All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College
All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College
All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
59<br />
A Teacher Reflects:<br />
Learning <strong>About</strong> Student Leadership<br />
Dianne Ramdeholl, The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies<br />
This piece was inspired by attending the<br />
WE LEARN (Women Expanding Literacy<br />
Education Action Resource Network)<br />
Conference and written while sitting on<br />
the train returning to NYC. (It was later<br />
published in their spring 2009 newsletter).<br />
I kept thinking about unspoken but<br />
unmistakable power dynamics between<br />
students and nonstudents and also between<br />
students and other students (and how that<br />
impacts and defines student leadership).<br />
In my experience, student leadership<br />
involves collective struggles, grounded<br />
in solidarity, for equity, space and rights.<br />
It can never be paternalistic or replicate<br />
dominant power structures …<br />
Student Leadership<br />
Isn’t innocuous<br />
Flavorless, clear<br />
It doesn’t seep gently<br />
Like water,<br />
a lapping stream<br />
It’s frothy, bubbling,<br />
Fierce, rich<br />
Residing at intersections of<br />
histories and legacies<br />
honoring past and present<br />
collective struggles<br />
Pushing and pulling …<br />
For and with …<br />
Challenging, questioning,<br />
wild and untamed<br />
For space, voice, rights<br />
Pieces of the pie.<br />
In solidarity<br />
Common struggle<br />
Unquenchable and unstoppable.<br />
It isn’t toxic<br />
Perpetuations of dominant interests<br />
further exploitation with facelifts<br />
Mouthpieces for furthering others’ agendas<br />
It’s grappling, wrestling<br />
Reframing, resisting<br />
Rewriting, rethinking<br />
Renegotiating, re-navigating<br />
Redefining, re-presenting<br />
Dominant terrain.<br />
Co-creating space<br />
Equitably<br />
Toiling collectively,<br />
Democratically envisioning<br />
Dilemmas and contradictions,<br />
Pushing, pulling …<br />
For and with …<br />
Re-imagining<br />
Existing beyond frameworks<br />
Beyond boundaries and limitations<br />
Beyond fixed definitions<br />
Fluid, shifting,<br />
Constant metamorphosis<br />
Unlimited worlds of possibility<br />
Narratives as of yet unwritten …<br />
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring <strong>2011</strong>