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Would this be considered rebranding or relaunching?


Welcome to my blog. If you've been reading this at all, you will have realized that I haven't been writing for quite a long time...years in fact. I'm sorry about that. In reality, I may only be apologizing to my mother, as I think she's the only one who read my previous posts. But I digress. I'm doing a relaunch of sorts, having changed the name of the blog from God over Golden Beads to Grace and Courtesy. Grace and Courtesy (or G&C) will be both a blog and a podcast in the coming weeks/months. The focus will be the intersections of Education--and Montessori Philosophy in particular--Christianity, and being a person of color, all at the same friggin' time. It doesn't quite seem as though these ideas would intersect, but if that is the case then I don't exist. Since I am pretty certain that I do exist (we can go into epistemological arguments at a later date), then I would like to dialogue with you regarding how the tenants of Montessori pedagogy can speak to both the strengths and ills of education in America. From the point-of-view of a person of color, my life as a student and a teacher in public and private schools has given me a distinct frame of thinking which, I hope, is continuously being enriched by my conversations with other educators and (true to Montessori) my observations.

But above and beyond this, the umbrella under which all of these ideas fall, is my faith in Jesus Christ. I've been a Christian since I was 7 years old and grew up out of a sheltered existence to the on-slaught of western and eastern ideologies showering their beliefs upon me, beckoning me to choose whom this day I would serve...and I chose Yeezy *ahem* Jesus. So the Bible is the lens through which I try to view everything else, including my ethnic makeup (Black and humble) and my profession(teacher of almost 10 years and Montessorian of about 4). Instead of just creeping around that central aspect of my life, I've decided to keep it central to this conversation.

Does this mean I'm going to have verses in all my podcasts? No. Well maybe. Does this mean I'm going to have Maria Montessori quotes in every post? No. But it does mean that these elements will exist throughout, as they are important to me and I hope will become important to you.

In the end, if I've encouraged a teacher to keep teaching passionately, or I've encouraged a retired teacher with the hope that there are still folks out there who care about kids the way they did, or I inform parents about the different school cultures, helping them make a great fit for their child, then I will have done my job. I want to bring everyone into the conversation, as educating young people inevitably effects an unknown future. Might as well do so with gentleness and love, truthfulness and care, grace and courtesy.
Location: New York, NY, USA

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