Maha Bali (Reflecting Allowed)Because I get there at 8am each morning after dropping her off, I am really privileged. I get to sit wherever I want, most importantly near a power plug that works.
I used to just do that, and charge my phone and headphones on my laptop’s USB. But then one day, I don’t remember what happened. Maybe I saw a power strip in the supermarket or something. But I decided to buy one. That way, I keep my privilege, but I share power. Other people can benefit from the same power plug I’m using.
Your situation and the connection you have to education reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Thomas Jefferson (pardon the overly masculine pronouns from the unenlightened enlightement):
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.
I’m certainly far from even moderately well read on power, but I do recall a short but impactful post a month back by Cat Swentel entitled An Extended Subtweet on Power. (For context, it related to the unfortunate change in Basecamp’s corporate stance which saw a third or more of its employees to leave.) In particular she spoke about Mary Parker Follett‘s three types of power: power-over, power-with, and power-to. Perhaps you might find something interesting in Follett’s work or the others mentioned in the piece? I’ve bookmarked them myself for the summer break.
Oooh thank you for the Follett reference (I’ll skip the Jefferson even though it’s actually a good one haha)
I’m planning on throwing Jefferson’s quote over in favor of your power strip story myself.
I notice you’re using Webmentions though I suspect most are coming from Twitter. I’m curious how you like it? What you think of it? Tried it with students or in a class room setting?
Have you gotten any from other personal domains that aren’t Twitter?