00:07:45.040And I let it go, and then I got married, and I really let it go, right?
00:07:50.020I was very comfortable being a teacher, I was very comfortable, but I really allowed
00:07:54.220my partner to have center stage because she needed it, she wanted it, all of those things.
00:07:59.220and I just gave it to her gave it to her gave it to her and so when that crashed who I was crashed
00:08:07.020I don't know if I can explain it to you in enough way who I was just evaporated and I I have never
00:08:16.720felt so lost and um and so much like a failure and so and then and then you started getting some
00:08:28.280some, I guess, when I was looking back at it, I was like, I felt badly about choices I made
00:08:35.340and about things that I did and about people I'd cut out because, you know, I was told
00:08:40.460to do so. And when I started feeling this much better, my friend's kid handed the phone and said,
00:08:48.360Joe, you're going to do TikTok, Charlie. Joe, you're going to do TikTok. I said, what the hell
00:08:52.520am I going to do on TikTok? He handed me the phone and then I started doing this, right?
00:08:56.100I started doing lip sync. I wasn't, I, I didn't even know that TikTok was a place that I could
00:09:02.380have an authentic voice. I didn't know TikTok was a place where I could talk about politics
00:09:07.560or teaching. I didn't know any of those things, right? Nothing. Um, I was married for almost 12
00:09:16.580years. And so when I started doing it, all it did for me at that moment, you got to know,
00:09:23.600I was devastated by the divorce, like just decimated. And people liked me. People bigged me
00:09:32.660up. People virtually clapped for me. And in that moment, I'm not ashamed to admit it, I needed that.
00:09:41.760I had beautiful friends and family, but it was like these total strangers from all across the
00:09:47.320world app like like loved pieces of me right and was i acting sure can i sing absolutely not
00:09:57.960right but it's what i needed in that moment
00:10:04.680that i had it i think it's look i think it's brilliant i think it's absolutely brilliant
00:10:10.360and then what i did one day i literally gave my opinion about doug ford and then i got all of this
00:10:21.180other sort of influence from tiktok and social media which was oh my god having a political
00:10:30.040voice is important a lot of people agree with me a lot of people didn't agree with me it started
00:10:34.180this huge dialogue it reinvigorated what i love to speak about which is politics and all of a sudden
00:10:42.020i'm looking at this app and i'm like oh my god do people want me to speak about politics on tick
00:10:49.540talk and I was blown away I was absolutely blown away I had no idea no
00:10:57.300idea that that my interests that what authentically moves me that drives me
00:11:08.380drives me could actually touch and connect and start a dialogue with all
00:11:15.160of you. I had no idea. I had no idea, right? And the deeper I got into it and the more
00:11:24.960opinions I started to have, and this was early on, this was in like the first year to two
00:11:30.740years of TikTok, right? As I started to get, I started to realize, and guys, I don't know
00:11:39.220how else I can frame this, but how important I might be. Isn't that, isn't that, now I know a
00:11:47.600lot of you are like, Joanna, TikTok doesn't make you important. It's not about TikTok. And it's not
00:11:52.000about how many people follow me. It's about the interaction that I had. It's about, it's about
00:11:57.680the community that we built. It's about the conversations that we had. And I want to thank
00:12:05.080you guys because what you made me do what you made me do in those early days
00:12:12.520and this is the round full circle when ryan one of my best friends that i've worked with for 21
00:12:19.480years who's an amazing director and theater production drama teacher when he came to me
00:12:24.840and said joanne i want you to be in the play for the 21st time he asked me every single year
00:12:30.280for the 21st time he's asked me, can you be in the play? And I need you in the play because COVID
00:12:36.560happened and people are dropping out and we won't do it. If you don't do it, it's one of the major
00:12:40.380rules. You have to do it. And I looked him dead in his face and I said, give me the script. And guys,
00:12:46.900I need you to understand. I said, give me the script with sweat running down my back because
00:12:53.220of the confidence, because of the energy, because of the power that you guys gave me.
00:13:04.280And it was the scariest thing I've ever done in my entire life. I still get it. I'm not saying
00:13:08.720it was easy and I'm not saying I'm hopping back on that stage, but I'm telling you, you guys gave
00:13:14.780me so much confidence in order to, wait for it, be more scared to not try than scared to fail.
00:13:28.180Does that make sense? I was more afraid to give up the possibility than I was afraid
00:13:36.500to look like a moron and fail at it. That's the most important thing in life.0.99
00:13:44.780And I didn't learn that. I just came to it because of, yes, divorce, because of, yes, stuff I was going on with my family, because of, yes, all these different things. But you guys and social media and the connections, the authentic connections that I've been able to make was by far one of the most life-altering things, period.
00:14:13.260So, while you guys are all listening to this podcast or you're watching it right now on a TikTok live, I need you to understand how important this space is and how important you guys are to me and your energy and your vibes, your support and your criticism, your good comments and your negative, right?
00:14:37.880Because that all leads to my second part of the book. Are you ready? My second part of my chapter, my podcast, Unlearn 16, Classes in Session. All right. Second part of my chapter is called, does anybody want to take a guess, Soft Pieces of Celery.
00:14:59.380that's the second part of my chapter and and in this chapter i describe pretty much
00:15:09.620how trolls and people who don't like my hat or my haircut or my baggy jeans and all of this0.55
00:15:18.060are you a boy are you a boy are you all of this kind of garbage right all of that stuff0.99
00:15:25.440set me up. Whoa! Sorry, guys, listening to the podcast, I just got jets on here. Look at those1.00
00:15:33.660listening to the podcast. You don't know what that is, but just so you understand, that was a pretty
00:15:37.480incredible thing. Thank you so much. So this part about getting those kind of attacks, okay?
