Motherhood, Resistance, and Coalition Building

Judy Yu:
Hi, good afternoon everyone. Welcome to our podcast, Reimagining Black and Asian Solidarity. I am one of your co-hosts. My name is Dr. Judy Yu, and we have?

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
I am Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz. Thank you for being with us for yet another episode.

Judy Yu:
And we are so excited to have two motherscholars here with us this afternoon to talk about their lives, their professional lives, and their intersection of their professional and personal to bring their knowledge in sharing it with our community in the academy and out the academy.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
On today's episode, we are so excited to have Dr. Jacqueline Cofield. Hey, Jackie.

Jacqueline Cofield:
Hey, thank you so much for having us today. I'm so, so excited.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
And we're excited to have your friend, your sister, your partner, Dr. Xiaoyi Wei. Thank you for being with us. Hey.

Xiaoyi Wei:
Hi. I'm so happy and honored to be here. Thank you for having us on board.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Judy, I was thinking as you look at the four of us, all four of us are mothers, all four of us are scholars. And thinking about specifically the work that Dr. Jackie and Dr. Xiaoyi you've been doing, you've been specifically framing it around motherscholars, so solidarity around that. Do you mind just sharing with us a little bit about why is that the central piece? Because when you look at Black and Asian solidarity, there's Dr. Judy, there's myself, then we have Dr. Diana Lu, Dr. David Buzzell. So we're thinking more just on the surface of so-called race, how race is constructed. But y'all went a little bit deeper beyond race to this connection of being mothers and scholars. Can you say a little bit about that to us?

Jacqueline Cofield:
We were just talking before we started today about looking at graduation photos for our friends because today is just a few days after the Teacher's College graduation where we've seen our friends in the last couple of days and we were just reminiscing. And Xiaoyi just posted today an image of one of our friend and her daughter and on the stage receiving their degree. I'm saying their because they both graduated. And it's just when you asked me that question, that was immediately what came to mind because I also thought about my own photo, which Dr. Sealey-Ruiz, you are a part of because you hooded me and Imani handed my hood to you. And there's this wonderful photo of that moment where I'm standing sort of behind you two and she's passing the hood to you. And I was just thinking about my graduation photos. You cannot really look at my graduation photos without seeing her there.
She walked the stage with me as did Xiaoyi-san, as did our friend's daughter. So being a mother is the first and foremost part of my life since the day I gave birth. That is the most important part of my identity is the greatest honor, the greatest title. And so for me, I find beauty in thinking through the world and particularly this experience that we have as we freedom dream as scholars through the lens of being a mother because we are that when we wake up in the morning, it's the first thing that we are when we go to bed at night, that is what we are. So what do you think, Xiaoyi?

Xiaoyi Wei:
Thank you for bringing that moment because I don't know why when I hear the question, a lot of moments just come up to my mind. And I remember maybe it was the last semester of my study at Teachers College when I was writing my dissertation and there was a day I heard my son, back then he was four years old. He was talking to himself while he was playing something. He said, "Diversity."
I was in the kitchen doing something else and I heard him saying that. I was so proud and so surprised and so happy. And that was not the only moment, but that was exactly one moment that I realized, "Okay, so this is not just about me, it's about us. We're growing and learning together."
And he has been exposed to words like this ever since he was born. He's a TC baby, just like Imani. So every step that I have taken, every step that he has taken, we are always together. And I'm also thinking about intersectionality raised by Crenshaw, how in addition to race, the layer of our identity as mother, as woman of color. And for me as an international student and now an international scholar, all these layers are intertwined together all the time. And of course the layer of being a mother is what we want to highlight, especially in the podcast space because that's a highlight, a most proud part we have during our, not just educational, but now everyday life. Yeah.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
I just want to personally thank you for the podcast series and I'm hoping there's a couple of more seasons that you have coming forward. Judy, what are you feeling? Because Judy, you've always identified yourself as a motherscholar. That was when we go back for a while, but I remember you saying that term specifically, and I just think it's such a beautiful full circle moment that Judy, who I probably first either heard the term from her or Cheryl Matias, it feels like a full circle moment to be on with the two of you with someone who originally introduced me to this concept of motherscholar. So I'm just wondering what you're thinking at this moment, Judy.

