The initial impetus behind this work was the idea of physical restraint. Physical restraint by a person of authority or a person in power. When I received restraint training as a public school educator, the majority of it was training in de-escalation. Training in how to avoid a physical confrontation. Training in how to help a person in your charge calm themselves down. Training in how to respond so that an escalating individual sees you, yes, as an authority, but not as a t

Americanness, as an identifier, has always been tricky for me. For most of my life I have been resistant to labeling myself American, because I see ‘America’ as an oppressive world force, a place of inequality and hypocritical values. As a kid, I could never understand why every single morning we were required to stand with our hands over our hearts, staring at the dinky flag in the corner of the classroom to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Most days I quietly refused to par