June 22, 2023 • 27 mins
Ever wondered how unschooling and liberation work intersect? Join us for a nostalgic trip down memory lane as we delve into the first season of Fare of the Free Child podcast. We discuss my personal journey to unschooling and how moving away from a school-centric life connected to liberation work.
In this episode, we give a special shout out to Juan Perez, our beloved audio editor! We also celebrate the various topics, conversations, and stories from season one that have left a lasting impact on us as listeners.
Discover how resistance can serve as a roadmap to understanding the identity of unschooling and its potential for personal growth. I share my experience with revisiting the personal manifesto path - a transformative course I published in 2014.
We discuss the importance of taking full responsibility for our experiences, opening up new portals of exploration in the world of unschooling, liberation, and social justice. Find a cozy spot, tune in, and let's do some Sankofa work.
LINKS:
For any audio editing, you can reach out to Juan Pablo: juanpablooperez@gmail.com
krak teet: https://www.krakteet.org/
The Life School Atlanta: https://www.thelifeschool.co/
Humanity Communications Collective: https://humanitycom.com/about-our-ceo/
Smell Good Spa: https://smellgoodspa.com/
Heart of Business: https://www.heartofbusiness.com
Dig this show? Join our make-it-happen family at patreon.com/akilah to make sure we can keep this thang going strong. Thank you!
The Raising Free People Practice Card Deck
https://schoolishness.com/market/rfp-a-practice-deck/
Peek at the details of Personal Manifesto Path (will be available exclusively through our make-it-happen family on Patreon)
https://www.rfpunschool.com/p/manifesto
Our Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/@fareofthefreechild
The Village:
https://my-reflection-matters.mn.co/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Akilah S. Richards (00:06):
I want to shout-out to Juan Perez, whose
voice you heard last week at thetop of the episode talking
about Fare of the Free Child andRaising Free People Network.
Juan has been our audio editorfor many seasons, and many years
.
This season I'm closing out thesame way.
(00:26):
I started doing the bulk of theproduction of the podcast
myself, with Naaz formerlyFatima supporting me along the
way.
So I really love that Juan wasable to be involved in the sound
in a different way.
So any imperfections you hearthis season in the audio, are
all mine! and if you are lookingfor professional-level audio,
(00:50):
I highly recommend Juan Perez.
I will make sure a link toreach out to Juan is available.
I have friends who podcast, whoI've recommended Juan to, and
everybody was like, oh my God,thank you, and I was like you're
welcome.
You can't keep using tools ofoppression and expect to raise
(01:12):
free people.
It's good, it's Akilah here.
Welcome back to Fare of theFree Child podcast.
I'm making myself practicedoing this introduction thing
because I don't want to leaveout new listeners, folks who are
(01:34):
hearing this podcast, thesestories, for the first time or
just the second time and mightnot have some of the backstory.
But I also know that it's sucha sweet sentiment because the
reason that I have a hard timefeeling comfortable doing a
formalish introduction isbecause I really feel so
(01:57):
connected to so many of you wholisten to the podcast, because
we chat on social media or we'vechatted at a live event
somewhere in person, and so itjust feels like almost like I'm
going to come to your house Andthen when you open a door, i'm
going to be like hi, i'm AkilahS Richards and I host Fare of
(02:17):
the Free Child podcast, so Ilove that we've gotten to the
point where it feels socomfortable.
I also want to be like hey, newpeople, come on in, grab a spot
, come on into the conversations.
We dive deep into the world ofunschooling, liberation and so
(02:40):
many aspects of raising freepeople.
I'm your host, akilah.
Today I have something super,super special lined up.
We're going to take a strolldown memory lane.
This whole season will includea lot of memory lane in it, and
for some of us it will benostalgic because we were
(03:02):
listening real time and talkingreal time back in 2016, 2017,
the first couple years of thispodcast.
And for others, it might benice to peek in on some folks
going down memory lane becauseit's brand new for you.
So, either way, my intentionhere is to just do this memory
lane ting and explore some ofthe themes and intersections
(03:27):
that showed up for us in each ofthe episodes of that first
season.
We kicked off season one with anepisode I can't believe.
I didn't put in front of me thetitle.
It was like why I need to honorthis feeling, and I know that
(03:51):
in that episode I really wassharing my personal journey and
just the experiences that led meto explore unschooling And that
by that time in 2016, i hadstarted to make or notice a
really clear connection betweenunschooling and liberation work.
The broader, outside of myexperiences alone, my personal
(04:15):
experiences, my inner world,like things outside of that,
were significantly affected byour decision to move away from
school-centric life.
Initially, it felt like it wasabout giving our daughters the
space that they needed and thenthe language switch to deserved,
to just explore what theirinterests were and to learn in a
(04:40):
way that wasn't sosuperscripted and super
influenced and ruled bypervasive whiteness.
So that's around the time thatthat started to happen.