Judy Yu:
Yeah, so thanks for the question. Thank you to Jacqueline and Xiaoyi for joining us for our podcast. And I think motherscholar and motherscholaring, as I think many of us are doing, I was introduced to it through Cheryl Matias way back when I was a grad student and I happened to be part of ARA. I was a program officer in one of the SIGs and I organized an Asian American motherscholar seminar in Chicago at ARA. And we didn't think there'd be a lot of people that showed up, but men showed up. Men, husbands or partners of mothers who are scholars showed up and we had about 40 people. And Rita Coley was there too, and she was one of the speakers and Deoksoon Kim was there.
And I think it felt like a safe space to talk about the challenges we went through first at the time when I was a doctoral student and then later became a doctor of education after graduating TC, that there were really clear challenges of being a doctoral student, raising children, trying to find a job, figuring out how to secure a job, figuring how to support my family, and then also looking professional. And also producing and writing scholarship and going to meetings and going to job interviews.
And it was actually quite a ride and it was actually really interesting because I was also at a certain age where I was very close to not having children because of my age. And when I was at TC, people were pulling me and asking me, telling me I should have children soon. And I'm just thinking, I just started in this program and I'm just like, "Tell me how to get a job."
But what was happening is there were many women at TC and in many academic spaces where they became so involved in their life of academia, they lost that opportunity to have children. So we had to, when I was a doctoral student, I was already in my mid-30s, close to 40. So that was the time. And I know my partner was telling me, "Well, it's kind of time."

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Let's get busy, Judy.

Judy Yu:
We just got married, but okay. But there's a lot of pressure, right? There's a lot of pressure on women because our clock is ticking, we have to produce and we have to look professional. So it was kind of like this whirlwind and it's so not fair. Women, the way we have it is not fair. We don't get the same pay rate as men. We have to take care of not only children, but people and our elders. We are always the one on the front lines. And despite me having a supportive partner, it's still a lot of the weight hangs on me in multiple areas. And it's very hard to explain, but I know as motherscholars, bless you, that there is quite a balance, but it's also a sense of responsibility. So I think last summer I talked to Yolanda and I wanted to do a parent seminar because I think during this time of administration where the government is banning DEI and diversity courses, ethnic studies, and just being who we are as free people, I told Yolanda that the government cannot control our home.
They can't control what goes on in our home and how we parent. So our best ammunition at this point is to band together as parents and do what we can to talk about our lives because we were all scholars, both men and women in the room. And we all have children and I want to ensure that my children are educated in the field of diversity, ethnic studies and to be with people that look different from them and know the history. So I just wanted to leave it there that I think being a parent and a mom is more than just providing, but is also a very deep responsibility because we are raising the next generation. And I find that role to be a very critical job at this time and forever actually for that matter.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Wow, Judy. I'm also thinking Xiaoyi about Connor and saying diversity and all that he's been exposed to and everything that Judy said. You're also making me think about when I walked down the aisle to get my degree or whatever it was, Olivia was like a baby in my arms and it was rough to be doing a dissertation, doing all this. And I also remember actually writing a dissertation with the brain fog that I had because my hormones were at an elevated level and that impacts emotions, it impacts the function of the brain, it impacts the function of the body. And yet I did not have a motherscholar community to help me get through this. You just do it, right?
So that's the first thing. I also want to take this moment to just big up Cheryl Matias and Allison and her other sisters because it's been about 15 years and they have a book coming out. So I'm just hoping that when people hear this podcast and we're talking about motherscholarships and we're lifting up sister Cheryl Matias, that you find that book, you go buy that book and listen to some of those stories. Okay, I digress.

