TFW You Realize You’re In Love With Your Captor

Posted on March 16, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

Sometimes I feel as if black folk’s self-worth teeters on the impetuous and hateful razor’s edge of racist white institutions. Like the protagonist in Beauty and the Beast, we’ve fallen in love with our captor, and somehow it has become our responsibility to humanize him. I have now lived thr...

The Feminine Pronoun Series: “what It’s Like to be Bi-Municipal” (No. 36)

Posted on March 11, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

In 2009 I moved from Memphis to East St. Louis, Illinois. A year later I moved across the river to St. Louis, Missouri. Two years after that I moved BACK across the river to Illinois where I now reside. Throughout this process, I built relationships in the arts, education and activist arena on ...

The Feminine Pronoun Series: “Black” or “African American”? (No. 35)

Posted on February 23, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

As part of a creative diversity and inclusion workshop I facilitated at Lewis University, I asked people one question: “Which do you prefer? “Black” or “African American”? The responses were alternately surprising and soulful. They served as the centerpiece of the workshop, and they created a jum...

5 LESSONS TEACHERS CAN LEARN FROM THE LIFE OF FANNIE LOU HAMER: #5.The Writing Classroom is Uniquely Suited for Finding Undiscovered Gems

Posted on January 31, 2017February 1, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

In part four of this series – “Our Classrooms Benefit from the Voices of our Most Marginalized Students” — I discussed (partly) how valuable the “marginalized voices” are in our classrooms. But really, I was speaking to the notion that the “marginalized” is the majority. I encourage you...

The National Women’s March: Sisters, What Are You Willing To Destroy?

Posted on January 27, 2017January 27, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

What follows are the remarks and the poem (“Oath: 1957”) I delivered on Saturday, January 21, 2017 at the St. Louis arm of the National Women’s March. When I was first asked to participate in the national women’s March, I declined because I thought it was just another example in the long line of...

5 LESSONS TEACHERS CAN LEARN FROM THE LIFE OF FANNIE LOU HAMER: #4. Our Classrooms Benefit from the Voices of our Most Marginalized Students

Posted on January 21, 2017January 23, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

In last week’s blog, “The Students are Co-Creators In the Classroom,” I emphasized how important envisioning a future past the classroom for poor students and students of color is. But often times, when educators and activists discuss “poor students and students of color,” it is as ...

The Feminine Pronoun Series No. 32: #WRITERSRESIST

Posted on January 19, 2017January 19, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

All over the country, writers assembled in vocal resistance to the rhetoric and planned policies of the incoming Trump administration. The movement was named #WRITERSRESIST. (You can find out more about #WRITERSRESIST here. In this video, my kids and I I travel to Millsaps College in Jackson, Mis...

5 LESSONS TEACHERS CAN LEARN FROM THE LIFE OF FANNIE LOU HAMER: #3.The Students Are Co-Creators in the Classroom

Posted on January 12, 2017January 21, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

In the last entry in this series, “Students Are Not Empty Vessels,” the general point could be summed up as “the students have a past.” A past that can be unpacked and surveyed for what is usable and valuable in the classroom. This week’s blog, “The Students are Co-creators in the Cl...

The Feminine Pronoun Series No. 31: New Year. New You.

Posted on January 11, 2017January 11, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

In this video I get a super cute (if I do say so myself:) updated do at Salon Satreice and then I work on an upcoming performance with Rodney Smith, owner of the Palomino Lounge. 2017 is starting off looking AND sounding good! Here’s a bit more about my business: I offer two services: 1) […]...

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Author: treasureshieldsredmond