And so, seeing that connectionand perhaps you've heard the
story of how, after some more ofthe typical in the United
States loss of black livesthrough agents of the system, in
(05:06):
this case, the police thathappened in 2016 and people were
messaging me because by then, iwas writing essays about
unschooling and how it was atype of sovereignty and
liberation just what I wasnoticing for the first time back
then.
So people were writing to mesaying, yes, this is why we We
(05:28):
can't get with unschooling or wewant to, but it's not feasible
because our kids aren't safe.
We're not safe, and reallythat's what started, what became
this podcast and this community.
So I was sharing theexperiences that led me to
unschooling, and so that reallyset the tone for the entire
season and just opened the doorto other people's connection
(05:52):
points between unschooling andliberation and what that looked
like.
That's how the podcast tookshape, because I had no idea
what I was gonna do besides saywhat I was upset about and why I
thought that, even though I wasso upset about those realities,
they made me want more tounderstand life without a focus
(06:13):
on school.
It didn't feel safer to figureout how to get my kids to fit
into the system.
It was the fucking opposite,especially because of everything
we were experiencing.
So I didn't know that it wouldshape up the way that it did And
really we just that firstseason.
It was just a fantastic stretchof 20 episodes from July to
(06:35):
December So many conversations,so much insight, so many
eye-opening moments.
We covered so many topicsdecolonization, social change,
the foundational role ofunschooling and social justice.
Some of the people, the voices,the stories that were shared
(06:56):
during that first season reallyleft a significant mark on us as
listeners, and I put myself inthe category I identify as a
listener, of fare of the freechild podcast, and not just a
host, because I'm listening tothe stories and I'm also
listening to your feedback, howthe stories move you.
If you're in my Make It Happenfamily and you comment on
(07:19):
something or you're on Instagram, you comment on something, and
I really want to take a momentto acknowledge the guests who
joined during season one,specifically season one.
I really enjoyed, at varyinglevels, every conversation but
season one.
You were rocking with me fromjump And so there's a special
(07:40):
place for folks like Zakiyalsmail, who has been an advocate
for freedom in education formore than 20 years.
Zakiya's reflections about theintersections of unschooling
with social change anddecolonization are profound and
(08:02):
really allow my family to dropour shoulders away from our ear
lobes just a little bit more andlean into what we're unlearning
.
So shout out to Zakia.
We also spoke with MikaelaStreeter, the founder of the
Life School in Atlanta.
I really appreciate the waythat Mikaela is moving with the
(08:25):
needs of the community that sheand that team is serving really
well.
They take such a fresh approachto education and really focus
on creating a real world,personalized, exploration and
discovery focused environment.
Trelani Michelle of krak Teet Ifyou don't know about the work
(08:46):
there and you love a good storyand history and connection and
blackness, you definitely needto be checking out krakteet.
I will make sure the link is onthe page the show notes page
for this episode.
But Trelani Michelle camethrough and was sharing her
journey.
I've known her for many yearsbefore Fear of the Free Child
(09:06):
came to be, and really lovewatching the evolution and ease
with which she's moving reallyin her zone in ways that are
truly serving communities aroundher in so many ways.
Her work focuses on makinghistory interesting and
relatable by using storytellingas the tool for connecting and
(09:30):
understanding, and when youcouple that with s personality
and her unique perspectives, itjust flows beautifully and her
being on the podcast really hasreally been special to me.
Janita Castro, the CEO ofHumanity Communications
(09:50):
Collective, brought herexpertise into the building.
She is an Afro Latina and aJustice Warrior.
Janita shares valuable insightson how communication can be a
tool for social change anddismantling oppressive systems.
I really really appreciate whatJanita brought into the space
(10:12):
here for me through this podcastand for us, because that's one
of the earliest spaces where Irealized that groups of people
were listening to the podcasttogether and it was impacting
like I got to learn some of theways that it was impacting
people outside of their ownthoughts and their own homes,
like how it affected how theyshowed up in community and how
(10:34):
they even found community.
So much of that education forme and awareness for me came
through Janita and what she wassharing.
So if you're listening and, sis, you already know I appreciate
you.
Monique Allison, Koran Kajadar,Ietiel McVeigh shout out to
(10:55):
SmellGoodSpa.
Kelly Ferguson, Darcelle White,Anthony Galloway, Tracy, who is
the Grand Matriarch at BlackVibe Tribe, founded by Trinity
Simone, who is, among manythings, Tracy's daughter.
We also had Kenya Skad.
Shout out to you.
Kenya, who also graced us withher wisdom and experiences, and
(11:17):
Kenya and I just have a goodtime every time we talk.
Each guest brought just a uniquestory, a unique perspective to
the table and really enrichedour conversations and shed some
light on the intersections ofunschooling, liberation and
overall raising free people.
Even though I didn't have thelanguage for it back then, in
(11:39):
November of 2016, towards theend of that season, we had a
special episode where we talkedabout the importance of telling
children the truth, particularlyin relation to the political
climate at the time.
That's when Trump was firstbrought into Yal's office.
