The Teachback

Episode 29: Eloise Morgan

Welcome to Episode 29 of The Teachback.  It has been a minute since I last had a chance to post one of these conversations and I'm thrilled to be seizing this opportunity to get back on the proverbial horse in 2024. This episode was recorded last summer--a season of waves and change--when my former student, Eloise, and I had a chance to sit down and catch up about her life since we shared a classroom together. Eloise's mindful enthusiasm for life hasn't wavered since 8th Grade and I just delight in the messages and wisdom she shares here. 
 
This episode is brought to you by the following excerpt, shared by Eloise, from Heidi Priebe's powerful book, This is Me Letting You Go.
“Just be the freaking person who cares more. Be the person who tries harder, loves stronger, gives more of a shit than all of the half-alive people who surround them. Be the person who answers their messages, shows up to their commitments and doesn’t leave others hanging or guessing at their eternally vague intentions.”
-Heidi Priebe

Episode 28 : Jenny Bogus

Welcome to Episode 28 of The Teachback during which I get to hang out and catch up with my former student, Jenny Bogus. Jenny and I shared a classroom fifteen years ago–a number that shocked both of us when we sat down to explore what we’ve been up to over the past decade-and-a-half. I know you’ll appreciate this conversation as Jenny focuses her energy on a theme of OPENNESS. It brings me great joy to know that there are people like Jenny Bogus working in the media today, seeking to understand and explore, to emerge and become. As Jenny explains, life isn’t always smooth sailing, but if we focus on the people whose views and advice matters and the belief that the next version of ourselves (Jen 2.0 in Jenny’s case) is out there to be discovered, we’ve got all the tools we need. So without any further ado, let’s go catch up with Jenny Bogus.
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Thanks again for tuning in. Here’s to connecting, reflecting, and staying hungry to learn.
 
Today’s episode has been brought to you by Black & Cold, a podcast devoted to telling stories of the overshadowed. Equal representation in the media matters and I am grateful to Jenny for sharing this important podcast. The podcast’s host, Michele launched the first episode in the winter of 2021 and continues to drop new episodes and cold cases each week. Give it a listen today wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 27 : Alec Gewirtz

Today's guest is Alec Gewirtz. When I first got to know Alec 14 years ago, we shared a love of words and writing (as well as basketball), but as you will learn there was also a kindred connection that suggested we would someday reconnect in ways that pushed us into a deeper understanding of what it meant to be human. Here is that conversation. 
 
One really interesting element of this conversation is that we shared it all the way back in September, but I'd hoped to schedule a follow-up conversation to talk about
The Nearness
Alec is a co-founder of this fascinating community which is best described in the words shared on their website:
"More and more people want to define what spirituality looks like for them—and find friends along the way.
We want wise guidance without dogma, structure without rigidity, and, more than anything, we want connection—with ourselves, others, and something greater than us.
We started The Nearness to offer a space that does just that. We’re excited you’re here."
 
Enjoy the conversation here, check out The Nearness, and look forward to the possibility of a round two conversation with Alec (about Spirituality and Basketball, perhaps...).
 
 If you enjoy The Teachback, please consider supporting the podcast’s future by becoming a sustaining member by clicking the link below.
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Thanks again for tuning in. Here’s to connecting, reflecting, and staying hungry to learn.

Episode 26 : Cayla Bernstein

Today we get to hang with Cayla, a former student who was just an absolute delight to spend time with as a young person...and holds true to that essence again today. Just as she did as a young person, Cayla speaks with poise, prioritizes deep connection, and loves words.
 
Come seize this opportunity to hang out with Cayla!

Episode 25 : Nick Nowak

One of the greatest things about this podcast has been learning from folks I used to "teach." With this week's episode, it's a little different because Nick is someone I have admired and learned from for a very long time. While Nick was a leadership mentee of mine in our first encounter when he was 16 and I was 22, it's been a joy to watch the roles ebb and flow and merge together over the years. Nick's work as an educational leader, writer, and innovator is amazing and I admire all the work he does at goodmenders.com, but more importantly he is a humble and inspiring human. 
 If you enjoy The Teachback, please consider supporting the podcast’s future by becoming a sustaining member and clicking the link below.
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Thanks again for tuning in. Here’s to connecting, reflecting, and staying hungry to learn.
 

Episode 24 : Abel James

The friends as teachers Episode!
Today is wildly special for me as Episode 24 of The Teachback features one of my dearest friends for the past 24 years of my life: Abel James.
AJ and I met during our freshman year of high school and have been close friends ever since. Tune in as we wax nostalgic about a slate of topics too broad for words.
This is one not to miss.
And check out AJ's website and podcast at www.fatburningman.com 

Episode 23 : Maren Frey

Come chill out and get inspired by Maren, my former student who is the first former student I've interviewed who is still in high school. What a tremendous time to be reconnecting as Maren approaches the final semester of her high school career.
 
This one is really fun as we discuss art, energy, annotations, and the importance of trying new things. 

Episode 22 : Grey Zeigler

With March on the horizon, The Teachback drops Episode 22 today with Grey Zeigler. I remember Grey as a courageous and talented 8th Grader who celebrated her role as a performer and storyteller but who–like all adolescents–was still on the brink of stepping into her own identity, her own willingness to use her narrative voice to embrace the spotlight. Now, Grey is a professional musician living in Nashville and navigating a life and professional direction that both pays homage to the familiar curiosity-embedded identity of her youth, while also navigating onward and imagining what could be. As Grey puts it,
“I constantly try to bring my inner child to everything [in my adult life]…it’s almost like an uncontainable energy of chaos…You never know, if you don’t take that shot…” 
 
We are going to talk today about so much: intentionality and direction, eagerness, performing, going on stage, pain as a component of the creative process…
With that subtle invitation into the topics and ideas of this conversation, come join me as I sit down with a storyteller, a poet, a rockstar of the 21st Century. Sure, she’s someone who might have over 7 million views and 280k followers on TikTok…but the thing that impresses me most of all is the same thing I enjoyed about sharing time with her as a middle schooler: Grey is a really terrific human being, putting herself out there in the world, inspiring others and sharing her joy.
This is Grey Zeigler.
 
