Embodying Parenthood in Academia.

Intrigued by Pillay's (2009) call for writing motherhood into one's scholarship and creating "liberatory intellectualism" (p. 51 1), we write this commentary to encourage exploration of and inquiry into viable metaphors of hands in poo and goo; performing paranoia, suspicion, and constant worry into one's scholarship; and moments that embody parenthood with academia. In considering the plenitude of recent attention as seen in The Chronicle of Higher Education (Chavez-Garcia, 2009; Laster, 2010; Williams June, 2010; Wilson, 2009) and other publications (Mason & Goulden, 2002; Raddon, 2002) on issues related to parenthood in academia, we find value in integrating parenthood into our academic, scholarly identities. Writing and creating parenthood identity as visibly and tangibly integral to academic identity can generate new insights and metaphors.Hands Metaphorically in Poo and GooFor scholarship about art education, metaphors from children's worldviews can help us to articulate and contemplate praxis. Most children are interested in bugs, critters, and other living things that are sizable to them. Parents must eventually face bug-related phobias in order to participate in the "bug-inspector" processes of learning performed through play by children. For example, a sculpture unit based on the dung beetle is a brilliant entry point to explore sustainable education, the cycle of life, and the role of art in the diverse contexts of local/global environments. The three types of dung beetles: rollers, tunnelers, and dwellers share a quest for animal feces as highly valuable goods because the composted resources contain a high percentage of life-supporting energy ready to be reused. What if we see the energy and knowledge students bring to the classrooms as gathered social poo incredibly rich in resources and potential that can be rolled, stored, and lived in? Our teaching then would need to be open and attentive to, and accepting of, seeing potential in students through often unpleasant struggles, rolling the dung in tandem with them, instead of quickly dismissing their struggles as a deficit.By thinking about the rich metaphorical potential from parenthood experiences, we were further led to think about education as wiping, simultaneously cleaning and fixing up messes, and purifying with water. These acts are not conceptualized as pleasant or unpleasant, but necessary; so too is the commitment needed in teaching (and parenting) to attend to the "messes" of students' learning. Wiping, cleaning, fixing, and purifying are acts needed to restore order, not unlike the acts of good teaching, attending to messes and figuring how best to address them.Performing Paranoia, Suspicion, and Constant Worry into ScholarshipPerhaps we have read too many parenting books, checked unnecessary websites for the latest parenting gadgets and childhood ailments, watched too many television shows of women giving birth or children being abducted. While the "boogeyman syndrome" (the imagined immediate danger lurking everywhere that targets children) has been a contributing factor in parents' radar of children's physical outdoor play and their general mobility and dwindled independent play, one must acknowledge that the United States is in a state of flux: although the crime rates are not the highest In the Western world, they still are significant (NationMaster.com, 2003-2010). It would seem it now takes an army of gadgets and parent efforts to keep children safe from the natural and built environment, cyber attacks, 'bad' television and games, diseases, foods, medical treatments, toys, terrorists, 'friends,' aliens, and other ill-intended heroes (think Michael Jackson and Disney). What implications, if any, should this sense of parental alertness and caution have on scholarship? Should one write or otherwise depict paranoia, suspicion, and constant worry into one's scholarship; and if so, how? In the next section we explore these questions and conclude with our Insights on the value, process, and potential of performing paranoia as scholarly inquiry in art education. …