Anyway, it was a heartfeltconversation that really
(12:01):
emphasized the need for honestand age-appropriate discussions
with our children about what washappening in the United States
and how that was impacting theworld, how it might back then,
how it might impact the world,just really trying to have
expansive conversation aboutwhat it means to clue our
(12:21):
children in or to notice howmuch they already know and want
and need and are ready fordiscussion around.
And then we could not wrap upthe season without talking about
self-care and sacredspace-making.
So Leslie W Bray joined us fora powerful discussion on the
(12:44):
importance of nurturingourselves, creating space that
honors our well-beings AndLeslie was actually just here at
the Korea a couple of days ago.
Shout out to Leslie, and wewere sitting in the backyard
talking about this same thingthat we were talking about back
then in terms of creating spacesaround us and within us that
(13:04):
honor our well-being, what thatlooked like in our physical
homes and what that looked likein our relationships.
Every time we get together,some version of that
conversation shows up, so I lovebeing able to think back about
how we were doing that back thentoo, and now we're doing it in
person.
And then, finally, we endedseason one with our love and
(13:28):
unschooling episode, where Chrisand I delved into the
intricacies of marriage andbusiness partnership while
trying to raise free people, andwe shared our personal
experiences, of course, and someof the challenges that come
with navigating theserelationships, and some of the
joys, and it was really, itremains, a fan favorite.
(13:51):
It's always in the top fiveepisodes top five amount of
downloaded episodes.
Every time I remember to lookat the stats And it really was a
great way to wrap up anincredible season.
So that my friend is a wrap onour trip down memory lane.
Season one of Fair of the FreeChild was really a journey of
(14:13):
discovery and growth andcollecting stories right
Collective listening.
We covered decolonization andsocial change, self-care, the
importance of honestconversations, and I really just
want to express my deepestgratitude to all of our guests
and listeners who joined us onseason one.
(14:34):
I think that season closing outthose 20 episodes is where I
got a chance to I don't know,solidify might not be the right
word, but just to say to namethat unschooling is a mindset
you know, like a way of life, aliberty, and not just like a
(14:56):
thing that you do for your kid.
So I want to know if you werelistening back in a day in 2016,
.
I'd love to know what you gotout of season one.
Let me know, if you did listento season one, how it moved you.
(15:29):
In last week's episode Imentioned personal manifesto
path, which initially was acourse that I was going to offer
, kind of like a cohort stylereal time live conversation over
four months course.
That is a revisiting of acourse that I published back in
(15:53):
2014.
Maybe some of you listeningwere one of the I don't know 30
people who took that course And,like everything that I share,
it was very much from thereality of where I was, what I
was noticing, what I wasstruggling with and uniquely
(16:15):
because most of the time I'mjust talking about what I'm
struggling with But in thatinstance it was also sharing the
results of the struggle, theother side of the struggle, what
I learned from it and how I gotto it and what I was doing to
integrate slowly and become morepractice in what I was learning
(16:39):
, because unschooling was aportal for us.
I keep saying that because itkeeps me in.
True, it was a portal And theearly stages of it before I even
had that language of it, ofunschooling, was really just
recognizing how tangled up I wasin the identity of like mother
(17:02):
of school aged children And Ididn't call it that back then
but my actions, my limitations,my perceptions of myself and
what I should be doing and howthings should be and what was
wrong and what wasn't working.
Those things were just allwrapped up in school culture, my
(17:22):
own as a child and then my ownas a mother.
So when I had the space,because of the girl's resistance
.
That's why resistance is theroadmap.
Check out the tangible tokensof that.
Energy resistance is theroadmap.
(17:43):
Check that out onschoolishnesscom.
We have an offering to help youremember that.
But that resistance really ledto the space we needed to not
just focus on their studenthoodand our role in that, but ours
and mine and Chris's, my partnerbut also just a little bit of
my own unraveling, a little bitof my own noticing, which, if
(18:07):
you remember from last week, thenoticing is not just the one
that you just let be, that'switnessing.
The noticing is the one thatyou inch closer towards to be
like hmm, what adjustment canhappen here, because what I'm
noticing something actuallyneeds to shift.
And that big noticing came inthe form of the affirmations,
(18:29):
and I remember Josiah Madden ofAliyah Waysbeads talking about
that in a recent episode lastseason, when she said I was
getting on here and I said whenI talked to Akilah because we
hadn't spoken in so long, i needto say to her that oh, my
goodness, i, when I first satdown here, i thought I'm going
to tell her it worked Like itworked, this thing that we and
(18:56):
I'm looking at you and yourradiance and you being on the
other side of having very smallchildren and navigating the
earth with your partner what wedid worked Like beautifully.
And when she said that I justfelt it all in my body because
(19:16):
it did What I was doing worked.
My life now is a direct result,like I could draw all kind of
lines of correlation andcausation, and all of that for
how that transformation that Iwas experiencing allowed me to
walk towards where I am now andhow my life is designed now and
(19:39):
how I'm not really in lifedesign mode anymore.
