Brené Brown Instagram – My heart feels broken. bell hooks changed my life in countless ways. I once wrote that her work is responsible for 90% of the stretch marks on my heart and my mind. I slept with “Teaching to Transgress” next to me when I was a brand-new professor. I was so afraid of the classroom that I needed her constant reminder of education as liberation. It had to be an honest space and that meant uncomfortable. I bought copies of “All About Love” for our facilitators as a reminder of how a love ethic needs to guide our work—and not a soft, safe love but a fierce love in the face of the lovelessness of sexism, classism, white supremacy, and the other systems that dehumanize people and belittle love. She was scheduled to be our first podcast guest on “Unlocking Us.” I couldn’t believe it! Barrett and I were going to fly to her sister’s house to record it. Then COVID hit and it never happened. It never happened. To @yabablay and @taranajaneen and @lavernecox and @austinchanning—can we please NEVER stop these conversations: “Which one of bell hooks’ book is that quote in . . . remember when bell hooks said . . . what about when she challenged . . . man, I don’t know the answer, but her question gutted me.” So much grief. So much gratitude.