Jacqueline Cofield:
When I listened to you, Judy, talk about time, I immediately started thinking about when I was pregnant with Imani. And I have a photo from my babymoon of me. It actually ended up looking really amazing. I'm on the beach with my big belly. It was not long before I had her, but I just remember when I was in the state of being pregnant, that was when I felt an urgency to dream. And at first when I was pregnant, when she would take a nap, I was watching soap operas, but then it was like I can't watch any more Young and the Restless, the Bold and the Beautiful, those were my two. But after that, I was like, I found myself every time she would take a nap, I would go on YouTube and I would watch scholars. I found people like Dr. Chris Emdin giving speeches, and I couldn't wait to listen to another scholar.
That was what replaced the soap operas for me. Both of my parents have doctorates and it was something that I always knew that I wanted to do. It's just the time. I was trying to figure out when the time, and it seemed the most unlikely time that I would think to do it when I have a baby in my belly, but that was literally the time. And I remember I was in Louisiana at the time and I told my aunt, "I'm going to apply to do my doctorate, so I need to go to the library and study for this GRE test and to work on these applications." So she would watch her, and here I am just thinking about this is the time for me to do this. So my doctoral journey, I would say sort of started when she was in my belly. I started to really think fiercely about the future because I knew always every day she's coming.
When you're pregnant, you're always thinking about the future, what you need to do to take care of yourself, because that's one time where you know I have to take care of myself because actually taking care of myself is taking care of my baby. And I took that very, very seriously. And so I started thinking about the future, but then when I had her, that was when I started my applications because it was like she's here now, so I need to make my move. Now is my time. And she's four months old and I'm working on these applications so that when we arrived to my first year, she was one year old in a stroller, and I came to New York because I got a call from, shout out to Dr. Marjorie Siegel. And I mentioned her work in my application because her work is semiotics, and I was very interested in that.
And she called me on the phone and I remember I was not expecting it at that moment. And I get this phone call, Imani was taking a nap and she called me a polymath in this conversation and I was like, "Oh." And I actually didn't know what that meant at the time. I was looking it up. And when she said that and I saw the definition, I was like, "Whoa, that is me. She sees me." I had applied different places. I had got accepted to different places, got offers different places. But when she called me and the way she spoke about me as a scholar about what I had already done, I was like, "You know what? I have to go where you are. I guess I'm going to New York. I have to go to where you are." Because in that moment I felt, as you mentioned, Judy, safe.
And so I was just thinking about this idea of psychological safety being an important part of our experience. And even when we came to campus, I was like, "Okay, I'm going to live right across the street from the campus because to me that feels safer." Safety, being safe was part of the decision making. And then eventually naming myself as a motherscholar. And when I heard that word for the first time, I wasn't sure if there was a dash there or if it was one flowing word. And I love that it's this one flowing word because it's not separated.
That gives us a portal, a particular view into this whole experience. We're always thinking about the future too. It informs every choice I make about the things I want to study, the things I want to do, because I know that even my own child and all the other children, they're going to inherit the earth. And so it's right there in my face every day, so I can't escape that and I'm not trying to. I'm actually leaning into that, and that's where I found the beauty. And how can we be in community if we don't name ourselves? You mentioned, Dr. Sealey-Ruiz, that you didn't have community. And I think part of that is because right now when I teach a class, I don't know who's a parent in the room unless they say something because their kid is not in the room with me.
So we could be in the class and you would know, our professor wouldn't know. We could be in the space and people wouldn't know we are parents because it's not written on our face. We have to name that in order to make that connection with others. And that's actually how Xiaoyi and I met.

