HeyJaredCeci Bell, Ph.D.
My newsletter about (1) Black culture, Black racial identity, and the Black community, (2) information and community for English and literacy professionals, as well as doctoral students, (3) mentoring and out-of-school time (OST) activities for K-12.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 23, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Aug 12, 2026
Latest issues
Double Binds: The Tensions Between Black Activism, Collective Responsibility, and Individual Choice (opens the original)
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Nikole Hannah-Jones’ recent New York Times Magazine essay, “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?,”[1] is disheartening. Black parents should not have to face this type of predicament, however, that is the state of the educational system in the United States. As inequitable as ever. By design? Hannah-Jones asks whether fighting for every Black child cost her own daughter. She writes in her essay’s conclusion that she “realized what she’d [her daughter] been yearning for most wa
Racial Literacies and the Converse Ad Controversy: Reading Race in Real Time (opens the original)
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I posted two notes about the Converse ad controversy yesterdayI was trying not to get distracted so I can finish the orientation and Lesson #1: Racial Literacies for Ceci’s Community Classroom. But there’s too much going on as far as reactions for me not to reflect on this moment. Don Lemon and Dr. Stacey Patton have entered the chat. There are so many layers to this Converse ad controversy depending on how racially literate you are (or not) as a reader OR a business OR an advertising
America’s Literacy Crisis Is Bigger Than “Kids Can’t Read” (opens the original)
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We often talk about America’s literacy crisis as though it is primarily an elementary school problem, focusing on whether young children are learning to read. But literacy development does not end in elementary school. The demands of literacy become more complex as students move through middle school, high school, college, and into adulthood. As those demands become more complex, literacy becomes the means through which we learn, evaluate information, make decisions, and participate in the world
Classroom Conversation: Who Is Actually Black? Let’s Talk About It (opens the original)
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This conversation on The Joy Reid Show, “Uniting the Diaspora, Part 1: Who Is Actually Black?” caught my attention because questions about African American identity, the African diaspora, and the relationships among different Black identities has been an ongoing interest of mine from intra-racial experiences as a Black undergraduate student at a predominantly white institution and my dissertation research as a doctoral student.This is exactly the kind of real-world conversation that Ceci’s Commu
A First Look at Ceci’s Community Classroom (opens the original)
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When I introduced Ceci’s Community Classroom last week, I described it as a space where scholarship moves beyond the university and into the public square, in conversation with the questions, experiences, and issues that shape our everyday lives. Now I can show you where we’re going first. The 2-minute video below offers a first look at the Fall 2026 Community Classroom, beginning with an orientation and followed by five lessons: What Are Racial Literacies?; A National Black Policy Agenda; What
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