I'm more in this saver complex.
The savoring of my life, thebenefits of the integrated
unschooling life And personalmanifesto, is me revisiting what
I did back then, which was tocreate this personal manifesto
(20:01):
And this is almost like a visionboard.
On psilocybin I was going to saysteroids, but now it's like a
vision board on mushrooms, likemicro dosing it over time, the
best possible way so that itshifts you in ways that are both
subtle and pretty overt andfeeling pretty magical.
(20:27):
It just really started with howI was talking to myself, what I
noticed about my inner voice,my capacity to be fully
responsible for the experienceI'm having.
That was one of my firstmantras I take full
responsibility for theexperience I'm having And that
was like I was pushing backagainst that mantra myself, like
(20:49):
that'll make no sense.
I can't take fullresponsibility because there's
systemic things and there's thisand that and that and that, and
Spared kept saying I take fullresponsibility for the
experience I'm having, and I washearing it in my voice.
So eventually, after muchresistance and pushback and
rebuttal, i said, okay, what ifI fucking believed that?
(21:11):
What if I just could let thatlive as true enough?
Then what?
And then it just opened anotherportal and another one and
another one.
So saying all of that to give ashout out to a member of our
Make It Happen family whose workthat I've been involved in on
and off over the past few yearsand more recently this year, has
(21:33):
really supported me in standingin how I want to serve, what my
offerings look like, why I'mnot the person who's going to do
like the funnel and all thetypical marketing things that I
know are very effective for somebut are just not aligned with
how I flow and how I want tofeel.
Really is what it boils down tohow I want to feel while I do
(21:58):
the work I do, because I do thisshit and not other shit,
because I want to have a certaintype of connection and
alignment to how I spend my timeeach day And conventional
marketing methods sit outside ofthat alignment.
Maybe, unfortunately, maybethat's why I don't have the
yacht and the whatever Okay, butpersonal manifesto path.
(22:21):
I was going to have that be apublic facing course that people
can buy into.
But as a result of my work withMark Silver this year, the
founder of Heart of Business, irealized even though he didn't
give me this advice, it was justbeing in that community and my
conversations with Mark directlyhelped me to realize that I
didn't want to do it assomething out there.
(22:42):
I actually am just gonna offerit through Patreon or make it
happen family to everybody inthere, whether you came in at a
$1 level or you came in at a$500 level, and I have patrons
who do each of those things andthings in between.
So that's all I'm gonna sayabout the course for now.
It is gonna be available fullythrough Patreon.
(23:04):
It is still gonna be the liveover the course of the month.
Like I'm not making it any less.
I'm not gonna give myself to itany less because I won't have
it in a public space where I canmake a ton from it, but I do
hope that it invites more peopleinto our Make It Happen family
over on patreoncom Ford slashAkilah, because that's where I'm
(23:25):
realizing that is a space thatI want to serve more through and
in.
People are opting into thatspace at varying levels already
And most of my patrons don'twant nothing from me, Like there
isn't like some big push to say, oh, since I'm a patron, can I
get this or that, or you knowlike it just feels so aligned in
(23:49):
terms of folks responding tothings that I ask.
You know, when I try to make bigofferings, i don't get like a
lot of feedback of yes, we needthis from you.
It seems to me, like most ofthe people there are there
because they want to contributeto the ongoing health, to the
sustainability and maybe eventhe thrive of raising free
(24:10):
people network.
And then we have a few otherswho do it through our fiscal
sponsor because they need thattax deductible donation and they
wanna give a large sum.
So, like all of that is enoughand I'm really learning about
this enoughness.
So Mark's work has been a hugepart of that And I wanted to say
that to you this week becausenext week I'm gonna be answering
(24:32):
a specific question from Amanah, a member of our Make It Happen
family also who wanted to knowabout this savorism that I've
been talking with patrons aboutsince December.
Amanah said I would love tohear more about what embodying
the savorist looks like, feelslike, sounds like for you,
(24:52):
because I talk about being in mysavorist era.
So next week episode 264, youwill hear my entire story.
We will do a full story time,snacks and all of that about the
whole process of moving fromschoolish to more sovereign to
savorist.
You will get those details.
(25:14):
But I really wanted to thankMark Silver for his significant
role through Heart of Businessin supporting me and realizing,
like, how I wanna get down andnot being afraid of that.
I love the whole premise ofMark's work because it's that
every act of business can be anact of love.
Ooh, right Or right Or right.
(25:37):
He's one of the pioneers inintegrating real spirituality
with the nitty gritty of smallbusiness And I really needed
that.
And I can always rely on Markand just drop into what he's
doing when I'm like, okay, whatthe hell?
this is not working out for me.
It's not like I can't evencover my basics with it, what is
happening financially, and hejust has offerings for me that
(25:58):
bring me back to myself supportmy business needs in a way that
does not diminish my spiritualside.
He's a Sufi leader.
