MISFiT | TeaDay Blogs. The process of re-education.
"My formula of Learn, Discuss, Act is how I break away from political noise into political pragmatism."
This week, we look at the concept of re-education, a vital and constantly occurring process; we speak to Tide of TeaDay Blogs, founder of @_reeducate, we read about the process of re-defining success, and we watch a father find feminism.
Enjoy and see you next week,
MISFiT Profiles…
Tide Adesanya aka TeaDay
If there was a prize for multi-hyphens, Tide, who goes by Tea, would be the winner. Among other things, she does art on commission, social media management, edits, writes copy, and is a Restless Mag staff writer.
Most recently, Tea has founded Re-Education (@_reeducate), a free monthly subscription on Instagram, birthed in lockdown and dedicated to filling the holes in our knowledge of Black history and lived experiences. The platform encourages us to engage with monthly topical material, think critically, and discuss with those around us. The platform’s assistant coordinator is Danielle Sams (@daniellesams).
Recent global events have undoubtedly whacked everyone over the head hard enough to leave a throbbing bruise that won’t quite budge. It can leave us all feeling a little sore about what we thought we knew, and just how much we don’t know. It can feel easy to jump and shout in rage during this process. This is where my respect for Tea lies. Instead of barraging our feeds with overwhelming, draining, and confusing information about issues of race, gender and class, platforms like Tea’s can help us bridge the gaps in our worldly understanding in an easy-to-follow and visually beautiful format, making re-education and activism pleasurable acts instead of anxiety-inducing ones that repel us.
I had the pleasure of catching up with Tea (you don’t know how hard I resisted including a hot beverage pun here) to chat about her motivations behind the activism-based educational platform.
Images @_reeducate
As a woman of colour myself, I often find it difficult to separate politics from my personal life, as our very existence is often political. I’m interested in whether you find the intersection of politics with your personal life difficult and tiring to navigate. If so, how do you give yourself a break from the political noise and find peace for yourself?
Strangely enough, up until very recently, I had a very ineffective way of separating my individual self from my political reality. Apathy and repression. Which is analogous to using a long net with wide gaping holes to try and separate the sea from the sand.
To my surprise, it doesn't work. After my Politics and International Relations degree, I felt pretty overwhelmed by the state of the political world so I tried to escape it through distractions, namely Love Island and copious amounts of scrolling. Gradually my Apolitical existence started chipping away, but it wasn't until the BLM uprising that I became completely enraged again. Like a light switch.
However, unlike before, I cautiously practice grounding techniques. Rather than getting lost and dismayed in Twitter debates, the dark side YouTube, and endless depressing news, reclaiming my power over the things I can control about my political existence as a Black Woman gives me peace. My formula of Learn, Discuss, Act is how I break away from political noise into political pragmatism. Leaning in and shifting the focus to what I can personally control gives me not just peace but sustains my energy as a political actor. That plus chatting rubbish with friends and family, meditative moments in nature, and doodling (still patiently waiting for Love Island 2021).
What spurred you on to launch Re-educate, and why do you believe education is the key to tackling racism?
In addition to the BLM uprising, self-isolation got me thinking about civic duty, global citizenship, heritage, history, etc. And the more I thought, the more my own lack of general understanding became painfully striking. Not just the gaping chasm of historical knowledge but also in my own personal heritage.
A lot of people have asked "How did I not know this?" as information about the history of racism starts to hit us in the face. If you are born into something, it is tempting to believe the current state of the world is just the way it is - the way it has always been.
But we don't live in a vacuum. Our present reality is a result of past people's present realities. There is an invisible thread being sewn together. I believe education empowers us to first acknowledge the thread and then make the next line we weave less shit.
I think the majority of people don't see the thread. School, which is the hub meant to equip us with the tools to see the thread, prioritises the aim of finding a job and growing a capitalistic workforce. So, whilst that is hopefully in reform, we need to take our Re-Education into our own hands and pass on what we know to the next generation a lot faster. It's my personal belief, which isn't new nor revolutionary, that education plus a fervent and firm sense of civic duty, empathy, and community action can help in some fundamental way towards tackling racism.
Tell me about any emerging intersectional creatives you've been following recently.
One intersectional creative I admire is Mikaela Loach.
And Mikaela is an Edinburgh Uni student, just like myself! Finally, what's your advice to young creatives who struggle with the conflict of not fitting into a mould?
My very simply put advice is this:
Experiment till you find your 'thing'. Experiment until you find your voice. Experiment till you find your platform. And once you feel like you've found it - experiment some more. Do all of this with your own personal fulfilment and purpose in mind; rather than anything you can get externally.
In Tea’s words, activism isn’t doom and gloom; engaging with dynamic educational resources can help us make learning fun again - it’s how you always wish school was, on your own terms, at your own pace.
Follow Tea @teadayblogs.
And find out more about her here.
DISCOVER WEEKLY
Read
Why Success Won’t Make You Happy
“The pursuit of achievement distracts from the deeply ordinary activities and relationships that make life meaningful.”
Illustration by Jan Buchczik for The Atlantic
What | We’re all chasing our dreams and trying to be the best version of ourselves, but attempting to achieve ‘success’ can feel really overwhelming and difficult. Especially when you’re a young creative and ‘success’ is vastly non-binary and succeeding in your chosen path is a little less stable than other fields.
This piece can help you brush off traditional notions of success, re-learn what success means to you, and re-define what makes you happy.
Who | Written by Arthur Brooks who has a bi-weekly column in The Atlantic, “How to Build a Life”, tackling questions of meaning and happiness.
If you… are like most people and are struggling to keep up with the incessant striving for success within today’s emphasis on production.
Read the article here.
Watch
A Father’s Newfound Feminism
“I swear on my goddamn life that I will hunt you down… a nice card so that you can write her a proper apology because we all mess up from time to time, especially as young people”.
What | A hilarious short from The New Yorker; one father’s monologue to his 16-year-old daughter’s boyfriend with a fresh twist on old fatherhood tropes. Think Bad Boys II goes woke.
Who | Narrated by John Hamm, and directed & produced by Meghan Ross, it’s an adaptation of Sophie Kohn’s Daily Shouts column.
If you… just need a laugh.
Watch the video here.
LASTLY, SOME GOOD NEWS.
Because we all need it.
After decades of tireless work, Africa has finally eradicated the wild polio virus from the continent. Read about it here.
Image courtesy of AFP.
Have some content to recommend? Or want to tell me what you think of MISFiT? (I’m still finding my feet, so feedback is really helpful!):