Dear Reader,

💛 Thank you for welcoming me into your inbox. It’s good to be writing this newsletter again after an unexpected eight-month hiatus.

Lots has been happening in my little world, and I’m here to share some of the highlights with you.

August feels like a fitting time to return—a season of new beginnings as the school year opens up here in the Northern Hemisphere. For me, August has always carried a particular kind of energy: That mixture of anticipation and possibility that comes with a new school year? Fresh notebooks, new faces, ideas you can’t wait to try—and perhaps a few things you’re quietly hoping to do differently this time around.

I love the possibility of beginning again. In fact, Anew has long been one of my guiding principles as an educator. Inspired by Hannah Arendt’s concept of natality—our human capacity for new beginnings—Anew reminds me that we don’t have to reinvent everything to make something new possible. We can carry forward what matters, reconsider what no longer serves us, and create from what we’ve learned.

There’s certainly a lot of new happening in my own life right now. My family has moved homes—and cities—to be closer to my son’s school. My daughter has graduated from high school and is beginning university in my hometown, at the same university where I earned my BEd and became a teacher. Watching her begin in a place so connected to one of my own beginnings feels pretty special.

My professional life has been shifting, too.

For a long time, I’ve been carrying two professional “babies” that I love dearly: Pop-Up Studio and my PhD study: Making Care Matter. Pop-Up Studio grew from years of creating, teaching, and inquiring alongside children and educators. Making Care Matter grew from my PhD research into teacher wellbeing, collective care, and what helps us flourish in our work.

I knew both belonged to me. What I didn’t know was how they belonged together.

At times, that uncertainty left me feeling pulled in different directions and fragmented in my work. At the same time, this newsletter community was growing into a beautiful mix of people with different roles, responsibilities, questions, and needs. Some of you are classroom teachers, school leaders, researchers, longtime friends and colleagues; others I’ve met through workshops, Instagram, or something I’ve shared online.

I care deeply about writing in a way that feels personal and useful, and for a while, I wasn’t sure how to do that here.

So I retreated to figure it out.

I didn’t stop thinking or creating, though. :)

Post PhD, and with the generosity and wisdom of about twenty educators, many peer reviewers, and a whole lot of thinking, writing, making, and remaking, the pieces that once felt fragmented are beginning to feel whole.

I’m finally ready to share what’s been growing.

A new website is almost ready, along with a new offering that brings together so much of what I’ve learned through Pop-Up Studio, Making Care Matter, and the extraordinary educators I’ve had the privilege of learning alongside.

If all goes according to plan, both will be ready to meet the world on Monday, August 24.

I’ll write again then and introduce you properly. 💛

Until then, whether you’re beginning a new school year or entering a new season of your own, here’s to staying open to what we might create Anew.

Sending much love your way,

Misty xo