He really lives it on all sidesof the thing, like in a way
that to me seems integrated,like the business not being
separate from the spirituality,and he does like classes,
seminars, retreats, all thesethings.
(26:19):
So, heartofbusinesscom Irecommend it because, like I do
anything else on here, i don'tever tell you anything that
isn't a part of my ownexperience.
So shout out to Mark and allthe other members of our Make It
Happen family on patreoncomforward slash akila.
Come back next week, y'all,because I will be telling you
(26:45):
this story about my move fromschoolish to savorist, and then
we will continue after thatdoing more recaps, talking about
some of the core themes, andyou'll also be hearing from
people who are just newlydiscovering this podcast, as
well as folks who've beenrocking with us.
All of that is coming up overthe next few weeks.
(27:05):
So thank you for being here,much love and chat to you next
week.
Audio by Raising Free PeopleNetwork.
I want to shout-out to Juan Perez, whose
voice you heard last week at thetop of the episode talking
about Fare of the Free Child andRaising Free People Network.
Juan has been our audio editorfor many seasons, and many years
.
This season I'm closing out thesame way.
(00:26):
I started doing the bulk of theproduction of the podcast
myself, with Naaz formerlyFatima supporting me along the
way.
So I really love that Juan wasable to be involved in the sound
in a different way.
So any imperfections you hearthis season in the audio, are
all mine! and if you are lookingfor professional-level audio,
(00:50):
I highly recommend Juan Perez.
I will make sure a link toreach out to Juan is available.
I have friends who podcast, whoI've recommended Juan to, and
everybody was like, oh my God,thank you, and I was like you're
welcome.
You can't keep using tools ofoppression and expect to raise
(01:12):
free people.
It's good, it's Akilah here.
Welcome back to Fare of theFree Child podcast.
I'm making myself practicedoing this introduction thing
because I don't want to leaveout new listeners, folks who are
(01:34):
hearing this podcast, thesestories, for the first time or
just the second time and mightnot have some of the backstory.
But I also know that it's sucha sweet sentiment because the
reason that I have a hard timefeeling comfortable doing a
formalish introduction isbecause I really feel so
(01:57):
connected to so many of you wholisten to the podcast, because
we chat on social media or we'vechatted at a live event
somewhere in person, and so itjust feels like almost like I'm
going to come to your house Andthen when you open a door, i'm
going to be like hi, i'm AkilahS Richards and I host Fare of
(02:17):
the Free Child podcast, so Ilove that we've gotten to the
point where it feels socomfortable.
I also want to be like hey, newpeople, come on in, grab a spot
, come on into the conversations.
We dive deep into the world ofunschooling, liberation and so
(02:40):
many aspects of raising freepeople.
I'm your host, akilah.
Today I have something super,super special lined up.
We're going to take a strolldown memory lane.
This whole season will includea lot of memory lane in it, and
for some of us it will benostalgic because we were
(03:02):
listening real time and talkingreal time back in 2016, 2017,
the first couple years of thispodcast.
And for others, it might benice to peek in on some folks
going down memory lane becauseit's brand new for you.
So, either way, my intentionhere is to just do this memory
lane ting and explore some ofthe themes and intersections
(03:27):
that showed up for us in each ofthe episodes of that first
season.
We kicked off season one with anepisode I can't believe.
I didn't put in front of me thetitle.
It was like why I need to honorthis feeling, and I know that
(03:51):
in that episode I really wassharing my personal journey and
just the experiences that led meto explore unschooling And that
by that time in 2016, i hadstarted to make or notice a
really clear connection betweenunschooling and liberation work.
The broader, outside of myexperiences alone, my personal
(04:15):
experiences, my inner world,like things outside of that,
were significantly affected byour decision to move away from
school-centric life.
Initially, it felt like it wasabout giving our daughters the
space that they needed and thenthe language switch to deserved,
to just explore what theirinterests were and to learn in a
(04:40):
way that wasn't sosuperscripted and super
influenced and ruled bypervasive whiteness.
So that's around the time thatthat started to happen.
And so, seeing that connectionand perhaps you've heard the
story of how, after some more ofthe typical in the United
States loss of black livesthrough agents of the system, in
(05:06):
this case, the police thathappened in 2016 and people were
messaging me because by then, iwas writing essays about
unschooling and how it was atype of sovereignty and
liberation just what I wasnoticing for the first time back
then.
So people were writing to mesaying, yes, this is why we We
(05:28):
can't get with unschooling or wewant to, but it's not feasible
because our kids aren't safe.
We're not safe, and reallythat's what started, what became
this podcast and this community.
So I was sharing theexperiences that led me to
unschooling, and so that reallyset the tone for the entire
season and just opened the doorto other people's connection
(05:52):
points between unschooling andliberation and what that looked
like.
That's how the podcast tookshape, because I had no idea
what I was gonna do besides saywhat I was upset about and why I
thought that, even though I wasso upset about those realities,
they made me want more tounderstand life without a focus
(06:13):
on school.
