Adam Bessie

Kathryn interviews Author Adam Bessie.The pandemic changed our lives and society in ways that we continue to grapple with. For teachers the shifts in their daily lives was nothing short of seismic. Adam Bessie, a long-time community college English professor in the San Francisco Bay Area shares a moving and eye-opening graphic account of what it really meant for teachers and students to go virtual. As COVID raged many struggled to stay afloat economically and to cope with the disproportionate toll the pandemic took on marginalized and oppressed groups. From his “teaching bunker” in his garage he witnesses the devastating collision of a public health crisis with longstanding social injustice. His new book is a powerful reminder of how—even with the most sophisticated technology—the real-world classroom experience can’t be replicated in the virtual world. He won the New York Association of Black Journalists 2018 Award and writes comics that have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times.Kathryn also interviewsAuthor Patrick Kilcarr PhD.Emotional intelligence is the secret to unlocking personal transformation and reaching everyone’s full potential, so why are there so few personal guides on how to do so? Enter Dr. Patrick Kilcarr, who has dedicated his life to studying and teaching EI. He offers everyone an extraordinary guide to solving the problem of how to unlock EI within us at the individual level, rather than waiting for someone with leadership skills to do so. Drawing on his extensive experience in the field, he closes the gap between what is written about emotional intelligence and demonstrates what it looks and feels like to achieve and maintain it, especially if our formative years were paved with drama, trauma, and disappointment. He has been the Director of Georgetown University’s Center for Personal Development since 1999 and co-authored the award winning book “Voices From Fatherhood: Fathers, sons, and ADHD”.