Xiaoyi Wei:
There are so many things that you have said I feel so resonated with. And GRE, don't make me start that part. It's not a pleasant experience for me at all. And in terms of my application, it also happened during my pregnancy and I got the offer. I remember I got the offer from Teachers College. During midnight when I opened that email, I was actually breastfeeding my baby and I was holding my baby and I told my mom, she was in the United States taking care of me and my baby as well. I told her, "Oh, I got an offer." And I was whispering to her because I don't want to... It's the midnight. Yeah. And also now my son is six years old and I often bring this layer of my entity to my classroom with undergraduate students, future teachers.
At the very beginning, I did not do it intentionally, but now I bring it up more intentionally because like you mentioned, Judy, it's our responsibility. We are educating the next generation and I am now working with future teachers and they will be working with our children, our baby, the next generation. So as their professor, as the instructor, I show them this layer of my identity because I want them to know more about how children from different backgrounds, cultures, children from families from marginalized communities, what are the possible barriers or challenges they're facing every day? But as a classroom teacher who may never see that side of the children's lives, I often use my own case as a mother, as a first generation migrant here, what are the challenges I'm facing? Even though I have earned my doctorate degree facing the public school system in New York state, very often I'm confused. I don't know what to do.
And last semester during October or November, we're now in Rochester and the public transportation school bus were late, multiple days. And there was a day my son's school had a field trip to... They were planning to go apple peaking and because of a late bus, many children did not get to go to that field trip. And five out of seven children were from families who do not use English as main language because those families did not even get a chance to call the bus company. So I was the one who was able to call and then sent my son by myself. I use that example in my class with undergraduate students, future teachers, to make them think about children and families from marginalized communities and how we as educators or future educators can better know that and how can we better support them. Yeah, coming back to the layer of being a motherscholar and now as a mother educator, I think that's such a privilege for me to be able to use my identity and my experiences.

Jacqueline Cofield:
And for your students.

Xiaoyi Wei:
Yeah.

Jacqueline Cofield:
Yeah.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Wow. Judy, what are you thinking? I'm just sitting here. I'm so grateful for this conversation, honestly, and I'm grateful for the listeners and I hope they get something that they need as I listen to you ladies talk. Judy, what are you thinking?

Judy Yu:
I really appreciate both of your honesty because it's really hard to be vulnerable in a public space and now we're broadcasting this to whoever wants to listen to. Many of the viewers who are interested in social justice and teacher educators and parents. I hope it reaches many others that may be feeling a certain way that they may be the only one and realizing that they're not. And even people, I think in our own space as mothers of color, and although we have our own struggles, we are also very privileged in many ways of accessing education system, understanding how systems work and whose history counts, whose voices count, and how to pick up a phone and to talk to specific people to help our own families and ourselves when needed. But at the same time, there is a ceiling for many of us too. So I think it is important that we are forming our coalition, coalition building, because I think... I don't know about everybody else. I know I am also first gen. I'm an immigrant myself.
I come from a culture where it's not necessarily encouraged to share your stories and problems with the public because that's not something they need to know. And in professional spaces, I found that to be very true too. And that is a reality that as people in the field that we are in who actually carry a lot of heart and who care about others, and when things happen to us, we imagine and would expect that there is some reciprocity. But often case, that is not the case for us. And I think that for me being a motherscholar and also being a student of color, a former student of color, I learned that very quickly how I need to armor up and also be connected to allies because people aren't going to care and the system isn't going to care. But I am able to learn that if I surround myself with people who do care, I'm going to be all right.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
No, Judy, and I want to say that I think the four of us here, we are people that have gone against that grain. And Judy, I can just speak to you being in the lives of my students being on their committees. Yes, one of them in particular, now Dr. David Buzzell was your student at Queens College, and you made sure that you were on his committee here at TC. So that was a level of care, certainly in the culmination of his defense, but throughout all of those years, I know for sure that I am someone that goes against that system. Yes, the system overall does not care, but individually we can make the difference in the change. I do want to say, at least for Judy and myself and David and Diane and Kiara and Akeme, that is the power of the Black and Asian solidarity for us because we actually do care about each other's lives and we care about people seeing that it's important for us to have this coalition building in our scholarship.
So we write together, we present together, we organize together. Judy really took the just, I don't know, you took the baton, you ran the marathon, getting the Spencer grant, and then seeking funding around this. So I just wanted to acknowledge it, Judy, and also say the beauty of solidarity, especially ours, is that we do care. And dare I might say we love each other. I love Judy. I love Diane. I love David. I care about what happens in their lives. I think people looking at that can give them some sort of inspiration because I certainly get inspiration from the two of you, which is, if you don't mind, I wanted to segue into a question about, particularly in this time that we're in, Judy brought up all of the anti-DEI. It is a hot mess. It's a level of inhumanity that happens on a daily basis that I've not seen in my time.
So for us to boldly say we are going to have cross-gender, cross so-called race, cross-ethnicity solidarity, that's not popular. What keeps the two of you going? Yes, we understand the motherscholar identity, but in this Black and Asian solidarity phase, what keeps you going, particularly when we're in a world that is against all of that? Xiaoyi.