It didn't feel safer to figureout how to get my kids to fit
into the system.
It was the fucking opposite,especially because of everything
we were experiencing.
So I didn't know that it wouldshape up the way that it did And
really we just that firstseason.
It was just a fantastic stretchof 20 episodes from July to
(06:35):
December So many conversations,so much insight, so many
eye-opening moments.
We covered so many topicsdecolonization, social change,
the foundational role ofunschooling and social justice.
Some of the people, the voices,the stories that were shared
(06:56):
during that first season reallyleft a significant mark on us as
listeners, and I put myself inthe category I identify as a
listener, of fare of the freechild podcast, and not just a
host, because I'm listening tothe stories and I'm also
listening to your feedback, howthe stories move you.
If you're in my Make It Happenfamily and you comment on
(07:19):
something or you're on Instagram, you comment on something, and
I really want to take a momentto acknowledge the guests who
joined during season one,specifically season one.
I really enjoyed, at varyinglevels, every conversation but
season one.
You were rocking with me fromjump And so there's a special
(07:40):
place for folks like Zakiyalsmail, who has been an advocate
for freedom in education formore than 20 years.
Zakiya's reflections about theintersections of unschooling
with social change anddecolonization are profound and
(08:02):
really allow my family to dropour shoulders away from our ear
lobes just a little bit more andlean into what we're unlearning
.
So shout out to Zakia.
We also spoke with MikaelaStreeter, the founder of the
Life School in Atlanta.
I really appreciate the waythat Mikaela is moving with the
(08:25):
needs of the community that sheand that team is serving really
well.
They take such a fresh approachto education and really focus
on creating a real world,personalized, exploration and
discovery focused environment.
Trelani Michelle of krak Teet Ifyou don't know about the work
(08:46):
there and you love a good storyand history and connection and
blackness, you definitely needto be checking out krakteet.
I will make sure the link is onthe page the show notes page
for this episode.
But Trelani Michelle camethrough and was sharing her
journey.
I've known her for many yearsbefore Fear of the Free Child
(09:06):
came to be, and really lovewatching the evolution and ease
with which she's moving reallyin her zone in ways that are
truly serving communities aroundher in so many ways.
Her work focuses on makinghistory interesting and
relatable by using storytellingas the tool for connecting and
(09:30):
understanding, and when youcouple that with s personality
and her unique perspectives, itjust flows beautifully and her
being on the podcast really hasreally been special to me.
Janita Castro, the CEO ofHumanity Communications
(09:50):
Collective, brought herexpertise into the building.
She is an Afro Latina and aJustice Warrior.
Janita shares valuable insightson how communication can be a
tool for social change anddismantling oppressive systems.
I really really appreciate whatJanita brought into the space
(10:12):
here for me through this podcastand for us, because that's one
of the earliest spaces where Irealized that groups of people
were listening to the podcasttogether and it was impacting
like I got to learn some of theways that it was impacting
people outside of their ownthoughts and their own homes,
like how it affected how theyshowed up in community and how
(10:34):
they even found community.
So much of that education forme and awareness for me came
through Janita and what she wassharing.
So if you're listening and, sis, you already know I appreciate
you.
Monique Allison, Koran Kajadar,Ietiel McVeigh shout out to
(10:55):
SmellGoodSpa.
Kelly Ferguson, Darcelle White,Anthony Galloway, Tracy, who is
the Grand Matriarch at BlackVibe Tribe, founded by Trinity
Simone, who is, among manythings, Tracy's daughter.
We also had Kenya Skad.
Shout out to you.
Kenya, who also graced us withher wisdom and experiences, and
(11:17):
Kenya and I just have a goodtime every time we talk.
Each guest brought just a uniquestory, a unique perspective to
the table and really enrichedour conversations and shed some
light on the intersections ofunschooling, liberation and
overall raising free people.
Even though I didn't have thelanguage for it back then, in
(11:39):
November of 2016, towards theend of that season, we had a
special episode where we talkedabout the importance of telling
children the truth, particularlyin relation to the political
climate at the time.
That's when Trump was firstbrought into Yal's office.
Anyway, it was a heartfeltconversation that really
(12:01):
emphasized the need for honestand age-appropriate discussions
with our children about what washappening in the United States
and how that was impacting theworld, how it might back then,
how it might impact the world,just really trying to have
expansive conversation aboutwhat it means to clue our
(12:21):
children in or to notice howmuch they already know and want
and need and are ready fordiscussion around.
And then we could not wrap upthe season without talking about
self-care and sacredspace-making.
So Leslie W Bray joined us fora powerful discussion on the
(12:44):
importance of nurturingourselves, creating space that
honors our well-beings AndLeslie was actually just here at
the Korea a couple of days ago.
Shout out to Leslie, and wewere sitting in the backyard
talking about this same thingthat we were talking about back
then in terms of creating spacesaround us and within us that
(13:04):
honor our well-being, what thatlooked like in our physical
homes and what that looked likein our relationships.