 If you enjoy The Teachback, please consider supporting the podcast’s future by becoming a sustaining member by clicking the link below.
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Thanks again for tuning in. Here’s to connecting, reflecting, and staying hungry to learn.
 
This episode has been brought to you by the essence behind Grey’s music and identity. As she writes on her bio,  I write through pain and feeling and the words fall into place. I am fearless, bold, and unstoppable.
 
May this episode be an invitation for each of us to reach through our pain, to find the words & poetry that ring true to our experiences, and to own that fearless, bold and unstoppable kid that exists inside each of us.
 
And , in the first ever EXPLICIT CONTENT warning here on the teachback, I extend the invitation to listen to Grey’s song, “Back to You,” It’s a song about stepping forward with confidence, with courage, and grounded on the belief that there is always another path, always a different horizon , if we just tell ourselves that we can’t lose if we don’t stop moving.
 
Be sure to check out that one, as well as Grey's other songs on her website, greyzeigler.com or follow and like her videos and music on Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, Spotify or whatever streaming services you enjoy. 

Episode 21 : Mr. Cheney

Episode 21 drops live today with the second of my high school English teachers to visit the show. Today I get to sit down and kick back with Matt Cheney! Mr. Cheney and I shared an AP Literature classroom together during my senior year of high school. It was a year of intense growth for me as a writer and critical thinker. The texts I remember most fondly from that year included Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and Checkhov’s The Cherry Orchard. I also recall an index card he had pinned to his wall that read simply, in sharpie,
 
“My mother was a fish.” -Vardaman, As I Lay Dying
 
It took me a decade before I finally read these words within the context of Faulkner’s novel, but I think of that index card often because it piqued a sense of curiosity deep within me. I admired –and was deeply enamored by–the subtle hints and intellectual nudges scattered about in both Mr. Cheney’s classroom and his appreciation for the weirdness, the oddity, of what literature and writing can do…I guess, he showed a deep and queer awareness of the impossibly vast and bizarre element of our conscience that comes with being human.
 
In my classroom today, I have many hints, clues and books with secretly dog-eared pages and notecards with scribbled quotations scattered about. Sometimes students ask me about them…sometimes they go years without being noticed. 
 
This conversation is a special one because Matt Cheney invited me to embrace myself as a non-conformist–an identity I fight to embrace daily. 
 
He also taught me to sing and dance and make people laugh on stage. For all of this, I am grateful. Let’s go hang out with Mr. Cheney.
 
If you enjoy The Teachback, please consider supporting the podcast’s future by becoming a supporting member by clicking the link below.
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Thanks again for tuning in. Here’s to connecting, reflecting, and staying hungry to learn.
 
Today’s episode has been brought to you by the book, Generous Thinking, in which the author, Kathleen Fitzpatrick asks whether universities can solve the social and political crisis in America. In answering the question, her publisher acknowledges that
 
"Higher education occupies a difficult place in twenty-first-century American culture. Universities—the institutions that bear so much responsibility for the future health of our nation—are at odds with the very publics they are intended to serve. As Kathleen Fitzpatrick asserts, it is imperative that we re-center the mission of the university to rebuild that lost trust. Critical thinking—the heart of what academics do—can today often negate, refuse, and reject new ideas.
In an age characterized by rampant anti-intellectualism, Fitzpatrick charges the academy with thinking constructively rather than competitively, building new ideas rather than tearing old ones down. She urges us to rethink how we teach the humanities and to refocus our attention on the very human ends—the desire for community and connection—that the humanities can best serve. One key aspect of that transformation involves fostering an atmosphere of what Fitzpatrick dubs "generous thinking," a mode of engagement that emphasizes listening over speaking, community over individualism, and collaboration over competition."
 

Episode 20 : Kate Tapscott

Welcome to Episode 20 of The Teachback during which I get to hang out and catch up with my former student, Kate Tapscott. One of the really frustrating elements of this podcast is how quickly the time passes! When I consider that a decade has passed between this conversation and the previous one I had with Kate, it breaks my heart a little that we only had a chance to cover a tiny morsel of all the ideas we had put to paper beforehand. Nevertheless, this was assuredly the DEPTH over BREADTH episode and there is always value in those types of conversations. 
 
That "going deep" element has actually been one of the most special things about this podcast experiment: it’s granted me the opportunity to time travel back to simpler times of my own emerging intellectual maturity when I had time and energy to just sit around and talk about ideas, problems, dreams, grievances, with other curious and inspiring friends. I feel buoyed by the positivity of these conversations now, and especially so with Kate, as we focus on feminism. 
 
Trigger Warning:  the following conversation touches briefly upon the topic of abuse in literature.
 If you enjoy The Teachback, please consider supporting the podcast’s future by becoming a supporting member by clicking the link below.
 
Become a Member.
 
Thanks again for tuning in. Here’s to connecting, reflecting, and staying hungry to learn.
 
Today’s episode has been brought to you by Sister Song. SisterSong is a Southern based, national membership organization; their purpose is to build an effective network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities. Find and support them online at https://www.sistersong.net/
 
Introduction Music was made by my former student, Michael. Find him on Spotify where he is better known as Slacker.jpg.