Children and the New Normal: A Conversation with Anaïs Tekerian
This story is an ode to courage and connection.
A year ago, I became vocal about this whole new normal thing—and once I did, I started meeting a lot of brave, amazing people. Looking back, I am so happy that I decided to put my mind to the service of my heart! It was one of the best decisions I made in my life!
I am saying it while knowing very well that this path is non-trivial, that we are up against giant crap, and that our battle truly is against a monster. Even so, I would much rather the monster be scared of me than the other way around. Monsters exist to bring our courage out of us, and then, once we are not scared, they need to be dismissed.
So without a doubt, making meaningful connections was the best part of this past year, and a powerful weapon against the monsters.
One of the very impressive people I met is Anaïs Tekerian. She is a talented and courageous singer and musician, a part of the Armenian trio Zulal, and a mother of two beautiful girls. On a side note—in-person interviews are great—she is also an amazing cook, and I mean it in ALL CAPS.
Anaïs has so many important things to say, and she expresses herself with such grace. I just had to interview her for Make Language Great Again! We talked and hugged, then hugged again forever, because, you know what, we are human. And we are meant to hug. And together, we are strong. I love Anaïs with my purest soul, she is such a special and impactful human being.
We talked about how this new normal messes with rationality and empathy, about the role of art, about the way the kids are being (mis)treated in the New Normal school environment, about generational trauma, and about overcoming crap with love.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed interviewing Anaïs.
Music credits and links:
Opening tune: "Kassandra (feat. Pawel Knapik)" by Anaïs Tekerian
Closing tune: "Soul Eaters" by Tessa Makes Love
Anaïs Tekerian on Bandcamp: https://anaistekerian.bandcamp.com
Tessa Makes Love (my music project) on Bandcamp: https://tessamakeslove.bandcamp.com/
Make Language Great Again https://makelanguagegreatagain.com
"not being able to see other kid's expressions due to the masks". Even when I believed that COVID was a lethal new virus with an extremely high R naught, because long ago I was a parent to 3 kids, I knew masking small kids was absurd. Given my current understanding that masks on adults don't even work and that kids very rarely get sick anyway, and that safe treatments are largely effective, this requirement seems to me criminal. But alas this whole bizarre theater is criminally operated. I mean, they just keep outdoing themselves - different PCR cycle counts for vaccinated and non-vaccinated??? They can get away with anything, it seems.
This is exactly why I am leaving public education. The cognitive dissonance is more than I can handle