Teachers Bridging Difference

When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect, to find ourselves in the other. —bell hooks All About Love: New Visions (New York: William Morrow, 2000), 93.

  This book exists because of the artist-educator-students I have been lucky to collaborate with. I am indebted to each of them. Through our candid and difficult conversations about the socially constructed walls that divide us, the educators I have worked with have taught me much about the importance of vulnerability, hope, and imagination. While every educator who has taken my course has contributed in some way to the thinking behind this book, several were generous enough to spend additional time talking with me at length about their reflections. Thank you, Max Albee, Jackie Du, Jasmin Eli-Washington, Rosalinda Glennon, Will Goertzel, Kendra Grady, Olivia Kalin, Stefanie Lewin, Rafaela Luna, Shannon Murphy, Natalie Nieves, Chris Parkman, Leena Peter-Uitto, Margaret Phelan, Avery Powell, Elle Sauer, Roberto Soto, Kendra Torres, Rafael Vélez, Jr., Andy Vernon-Jones, Jose-Manuel Villeneuve, Katie Walters, and Alexandra Whedbee. Their eloquent thoughts are the foundation of this book.