Every time we get together,some version of that
conversation shows up, so I lovebeing able to think back about
how we were doing that back thentoo, and now we're doing it in
person.
And then, finally, we endedseason one with our love and
(13:28):
unschooling episode, where Chrisand I delved into the
intricacies of marriage andbusiness partnership while
trying to raise free people, andwe shared our personal
experiences, of course, and someof the challenges that come
with navigating theserelationships, and some of the
joys, and it was really, itremains, a fan favorite.
(13:51):
It's always in the top fiveepisodes top five amount of
downloaded episodes.
Every time I remember to lookat the stats And it really was a
great way to wrap up anincredible season.
So that my friend is a wrap onour trip down memory lane.
Season one of Fair of the FreeChild was really a journey of
(14:13):
discovery and growth andcollecting stories right
Collective listening.
We covered decolonization andsocial change, self-care, the
importance of honestconversations, and I really just
want to express my deepestgratitude to all of our guests
and listeners who joined us onseason one.
(14:34):
I think that season closing outthose 20 episodes is where I
got a chance to I don't know,solidify might not be the right
word, but just to say to namethat unschooling is a mindset
you know, like a way of life, aliberty, and not just like a
(14:56):
thing that you do for your kid.
So I want to know if you werelistening back in a day in 2016,
.
I'd love to know what you gotout of season one.
Let me know, if you did listento season one, how it moved you.
(15:29):
In last week's episode Imentioned personal manifesto
path, which initially was acourse that I was going to offer
, kind of like a cohort stylereal time live conversation over
four months course.
That is a revisiting of acourse that I published back in
(15:53):
2014.
Maybe some of you listeningwere one of the I don't know 30
people who took that course And,like everything that I share,
it was very much from thereality of where I was, what I
was noticing, what I wasstruggling with and uniquely
(16:15):
because most of the time I'mjust talking about what I'm
struggling with But in thatinstance it was also sharing the
results of the struggle, theother side of the struggle, what
I learned from it and how I gotto it and what I was doing to
integrate slowly and become morepractice in what I was learning
(16:39):
, because unschooling was aportal for us.
I keep saying that because itkeeps me in.
True, it was a portal And theearly stages of it before I even
had that language of it, ofunschooling, was really just
recognizing how tangled up I wasin the identity of like mother
(17:02):
of school aged children And Ididn't call it that back then
but my actions, my limitations,my perceptions of myself and
what I should be doing and howthings should be and what was
wrong and what wasn't working.
Those things were just allwrapped up in school culture, my
(17:22):
own as a child and then my ownas a mother.
So when I had the space,because of the girl's resistance
.
That's why resistance is theroadmap.
Check out the tangible tokensof that.
Energy resistance is theroadmap.
(17:43):
Check that out onschoolishnesscom.
We have an offering to help youremember that.
But that resistance really ledto the space we needed to not
just focus on their studenthoodand our role in that, but ours
and mine and Chris's, my partnerbut also just a little bit of
my own unraveling, a little bitof my own noticing, which, if
(18:07):
you remember from last week, thenoticing is not just the one
that you just let be, that'switnessing.
The noticing is the one thatyou inch closer towards to be
like hmm, what adjustment canhappen here, because what I'm
noticing something actuallyneeds to shift.
And that big noticing came inthe form of the affirmations,
(18:29):
and I remember Josiah Madden ofAliyah Waysbeads talking about
that in a recent episode lastseason, when she said I was
getting on here and I said whenI talked to Akilah because we
hadn't spoken in so long, i needto say to her that oh, my
goodness, i, when I first satdown here, i thought I'm going
to tell her it worked Like itworked, this thing that we and
(18:56):
I'm looking at you and yourradiance and you being on the
other side of having very smallchildren and navigating the
earth with your partner what wedid worked Like beautifully.
And when she said that I justfelt it all in my body because
(19:16):
it did What I was doing worked.
My life now is a direct result,like I could draw all kind of
lines of correlation andcausation, and all of that for
how that transformation that Iwas experiencing allowed me to
walk towards where I am now andhow my life is designed now and
(19:39):
how I'm not really in lifedesign mode anymore.
I'm more in this saver complex.
The savoring of my life, thebenefits of the integrated
unschooling life And personalmanifesto, is me revisiting what
I did back then, which was tocreate this personal manifesto
(20:01):
And this is almost like a visionboard.
On psilocybin I was going to saysteroids, but now it's like a
vision board on mushrooms, likemicro dosing it over time, the
best possible way so that itshifts you in ways that are both
subtle and pretty overt andfeeling pretty magical.
(20:27):
It just really started with howI was talking to myself, what I
noticed about my inner voice,my capacity to be fully
responsible for the experienceI'm having.
That was one of my firstmantras I take full
responsibility for theexperience I'm having And that
was like I was pushing backagainst that mantra myself, like
(20:49):
that'll make no sense.