Xiaoyi Wei:
Thank you for the great question. And this brought me back to several years ago. Jacqueline, do you remember we attended the conference held at TC featuring a lot of Asian American and Black scholars educators, including Kochiyama's granddaughter. And Judy and Dr. Yolanda, you were there as well. And we too attended that conference. And we did not start our podcast back then, but that day I remember we had a babysitter together taking care of our children in another building. And that was such an amazing day for us to connect it with a lot of other Asian American Black scholars and sharing our experiences and think about how we can do something no matter how small it is or how big can we make it happen. But we started to think more about in details what we can do to push this further, to make more people know no matter is about the history of the two community solidarity, collective effort in anti-racism. And yeah, I want to pass the mic to you as well, Jacqueline. Do you remember that day and how do you feel about this?

Jacqueline Cofield:
I do. I do. And actually, it's so funny you mentioned it first because I was thinking about that beautiful event that both of you, Dr. Yu and Dr. Sealey-Ruiz, that you both produced. And it came at a time that was very important for Xiaoyi and I. And I want to name that event as an artifact. That it took place, that it happened and that our bodies were there and it's etched in our memory. And I think after that, we knew. First of all, coming back to this idea of the love, the love ethic, I mean, I can't look at you, Dr. Yoli and not think about love because you just embody... you are such an example of what that is just every day and behind the scenes and in many ways. And I love Xiaoyi too. Our kids love each other. When something's going on, we call each other our doctoral bestie because when something is going on, I'm texting Xiaoyi.
She's one of the first people, if not many times often the first person I'm texting about things that we're going through because I know that first that she will care and she will understand. I think at the same time that that was going on, I was getting involved in the student parent group. At one point I was the chair on campus and we were having meetings with the provost and we actually got student parent to be accommodation status, which I think that all universities should allow for that. And I do allow for that as a professor. I had a student this semester who had a baby right before the semester started, and she told me at the beginning of the semester and I told her, "Let me know what accommodations you need. I will be there for you."
And I worked with her and it made such a big difference. And I'm so proud because she came to the... I do a lot of field trips, and so we went to the Whitney Museum and her baby, her son was there and it was his first time in a museum and her first time in that museum. And for me, that just warms my heart. That's an artifact too. I took a photo for her and sent it to her. Now that's an actual artifact that she has. And so our podcast is an artifact now too, and it's a form of protest in a way because by making visible what's invisible, but yet that would be impactful, we resist this exclusion or containment. We are standing saying, "We are here."
I remember I did have to have a question with my own boundaries as you were saying, Dr. Yu, and my own sensibility about what do I want to share? Because when we had the meeting with the provost, I remember I was like, "Oh man, I don't know if I want to share anything because when the provost sees me, I've never met her, and when she sees me, I want her to look at me and be like, 'Oh, that's that amazing scholar.' I don't want her to be feeling bad for me or thinking like, 'Oh, that's the motherscholar who's having problems.'"
I was really afraid about that. I almost was going to stay silent, but somehow I conquered that fear because I do believe that the universe rewards bravery and that as a mom, we do have to be brave every day. It was brave for me to come to New York City with my one-year-old by myself. So I was already operating with bravery, so I just had to every once in a while remind myself and Xiaoyi's there to remind me and I'm there to remind her and even implicitly, but that we would create this artifact that nobody could take that away. Nobody could say we weren't there. We weren't saying that this was important, that we had these experiences as motherscholars is etched in the archive now, whether anyone's listening now or later, but I'm hoping that policy change could happen as a result such as the accommodation of student parent that I mentioned.
