What are your origin stories? And how have they inspired your current values?
I grew up with a single mom who worked all the time to pay the bills and a dad who I only saw three times a year because he lived far away.
That's why I value connection.
When I was fifteen my dad called and told me his partner died of AIDS. While he was crying I was watching Family Ties and I didn't give him my attention.
That's why I value empathy.
As a kid almost all my friends were White. I didn't think much about it or seek to change it. It was just the way it was. It was. . .normal.
That's why I value curiosity.
One of my first teaching jobs was at a boys' school in a wealthy neighborhood of San Francisco. There were three Black kids in the entire second grade of 48 students. Their parents demanded that they all be in the same class.
That's why I value belonging.
I was at a wedding in Portland, Maine. When I told the hotel bartender where I was from, he said, "Aren't you the wrong color to be from Oakland?"
That's why I value self-awareness.
I recently ended a 35-year relationship with a friend who knows my personal story and the work I do, yet still insisted with his racist and homophobic views.
That's why I value trust.
My experiences have shaped me. How about you?