Hi everyone-

We hope that you are doing well and finding what you need to care for yourself during this time. As we enter an especially challenging Winter season, we are trying to spend some time reflecting on our work and what it means to us (and, hopefully, to others).

As we noted in our last post, we began 2020 in January by reflecting as a group on the role of art and music in imagining and creating a more just and equitable world. We are, of course, still reflecting on this, and it will continue to be at the center of everything we do moving forward.

As we prepare for new moments of joy and struggle in 2021, we wanted to share a few of the authors and works that have been guiding us to this point. Each of the books shown here draws beautiful connections between ideas of music, education, and society as a whole. We thought you might enjoy them as some Winter reading or a last minute holiday gift (including for yourself). The titles and authors are as follows:

Buck – A Memoir :: MK Asante

I Put a Spell on You – The Autobiography of Nina Simone :: Nina Simone

Go Ahead in the Rain – Notes to A Tribe Called Quest :: Hanif Abduraqib (also check out They Can’t Kill Us Until they Kill Us)

We Want To Do More Than Survive – Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom :: Bettina L. Love

Glitter Up the Dark – How Pop Music Broke the Binary :: Sasha Geffen

Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues – Education for Liberation of Black and Brown Girls :: Monique W. Morris

Hip Hop Genius – Remixing High School Education :: Sam Seidel