I mean, my work deals with a lot thinking about histories. And it's interesting because on the one hand, I do see myself as a bit of a historian, but I have a particular nuance to the way that I'm thinking about history. I'm thinking about histories in the making because now a lot of times when people say historian, they think, "Oh, you're going way back."
And I'm like, "No, I'm going back to yesterday." Or, "Right now, I'm a futurist thinking in the future, thinking about right now as history and what can we do right now to affect the history?"
So this is our intervention, this is our form of protest. And when I was in Togo doing my Fulbright in January, I gave an opening keynote. I was working with the University of Lomé graduate students and professors, and I would mention my daughter and I thanked her at my first presentation. I thanked her and my mom for even allowing me to be gone to go to Togo to do my Fulbright because at one point I almost canceled my Fulbright because of the guilt that I was feeling in advance. I'm glad I mentioned that to people because they were like, "No, she will see this differently later and you'll make it through."
Again, I had to remember, I had to be brave. It was hurt so bad to think about going away, even though I'm going to do a Fulbright, but I knew that it would also hurt to not take that opportunity. The fact that I forefronted that I'm a mother and I thanked my daughter. The last day I had a couple of students, they went scrambling to... They were like, "Don't leave. We're going to be right back." They came back and they were like, "This is a gift for your daughter."
I recorded them. I was like, "You have to say the message to her."
They thanked her. They said, "Imani, we want to thank you for letting Dr. Cofield be here with us."
So when I got back to the States, I played that for her. And also there was a faculty member, she's the only woman in the department, and she asked me, "Can we speak before you leave?"
And so of course it was my last day, so I was meeting lots of people saying goodbye, and she waited. And then we went into my office, closed the door, and she told me she's a motherscholar too, and she's a single motherscholar as we are. She just really resonated with my presence there. She was appreciative that I mentioned being a motherscholar in the space, and it just made me think in that moment, this is a global situation, this is a global community. In that moment, she felt that connection, and I felt it with her, and I felt proud. The reward for the bravery, because as I said, the universe rewards bravery. The reward for my bravery, for our bravery for doing this work was that connection and that strength that she felt in that moment. I told her, "Please, here's our podcast, and maybe you can be a guest on our..."
Because it's in the formation. It's just like we as moms, we created human life. We are creators. And so our protest is also the creation. We are never stagnant. We are always hopeful, and we know that we can pivot and change the course of things because we created a whole human being and we're cultivating these human beings. I love that I get to see the two of you, Dr. Yu and Dr. Sealey-Ruiz, in partnership and creating, and just know that you've planted a seed in us, and we're just continually... And every time Xiaoyi and I present at a conference, we get people coming up to us afterwards that they feel seen. And it's a different type of connection than you feel at a conference. It's a heart-to-heart connection, a heartfelt connection, as my mom would say, and I'm grateful for that every time it happens.

Xiaoyi Wei:
Can I ask something? When you were talking, I was quickly searching the conference held at TC in 2024, and I found the photo of you and me on this website. We were both dressed up. That's an artifact which reminds me of the photo we took together in my kitchen when we were recording the fifth episode. We both were not super dressed up, but just the mom's look in the kitchen. Both artifacts, I love the way you framed this as an artifact, both were us, us being mom, us being motherscholar, a scholar, and us being motherscholar. Motherscholar, they're always intertwined. I mean, this is so meaningful seeing mothers, women like us sitting together, doing things together. It is empowerful. It is a healing, and it is the best weapon to the anti-DI thing. We're creating love. We're creating innovative moves, no matter it's for education or for ourselves or for our children. I think this love is the best weapon.

Judy Yu:
I think so much of the both of you. Our final question for today in our recording is, what do you hope for in the future as Black, Asian motherscholars? What do you hope for, for the future?

