Outrageous Love the Podcast: Our Journeys to Responsiveness

For the first time but certainly not for the last time, we are going off script from our usual format. As you know, we usually hear the journey of a great CLR educator for every episode. Unfortunately, our special guest could not make the episode, so we had to come up with an alternative real fast. And we did! Dr. Hollie is going through ten common myths about CLR that can be used as a resource in...

Back to Minneapolis-St. Paul we go. This time to hear the journey of "original educator" Nanette Yurecko, affectionately known as Nan. What started off as an observation in her high school while serving as a teacher's assistant in a special education classroom blossomed into a vabbulous mission and service in education spanning 30 years. In other words, Nanette has been a warrior in...

In this reflective episode, we honor and celebrate Anthony Jackson as our first "original educator" or OE. An "OE" is an educator who has been in the game for more than 30 years and has retired.  Anthony, formerly an administrator in the Los Angeles Unified School District, dedicated 40 years and is now newly retired. Hear his incredible journey to responsiveness as he reflects...

In the opening episode of season 3, meet a student, Pablo Mejia, from Dr. Hollie's very first class in 1992. Pablo is now an up and coming building leader in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), but 30 years ago he was one of Dr. Hollie's 9th graders at Charles Drew Junior High School. Pablo describes "Hollie," as the students used to call him, in his first year and...

OLTP ends the "educrats series" in California with a look inside the belly of the beast of the California Department of Education (CDE). This time, we hear the perspective of educator Ben Kingsbury. Ben serves as a program consultant in the CDE. He offers deep insights, not only on the bureaucracy but also on his journey, which takes us to Saudi Arabia and we land with a dope reference t...

Welcome to the second part of  a three-part special series, The Educrats, a focus on educators who work within state and county departments of education. This episode takes us back to the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) in the Language and Cultural Division.  The educrat is Dr. Kadriye El-Atwani or otherwise known as Dr. Kad, Multicultural Education Specialist, in NMPED. Dr. Kad&apo...

Outrageous Love the Podcast opens up 2022 with a bang. New year, new series. For the next 3 episodes, we will go to the bureaucracy of state education departments, namely New Mexico's Public Education Department (or the PED), to have an internal peek on how advocating for cultural and linguistic responsiveness looks and feels. Mayra Valtierrez is  the  Director of Language and Culture and His...

Welcome to the last episode of 2021 or the winter episode.  This episode spotlights a former educator who is now in an exciting career outside of education. If you remember last year, we had Claudia Salinas, former ELL educator, now a senior executive with Curriculum Associates.  This year, we meet Crescent Imani Novell, former performing arts educator, now television writer and playwright. Cresce...

The final segment of the 3-part series, It's the White Man's Fault?, culminates with the journey of Tim Leistikow, a high school educator from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Tim provides his answer to the question as a "white man" in a unique way as he brings a personal and a professional perspective to the topic.  Currently working in curriculum as a coordinator and instructional coach...

This episode, Dr. Greg Mathison, explores the thought-provoking and somewhat rhetorical statement/question, It's The White Man's Fault and shares his journey to responsiveness. Dr. Mathison is assistant superintendent with the Parkway Schools located in St. Louis. Like many of our journeys, Greg's journey is windy road of twists and turns that are a combination of the predictable an...

Is institutional racism the white man's fault? This rhetorical question will be tackled over the next 3 episodes. In part one, Andrew Haaheim, high school science teacher from Minneapolis-St. Paul, answers the question from his perspective as a "white man" and CLR educator. More than that, though, Andrew tells his fascinating journey to responsiveness that began during a compelling...

The Unsung Heroes Series culminates with Dr. Amy Swick, English Learning/Bilingual Coordinator in the Appleton (Wisconsin) Schools. Amy's journey begins in Wisconsin, where her roots are, then goes to Reno, and finally returns to Wisconsin. All along, Dr. Swick has been an advocate for cultural responsiveness regardless of her location, with a particular focus and expertise on second language...

Hear Suzanne Nguyen's fascinating  journey to responsiveness. Suzanne is  Executive Director of Federal, Bilingual, and Native American Programs for the Rio Rancho Public School District in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From her position in "mid level management," she has positively influenced cultural and linguistic responsiveness (CLR) in Rio Rancho slowly but surely.  Her advocacy is...

