You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation.

To learn more, visit cac.org.

Hi, everyone. I'm Carmen Acevedo Butcher, and welcome to learning how to see.

Because my gentle mother has always modeled loving all people,

deeply listening to who each person uniquely is,

because of my painful experiences

of being treated at school and other places sometimes

as less than because of my brown skin.

Because my father was that conundrum of a brown-skinned, Cuban-American, racist, U.S. citizen.

And because growing up, I saw how joyful and kind my mother is, as opposed to the unassuageable

anger that possessed my father to his grave.

I wanted my mother's gentle path for me, and I've always tried to pause when I notice within me

when I might be seeing someone less openly and less lovingly than they deserve.

As a teacher, too, I want every student to feel heard, seen, and respected.

And this, regardless of whether they're a great student that semester or not,

I want them to feel I have faith in them,

want them to honor their voice, want them to succeed, and that I'll work with them. When I began

teaching again a decade plus after I'd left the University of Georgia, I'd been a stay-at-home mom for years. To say I felt

out of step with society was an understatement. The last time I'd taught as a teaching assistant

for composition courses at UGA, I'd been single and not juggling a family too. So while excited, I was deeply

questioning as I began to teach again, can I really do this? Imposter syndrome haunted me then,

every step. Not long after I began again to teach, I was surprised by an experience with my own

...