Crafton Educator Talks Social Justice in New Online Blog Interview
Publish Date: Oct. 26, 2022
A recent interview in the blog, “Heart- Head-Hands: Everyday Living for Justice,” puts a Crafton Hills College (CHC) educator at the head of the table.
Chloe de los Reyes, an assistant professor of English at CHC, spoke with blog creator and writer Beth Godbee about her work and dedication to lifelong learning and the importance of social justice.
“This is such a momentous time – the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement, and persisting violence against API (Asian Pacific Islanders), among many other ongoing injustices. This time has really spurred a reawakening in me, and I’m guessing, in many others,” de los Reyes told Godbee in the writeup published earlier this month.
“Heart-Head-Hands” is an online space for “learning and unlearning, writing and striving toward justice – social, racial and environmental justice,” according to the blog’s “About Us” space. The idea is to encourage readers and social justice advocates to make “commitments to justice actionable in everyday life,” it continues.
Godbee, a fellow educator and former professor, has broken the space down into eight categories of learning that include practicing everyday feminism, striving toward racial justice and downloadable vegan recipes. Overall, Godbee hopes readers weave through the material with “deeply relational, ideological and spiritual” thoughts.
Both de los Reyes and Godbee have known each other for close to two decades and have kept in touch over the years because of their “shared commitments,” says Godbee.
De los Reyes is honest with her answers to Godbee’s questions, speaking freely about her experiences moving from the Philippines to California at the age of 12.
“And as you can imagine, this was such a significant moment in my life,” shared de
los Reyes. “I spoke English because it was widely spoken in the Philippines (we were
colonized by the U.S.). But when I arrived in the U.S., folks readily pointed out
my accent or the ‘funny’ ways I used English. It always made me feel really bad.”
“So, at a young age, I became acutely aware that language is currency in America, and I needed to pay extra attention to it. This eventually led to a degree in Composition Studies,” she continued. “At first, my motivation for going into Comp Studies was because I wanted to fix myself – my English – but slowly I started to realize the deep connections among language, identity, culture, and power. I realized how important it is for people to think differently about language and, most importantly, to understand that difference is not deficiency.”
To read de los Reyes’ full interview, along with remarks about Godbee’s reactions to the chat and their friendship, go to heart- head-hands.com/chloe-de-los-reyes
