Be a Better Ally: Critical Conversations for K12 Educators

What does it really mean to "be yourself"?

In this episode, Tricia speaks with Meredith Walker about her new book and the deeper work of self-discovery. Meredith's motto, "get your hair wet," becomes the perfect entry point for a conversation about joining the moment instead of protecting the version of ourselves we think we need to present.

Together, they explore why identity is not something we solve once, but something we keep returning to. Meredith shares how her work with young people, storytelling, comedy, friendship, and even dogs has shaped the way she thinks about confidence, connection, and becoming.

This conversation is especially useful for educators, families, and anyone supporting adolescents as they ask bigger questions about who they are, what matters to them, and how they want to move through the world.

Why "just be yourself" is not enough guidance for young people

How self-discovery changes as we meet new people and gain new experiences

Why rethinking success matters at every age

What storytelling can offer young people who need to feel seen and heard

How comedy helps us loosen shame and make room for play

Why friendship can be a bridge to deeper self-understanding

The role of face-to-face connection in a digital world

What dogs can teach us about attention, love, and belonging

00:01 — Meredith explains the story behind her motto, "get your hair wet"

01:13 — Why being yourself requires reflection, not just confidence

03:32 — Rethinking success beyond career ladders and external approval

04:13 — Meredith shares a powerful story from a storytelling workshop with girls living in a Syrian refugee camp

06:02 — What good listening makes possible

07:07 — How comedy helps us question the scripts we take too seriously

09:46 — Why trying something badly can still help us grow

12:00 — Meredith reflects on creating across TV, radio, podcasts, digital work, and books

13:11 — How the book can become a bridge for friendship

14:35 — Dog wisdom, connection, and the most loving version of ourselves

"Get your hair wet" is really an invitation to stop guarding your look and join the moment.

Identity is not a one-time answer. It is a conversation we keep returning to.

Sometimes success is not the next step on a ladder. Sometimes it is helping someone feel seen enough to tell their story.

Comedy can help us loosen shame and make room for becoming.

Friendship helps us find ourselves more interesting.

Dogs remind us that connection does not always require perfect language.

This episode offers a gentle but powerful way to talk with young people about identity. Instead of asking them to simply "be themselves," we can help them build the habits that make self-understanding possible: reflection, curiosity, humor, friendship, storytelling, and care.

Meredith's work invites us to give young people better questions, not just better advice.

What would change if we treated "be yourself" not as a slogan, but as a practice?

Learn more about the summit mentioned at the top of the episode:

https://www.sidecarcounsel.com/

Connect with Bridget:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-mcnamer/

Tricia Friedman speaks with Keala Kendall, author of That Which Feeds Us, a gothic novel that begins with a missing sister and opens into a larger conversation about Hawaii, diaspora, colonialism, memory, and the stories we are taught to accept about place.

Keala describes her writing process as a kind of "ingredient foraging." The novel began as the story of a diaspora girl returning to Hawaii for the first time to search for her missing twin sister. As Keala researched and followed the emotional truth of the story, she realized horror was not simply a genre choice. It was the form the story required.

For K–12 educators, this conversation offers a powerful way to think about place-based learning, media literacy, Indigenous histories, and the role of fiction in helping students ask better questions. Keala challenges the postcard version of Hawaii often shown in films, tourism campaigns, and popular culture. She asks readers to look at what gets hidden when a place is sold only as paradise.

Tricia and Keala also discuss horror as a serious literary form. Keala makes the case that horror can reveal what a society fears, what it refuses to confront, and what histories remain unresolved. Her description of history as "one big ghost story" offers a compelling frame for educators working with students on historical memory, colonialism, belonging, and power.

This episode is especially useful for educators interested in how speculative fiction can help students engage with difficult truths without reducing literature to a lesson plan. Keala is clear that That Which Feeds Us is entertainment first. But the book also invites readers to think more carefully about whose stories are amplified, whose are flattened, and what it means to be haunted by history.

This week, Tricia Friedman welcomes New York Times bestselling author Dr. Brittney Cooper to the podcast for a conversation about her new picture book, Mama Says I'm Fine.

Based largely on Cooper's own childhood, Mama Says I'm Fine is a heartwarming story about family, resilience, and the powerful force of a mother-daughter bond. The book carries Cooper's well-known feminist sensibility, offering young readers a story rooted in love, care, and empowerment.

In this conversation, Brittney shares the backstory behind the book and reflects on what it means to write from memory, to honor maternal love, and to create stories that speak to young girls with honesty and tenderness. Tricia and Brittney also discuss collaboration, including how picture books ask writers and illustrators to build meaning together.

The episode explores how a simple phrase like "I'm fine" can hold courage, reassurance, protection, and love, especially in the relationship between a mother and daughter.

Tricia and Brittney discuss:

The childhood memories that helped shape Mama Says I'm Fine

Why mother-daughter relationships can carry so much emotional meaning

How stories for young readers can hold both sweetness and strength

Writing girlhood through a feminist lens

The role of resilience in family stories

What it means to collaborate intentionally on a picture book

How children's books can speak to adults, too

Dr. Brittney Cooper is a New York Times bestselling author, professor, cultural critic, and public thinker. She is the author of several books, including Eloquent Rage: A Black Woman Discovers Her Superpowers, Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood, and her debut picture book Stand Up! 10 Mighty Women Who Made a Change.