I can't take fullresponsibility because there's
systemic things and there's thisand that and that and that, and
Spared kept saying I take fullresponsibility for the
experience I'm having, and I washearing it in my voice.
So eventually, after muchresistance and pushback and
rebuttal, i said, okay, what ifI fucking believed that?
(21:11):
What if I just could let thatlive as true enough?
Then what?
And then it just opened anotherportal and another one and
another one.
So saying all of that to give ashout out to a member of our
Make It Happen family whose workthat I've been involved in on
and off over the past few yearsand more recently this year, has
(21:33):
really supported me in standingin how I want to serve, what my
offerings look like, why I'mnot the person who's going to do
like the funnel and all thetypical marketing things that I
know are very effective for somebut are just not aligned with
how I flow and how I want tofeel.
Really is what it boils down tohow I want to feel while I do
(21:58):
the work I do, because I do thisshit and not other shit,
because I want to have a certaintype of connection and
alignment to how I spend my timeeach day And conventional
marketing methods sit outside ofthat alignment.
Maybe, unfortunately, maybethat's why I don't have the
yacht and the whatever Okay, butpersonal manifesto path.
(22:21):
I was going to have that be apublic facing course that people
can buy into.
But as a result of my work withMark Silver this year, the
founder of Heart of Business, irealized even though he didn't
give me this advice, it was justbeing in that community and my
conversations with Mark directlyhelped me to realize that I
didn't want to do it assomething out there.
(22:42):
I actually am just gonna offerit through Patreon or make it
happen family to everybody inthere, whether you came in at a
$1 level or you came in at a$500 level, and I have patrons
who do each of those things andthings in between.
So that's all I'm gonna sayabout the course for now.
It is gonna be available fullythrough Patreon.
(23:04):
It is still gonna be the liveover the course of the month.
Like I'm not making it any less.
I'm not gonna give myself to itany less because I won't have
it in a public space where I canmake a ton from it, but I do
hope that it invites more peopleinto our Make It Happen family
over on patreoncom Ford slashAkilah, because that's where I'm
(23:25):
realizing that is a space thatI want to serve more through and
in.
People are opting into thatspace at varying levels already
And most of my patrons don'twant nothing from me, Like there
isn't like some big push to say, oh, since I'm a patron, can I
get this or that, or you knowlike it just feels so aligned in
(23:49):
terms of folks responding tothings that I ask.
You know, when I try to make bigofferings, i don't get like a
lot of feedback of yes, we needthis from you.
It seems to me, like most ofthe people there are there
because they want to contributeto the ongoing health, to the
sustainability and maybe eventhe thrive of raising free
(24:10):
people network.
And then we have a few otherswho do it through our fiscal
sponsor because they need thattax deductible donation and they
wanna give a large sum.
So, like all of that is enoughand I'm really learning about
this enoughness.
So Mark's work has been a hugepart of that And I wanted to say
that to you this week becausenext week I'm gonna be answering
(24:32):
a specific question from Amanah, a member of our Make It Happen
family also who wanted to knowabout this savorism that I've
been talking with patrons aboutsince December.
Amanah said I would love tohear more about what embodying
the savorist looks like, feelslike, sounds like for you,
(24:52):
because I talk about being in mysavorist era.
So next week episode 264, youwill hear my entire story.
We will do a full story time,snacks and all of that about the
whole process of moving fromschoolish to more sovereign to
savorist.
You will get those details.
(25:14):
But I really wanted to thankMark Silver for his significant
role through Heart of Businessin supporting me and realizing,
like, how I wanna get down andnot being afraid of that.
I love the whole premise ofMark's work because it's that
every act of business can be anact of love.
Ooh, right Or right Or right.
(25:37):
He's one of the pioneers inintegrating real spirituality
with the nitty gritty of smallbusiness And I really needed
that.
And I can always rely on Markand just drop into what he's
doing when I'm like, okay, whatthe hell?
this is not working out for me.
It's not like I can't evencover my basics with it, what is
happening financially, and hejust has offerings for me that
(25:58):
bring me back to myself supportmy business needs in a way that
does not diminish my spiritualside.
He's a Sufi leader.
He really lives it on all sidesof the thing, like in a way
that to me seems integrated,like the business not being
separate from the spirituality,and he does like classes,
seminars, retreats, all thesethings.
(26:19):
So, heartofbusinesscom Irecommend it because, like I do
anything else on here, i don'tever tell you anything that
isn't a part of my ownexperience.
So shout out to Mark and allthe other members of our Make It
Happen family on patreoncomforward slash akila.
Come back next week, y'all,because I will be telling you
(26:45):
this story about my move fromschoolish to savorist, and then
we will continue after thatdoing more recaps, talking about
some of the core themes, andyou'll also be hearing from
people who are just newlydiscovering this podcast, as
well as folks who've beenrocking with us.
All of that is coming up overthe next few weeks.
(27:05):
So thank you for being here,much love and chat to you next
week.
Audio by Raising Free PeopleNetwork.
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