. Through a series of personal poems, I unpack the significance of my own autobiographical beginnings from a narrative perspective, and from my proposed…