Jacqueline Cofield:
Everything. More. Hope for it all. When I hear that question, just like a vision opening a box and the confetti comes all out. It's everywhere. It's beautiful. It's surrounding us. I don't want to pick one piece. There's so much tangential that we can't even name. I don't even know that I want to name because that would contain, and I just want everything. I want it all. I want more for us, for our children. And I do believe it's possible when we're all doing this work and being brave and making connections with each other from the heart that we also keep a record of because again, I'm working in museums and things and it's like you can go to the museum and there's works that was there hundreds of years ago. We're a blip. The artifacts, they remain. And that gave me so much respect for objects and for artifacts because they are the things that we are able to now dig up and learn about our histories and share about our histories to understand that we are one.
We know that from histories, so whatever's going on today is an illusion, it's a delusion, it's a deviation. And if we have these anchors of these artifacts that we can constantly be creating, then it allows us to connect to the memory and to, as Dr. Diller talks about, to remember, to assemble the members and put them back together, reassemble, remember ourselves.

Xiaoyi Wei:
Building upon what you have just said, Jacqueline. Yeah, we want everything and we are taking some concrete steps. For example, we are planning a summer gathering in Rochester area. We hope to have a pilot getting some motherscholars, mother educators from the local area and to have a workshop. And that's something we're planning, which will happen very soon. And also in the long-term goal, we too are trying to hear voices globally, like voices from motherscholars globally, and hopefully we can get contributors from different countries and have a book. This is something we're working on right now. Yeah. Dream big and taking concrete, concrete steps.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Dream big, take concrete steps. So we've got a concrete step for our listener, and that is to make sure you check out Solidarity in Action: Motherscholars in Academia. That is the beautiful podcast that Dr. Xiaoyi and Dr. Jacqueline have been talking about for this entire episode. I also want to share with you that as I talk about the work I do, when we talk about archeology of self and artifacts, I've been terming them heartifacts.

Jacqueline Cofield:
I love it.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Artifacts of the heart.

Jacqueline Cofield:
I love it.

Xiaoyi Wei:
I love it.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Artifacts of love.

Xiaoyi Wei:
I love it.

Jacqueline Cofield:
[inaudible 00:48:04] I love it.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Thank you so much, [inaudible 00:48:14] for being with us. Judy, any last words that you want to share? Anything come to mind before we sign off on our final episode of season one of Black and Asian Solidarity Collective?

Judy Yu:
No, this is beautiful. Actually, what Jacqueline said brought tears to my eyes about you wanting everything and we should want everything and ask nothing less.

Jacqueline Cofield:
Yeah. As in the famous words of Cardi B, "I don't want to choose."

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I want to thank my co-host, Dr. Judy Yu, my sister, my friend, and in many ways my confidant and certainly my comrade in this work of Black and Asian Solidarity. And thank you for being with us, Dr. Xiaoyi and Dr. Jacqueline.

Jacqueline Cofield:
Thank you for having us.

Xiaoyi Wei:
Thank you. Thank you.

Jacqueline Cofield:
It's such an honor.

Xiaoyi Wei:
A great honor. A very great honor. Thank you.

Judy Yu:
Thank you, Dr. Sealey.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz:
What we're really excited about, not just introducing listeners to Solidarity in Action: Motherscholars in Academia, we have a clip that we want to play for you right now to give you a taste of just the wonderful nature of that podcast.

Jacqueline Cofield:
The Japanese art of kintsugi repairing broken pottery with gold. I learned that sometimes the pottery is intentionally broken, but it's particularly interesting that a lot of it is when, for example, a ceramic item may have broken. And instead of throwing it away or looking at it as trash, you don't hide the cracks, you don't throw it away, you actually repair by adding gold to the glue to repair so that now you have this repaired object that has this beautiful gold scars.

Xiaoyi Wei:
I had that experience years ago. Deeply loved teapot was accidentally dropped and my heart was broken until I found someone to do this kintsugi, or in Chinese we called it [Chinese 00:50:27].