She is a professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University and cofounder of the Crunk Feminist Collective. Her cultural commentary has appeared across major media outlets including MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, PBS, Essence, The Root, TED.com, and more. She has also been named four times to The Root 100.

Her newest picture book, Mama Says I'm Fine, is a story of love, resilience, family, and maternal care.

Bestselling author Patricia Cornwell joins Tricia Friedman to discuss True Crime: A Memoir, her deeply personal account of the life behind the books. Cornwell is known around the world for the Kay Scarpetta series, which has sold millions of copies and helped shape the modern forensic thriller. Her memoir, published by Grand Central Publishing on May 5, 2026, turns that same investigative intensity toward her own story.

In this conversation, Cornwell talks about why now was the moment to write a memoir, how difficult personal experiences shaped her career, and what it means to tell the truth on the page. She reflects on writing, survival, research, violence, and the kind of curiosity that keeps a creative life moving.

Tricia and Patricia Cornwell discuss:

The story behind True Crime: A Memoir

Why Cornwell chose to write about her own life now

How Kay Scarpetta changed the crime fiction landscape

The relationship between lived experience and fiction

Why curiosity matters to writers, investigators, and readers

How Cornwell thinks about truth, memory, research, and resilience

What readers may discover when they return to Scarpetta through the memoir

Get your copy of True Crime:

https://www.patriciacornwell.com/

Join Tricia Friedman Monday, May 4th for a free Futures Literacy session exploring the future of fun:

https://triciafriedman.com/futureoffun/

In this episode, Tricia speaks with Dr. Kimberly Becker, an applied linguist and social scientist, about what shifts when AI enters the world of writing, research, and communication. Their conversation moves past the usual panic about cheating and detection and instead asks a deeper question: what happens when language is no longer written first and foremost for other humans?

Dr. Becker explains the difference between theoretical and applied linguistics, shares how her research examines real-world writing, and discusses a current study comparing human-written research abstracts with AI-generated ones. One of the major concerns she raises is not simply whether AI can produce fluent text, but how it may strip away context, stance, and nuance in ways that matter, especially in fields like healthcare research.

The episode also explores what AI may reveal about the way many of us were already writing before tools like ChatGPT arrived. Tricia and Dr. Becker talk about language written for algorithms, the emptiness of content made just to circulate, and why polish is not the same as thought. They also get into what this means for schools, writing instruction, and whether this moment could push educators toward valuing complexity over compliance.

Learn more about this week's guest:

https://www.womentalkinboutai.com/

Special call out, months back we were thrilled to host Shilpi Chhotray, of A People's Climate on the pod, and Shilpi's show is SO close to winning a WEBBY.

This is a big big deal, so we need you to show your support.

A People's Climate is a top 5 Webby nominee (out of 13,000+ entries) and currently in a tight race for the People's Voice Award.

This is one of those rare moments where an independent project is up against corporate-backed platforms—and can actually win.

🗳️ If you have a minute, please vote + share: https://wbby.co/57463N

⚠️ Don't forget to confirm via email.

Share this to get the episode out.

What can a graphic novel teach educators about belonging, friendship, and the inner lives of young people?

In this episode, Tricia speaks with actor and author Sara Amini about Mixed Feelings, her semi-autobiographical middle grade graphic novel. Together they explore how stories can help adults better understand what students may be carrying: questions of identity, the pain of shifting friendships, the awkwardness of growing up, and the search for community.

Sara shares how the book began as a collection of essays before becoming a graphic novel, and why that form gave her a sharper way to tell a story about not fully fitting into any one category. The conversation also looks at humor as a way into hard topics, including racism, xenophobia, puberty, and loneliness. Along the way, Sara reflects on writing visually, thinking like a director, and why graphic novels offer such rich opportunities for readers and classrooms alike.

If you would like to enter to win a free copy, email tricia(at) shiftingschools (dot com) a screen shot of you rating the podcast by April 15th, and you will be automatically entered.

This week I am sharing my podcast feed with Matthew Savage's show Jack and Me.

If you have not yet tuned in, I hope this introduction turns you into a fan.

Learn more:

https://jackandme.podbean.com/

What if "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is not the best question to ask young people?

In this episode, Tricia speaks with beloved author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds about creativity, identity, student voice, and his latest book, When You Dream Big. Together, they explore why educators matter so deeply in helping children make meaning from books, not just read them. Peter shares why teachers and librarians have always been central to his work, how curiosity can help us better understand young people, and why quieter students may need different kinds of invitations into learning.

The conversation also looks at the pressure children can feel when asked to define their future too early. Peter offers a more humane and useful frame: not only what do you want to do, but what kind of person do you want to be while you figure life out? This is a thoughtful episode for educators, school leaders, parents, librarians, and anyone interested in creativity, belonging, and helping students imagine futures that feel open rather than fixed.

Peter H. Reynolds is the author and illustrator behind beloved books including The Dot and The North Star. In this conversation, he discusses his new book When You Dream Big and reflects on the questions that help young people better understand themselves.

Learn more about the EKG:

https://ekgcollective.com/toolkit