{"id":1734,"date":"2019-05-08T23:40:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T05:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734"},"modified":"2019-05-08T23:40:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T05:40:02","slug":"fence-testing-in-the-hyphenated-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734","title":{"rendered":"Fence-Testing in the Hyphenated Present"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><em>Everything or nothing. All of us or none. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poetrymagazine\/browse?contentId=24314\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bertol Brecht<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Last week, I had the pleasure of reading Randy Ribay\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Patron-Saints-Nothing-Randy-Ribay\/dp\/0525554912\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Patron Saints of Nothing<\/em><\/a>, out next month. The book masterfully explore&#8217;s one young man&#8217;s attempts come to terms with identity, family, and death within the contexts of global post-coloniality and participatory culture. There are many, many parts of the book that I loved. However, the three word dedication is probably the moment I got <em>really<\/em> excited about the book:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"(Dedication in Randy Ribay\u2019s Patron Saints if Nothing)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/anterobot\/47801842661\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/47801842661_e42a0961e6_z.jpg\" alt=\"(Dedication in Randy Ribay\u2019s Patron Saints if Nothing)\" width=\"588\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As someone that\u2019s felt like I\u2019ve lived between and amongst a lot of hyphens, the dedication is one that spoke to me.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a hell of a thing describing who you are. My multiraciality means splashing hyphens all over the page when I wade into positionality statements for academic research. It means having a name that autocorrects to <em>anteroom<\/em>. In my younger days, it meant feeling like I had to account to others for the fact that I don\u2019t speak Spanish or Tagalog. I am so thrilled for these words to serve as an invocation for readers, writers, and learners who will get the opportunity to read this book soon.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been ruminating on the beauty of those three, simple words from Ribay\u2019s novel while also futzing with a scrap of notes I shared at a conference last year. The crux of what I was wondering about\u2014in a ritzy conference center as my colleagues and I talked about educational equity whilst sampling crudit\u00e9s and cocktails&#8211; was the embodiment of a hyphenated present.<\/p>\n<p>As educators, researchers, writers, and <em>human beings<\/em> that take seriously centering activism and love in the work that we do, it is past due for us to reconcile <em>the hyphenated<\/em> when we ask: What\u00a0kind\u00a0of\u00a0future are we designing, co-constructing, co-authoring, co-dreaming?<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a question for laconic daydreaming. Rather, I\u2019m reminded of how friend and mentor Kris Guti\u00e9rrez describes\u00a0<em>imagining<\/em> as a transformative act of literacy in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1598\/RRQ.43.2.3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this article<\/a>. It is in the moments of youth dreaming that the students Kris worked with became historical actors \u201cwho invoke the past in order to re-mediate it so that it becomes a resource for current and future action\u201d (p. 154).<\/p>\n<p>Hyphenated, historical actors <em>act<\/em> in <em>every<\/em> classroom today, as both teachers and learners. Ribay\u2019s novel demonstrates that historical actors have the capacity to take historical actions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Reptilian Metaphor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As we explore and actively work within the hyphenated present, I want to propose a metaphor to frame the ingenuity of young people. In the film <em>Jurassic Park<\/em> (a movie staunchly influenced by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Second-wave_feminism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">second-wave feminism<\/a>, don\u2019t @ me), the following dialogue serves as a key introduction to the raptors that will terrorize our protagonists throughout the second and third acts of the film:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Muldoon\u00a0:\u00a0<\/strong>They show extreme intelligence, even problem-solving intelligence. Especially the big one. We bred eight originally, but when she came in she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one&#8230; when she looks at you, you can see she&#8217;s working things out. That&#8217;s why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr. Ellie Sattler\u00a0:\u00a0<\/strong>But the fences are electrified though, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Muldoon\u00a0:\u00a0<\/strong>That&#8217;s right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically. They remember.<\/p>\n<p>(I\u2019m getting this dialogue from the <em>Jurassic Park<\/em> IMDB page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0107290\/characters\/nm0669629\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><u><\/u>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I want us to be fence-testing the conditions of schooling, learning, and inequity, like patiently impatient raptors prodding for liberation. Fence-testing, as a means of speculating about alternatives to a mundane present, is an act that is engaged in collectively. Our fence-testing efforts can be interpreted as a means of exploring the boundaries and pathways for robust and sustainable diversity and representation writ large.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1735\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/clever.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"202\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Like raptors clawing for a feminist revolution, we must engage in fence-testing as a means of distributed resilience that allows us to get free.<\/p>\n<p>I started this post with a line from a Bertol Brecht poem. Often read as a clarion demand for labor movements and inclusivity, I can imagine Brecht\u2019s line interpreted differently today. That \u201cus\u201d is a hyphenated \u201cus\u201d is a hyphenated \u201cyou\u201d is a hyphenated \u201cme.\u201d And you accept <em>all<\/em> of us, of you, of me. Or you accept none. \u201cEverything or nothing\u201d is a personal demand: <em>see<\/em> our fullness as hyphenated selves wobbling in the crevices of the Anthropocene.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1736\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/31DaysIBPOC_BADGE.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/31DaysIBPOC_BADGE.png 800w, https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/31DaysIBPOC_BADGE-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/31DaysIBPOC_BADGE-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/31DaysIBPOC_BADGE-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This blog post is part of the #31DaysIBPOC Blog Challenge, a month-long movement to feature the voices of indigenous and teachers of color as writers and scholars. Please <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kellywickham.com\/mochamomma\/2019\/5\/4\/racial-identity-a-certain-looking-white-woman.html\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to read yesterday\u2019s blog post by\u00a0Kelly Wickham Hurst (and be sure to check out the link at the end of each post to catch up on the rest of the blog circle).\u00a0You can read all of the blog posts this month <a href=\"https:\/\/31daysibpoc.wordpress.com\/\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1734\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1734\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1734\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\"><span>Tumblr<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1734\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span>Pocket<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everything or nothing. All of us or none. &#8211;\u00a0 Bertol Brecht Last week, I had the pleasure of reading Randy Ribay\u2019s Patron Saints of Nothing, out next month. The book masterfully explore&#8217;s one young man&#8217;s attempts come to terms with identity, family, and death within the contexts of global post-coloniality and participatory culture. There are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1734\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1734\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1734\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\"><span>Tumblr<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1734\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1734&amp;share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span>Pocket<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Fence-Testing in the Hyphenated Present \r\n\r\n#31DaysIBPOC","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe04s-rY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1734"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1739,"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions\/1739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}