Reflection: Teaching and Writing as Activism: Can Scholars Be Too Literal in Post-Truth Trumplandia?

Low self-esteem and doubt are evil, tiny demons, and both have plagued me throughout a career in education, first as a high school English teacher for 18 years and now currently in my 17th year as a college professor in teacher education and first-year writing: Are teaching and writing activism?

Compounding those feelings have been the era under Donald Trump as president during which the public in the United States has had to confront the power and tensions with activism. The activism connected with race and racism across the nation also prompted for me a question about what exactly counts as activism as well as what are our moral obligations when faced with bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, and all forms of oppression.