The focus on the unsung heroes - assistant superintendents, chief academic officers, and directors - continues with Dr. Meg Schnoor, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning in Palatine Schools (Chicago area). Meg's insights and sharp perspective about how to lead from behind is worthwhile. Rarely do we hear from the mortar of the brick so to speak. More interestingly is Dr. Schnoor&...

Episode 2 of season 2 debuts the Unsung Heroes Series, focusing specifically on assistant superintendents of instruction/professional development, chief of academic officers, and directors of equity/instruction/professional development. Dr. Ian Buchanan, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction in University City Schools (St. Louis), kicks off the series with fire. Hear Ian's incredible journe...

Welcome to season two of Outrageous Love the Podcast! The first episode, dubbed the personal episode, features Dr. Hollie's daughter,  Attorney Imani Hollie's journey to responsiveness. Imani shares her journey from the lenses of a daughter, a former student of the Culture and Language Academy of Success (CLAS) and as an attorney working in criminal law. The highlights of CLAS, a laborat...

Episode 12 is the final entry for season 1 and it end on a very high note. Meet Bianca Suglia, 5th grade French Immersion teacher,  for one of the most diverse and interesting journeys to responsiveness thus far. In addition to her teachers teach testimony, Bianca fascinates us with her journey, which starts in Romania and lands in, of all places, Edina, Minnesota. Incredible!  Bianca's diver...

The deserved spotlight on the frontline workers in education continues. Episode 11 features high school teacher Felicia Homberger from the Hopkins Schools in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Felicia's journey to responsiveness starts in Milwaukee and works its way through Boston to New York, landing in the Twin Cities. Key to her journey is the celebration and resonation of her Jewish heritage, which sh...

Welcome to the new year, a new president, the new normal, and a new episode of Outrageous Love the Podcast. 2021 and episode 10 kick off a new 3-part series, Teachers Teach, which puts the focus on the outstanding, noble, and sacrificial work educators have been doing for our students for almost one year. Whether it be in-person with students, in a so-called hybrid model, or totally virtual, our e...

The final episode of 2020! Episode 9 celebrates the end of a helluva year and the optimism of a new year, 2021. This edition also celebrates Claudia Salinas, Vice President of English Learning for Curriculum Associates and her fascinating journey to responsiveness from Nicaragua to the United States. Claudia speaks about validation and affirmation from various perspectives - the corporate world, t...

In the final edition of the special series, Superintendents Who Love Outrageously, Dr. Hollie culminates the focus on leadership with an outstanding superintendent, Dr.  Judy Baseman of Appleton Schools in Wisconsin. Dr. Baseman shares her journey to responsiveness from music teacher with indigenous students in Montana and with urban students in Chicago to principal and assistant superintendent in...

What is the connection among Meg Thee Stallion, showing outrageous love virtually versus in person, born and raised in Virginia but living in Ithaca (of all places),  the struggles of leading a district courageously and unapologetically Black, being a lifelong reader and lover of comic books, and an unsolved murder mystery? Find out in this suspense-filled, action-packed episode. We are continuing...

The special series continues with Dr. Laurie Heinz, fearless and courageous leader of the Palatine/D15 Schools, located near Chicago. Dr. Heinz's journey to responsiveness treks from her childhood in Chicago to being named one of the top 100 superintendents in the nation. She brings a diverse perspective to cultural and linguistic responsiveness (CLR) as a female leader with an Irish/Italian...

Of the many variables the twindemic - Covid-19 and Racial Justice Reckoning - has revealed, lack of strong leadership at the national and, in some cases, at the local level is most telling because of the life and death consequences. This fifth episode begins a special series focusing on leadership at the superintendent level. The focus will be supts who get cultural and linguistic responsiveness (...

Straight from the epicenter of the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing global uprisings, in this episode, we hear from school leader and equity warrior, Dr. George Nolan. As an educator in Minneapolis-St. Paul and the surrounding areas, Dr. Nolan witnessed first hand the aftermath of Floyd's murder that has gripped not only the Twin Cities but the world in what has become the spark for rac...