00:15:45.500Now, mostly, let's be honest, the attacks are ridiculous. They're ridiculous. Nobody can spell0.99
00:15:50.960anything. Nobody knows how to use grammar check. Nobody knows any sort of context or sentence
00:15:57.020structure. All right. However, what it did for me was this. It gave me power to do two things.
00:16:07.980Number one, when you get a comment like that, you don't need to respond right away on social
00:16:13.180media. Take a pause. You take a pause and you make sure you don't respond from an emotional
00:16:18.100center, you respond from an intellectual one, right? And as you respond from an intellectual
00:16:24.660one, you try to get at what the root is. And sure, I'll fix their spelling, I'll fix their grammar,
00:16:32.080I'll give them a little pat on the head and a kick out the door, but I'll do it with sarcasm,
00:16:36.960and I will always use it to teach, not the person that left the comment. I need you guys to
00:16:45.240understand that because a lot of people say, why on earth would you respond to all of the haters?
00:16:50.680Why would you, don't give them energy. Don't give them time. Don't give them your focus. Here's why
00:16:55.180I do it. I don't give them anything. I'm not looking to change the person who's like, are you
00:17:02.640a girl or a boy? Are you, why are you lesbians? I'm not looking to change those people. Those people1.00
00:17:09.500to me, some of them might be able to be changed, but that's not who I'm talking to.
00:17:13.740When I do a clapback video, when I do a video putting people in their place, I'm not doing it to tell them, to teach them. I'm not doing it for them at all.
00:17:26.480I'm doing it for the 21-year-old kid who's living in a bigoted town who have to face hate and uneducated stupidity on a daily basis.1.00
00:17:43.740I'm doing it for them. I'm doing it for them who at any given moment want to call it a day.0.99
00:17:52.820At any given moment don't have the energy anymore to talk back to the morons in the grocery line0.99
00:17:58.960or at their job or wherever they happen to be. That's who I'm doing it for.1.00
00:18:06.380so I'm doing it for the people that feel a little lost that feel a little attacked
00:18:14.840that aren't sitting I mean when somebody says it to me on this app who cares nobody cares
00:18:23.900but for them, watching me sort of tear the argument down, watching me stand in a level of
00:18:37.160pride and a level of empowerment, that's what I want those people to feel.
00:18:43.560They can play back my video. They can play it to the other person. They can have an internal laugh
00:18:49.440at the mediocrity and embarrassment that those leading with bigotry and hate are and they can be
00:18:57.300on their way because I think that that's incredibly important right so I have to do that
00:19:05.060right I absolutely have to do those things I have to respond in the book by the way I give you a
00:19:11.920point-by-point way in order to combat and respond to all of these you know let's be honest
00:19:18.760uneducated, well, soft pieces of celery, if you will, right? I never swear. I never rarely get
00:19:27.500angry. I don't get aggressive. I don't attack. I put them where they belong to be, which is
00:19:36.780nowhere important, but as an example to those who need to feel uplifted. I don't know the book title
00:19:44.820yet i am writing one chapter in the book i am just describing how i'm going to go through it
00:19:51.380okay so that was the second part the third part is called nurses eas and book bans oh my
00:19:59.700so the reason why i called it this is at some point right i got very political
00:20:08.260I started obviously talking about not just Doug Ford, but talking about the whole sort of auspice of, you know, the whole auspice of politics and impact and the key issues that were going on.
00:20:31.540And let's be honest, over the last little while, I've talked about book bans.
00:22:41.100You guys, if you guys have ever heard him, you know, I probably disagree with 95% of what he says, but we had the discussion. Tony Clement, a very, very famous conservative politician. I had him on here to discuss, discuss politics. And again, he and I sit very sort of polar opposite on many, many issues.
00:23:05.060That has to be the situation and has to be how you're having a conversation.
00:23:14.000There is no better conversation surrounding you with somebody who doesn't think the same way you do, but does it with intelligence and respect.
00:23:27.380That's the only way to get closer to the truth.
00:23:31.060because I can sit here right now and I will admit I have bias. Of course I do. Everybody does. I can
00:23:38.280sit here and admit that I speak from a certain sort of demographic. I speak from a certain
00:23:43.060educational platform. I speak from a certain sort of historical and social platform.
00:23:50.420So what do I want to do? I want to sit with people who don't think like that.
00:23:54.720and so i invite them on now it's not to say that i haven't sat on people who
00:24:02.080very much agree with who i am and very much agree with some of the ideas i have
00:24:09.200but it's so much more important that i sit down with people who don't
00:24:15.720right and even the people that are disrespectful for the most part i'll sit down depending on how0.97
00:24:24.580Like, you know, if you're going to be so ridiculous and you can't even have a conversation, that's useless.0.97
00:24:34.300You know, and the more I speak to people, like, you can't help but gain intelligence and gain awareness by speaking to people who don't think the way you do.
00:27:18.080And when I started really sharing, teaching, and how I taught and what my classroom stuff was and what I got from that and how I connected with you guys about that as well, right?
00:27:38.080So, I think I filmed a quiz with my students at some point because they're funny.
00:27:45.580seven and eights are funny. For those of you who don't know, I teach grade seven through grade 12.
00:27:50.620No, I don't teach grade nine because they're terrifying. But I taped them and, well, the
00:27:57.700camera's on me, but their responses and it was funny and everybody loved it. And what I started
00:28:02.620realizing is that people want to see education, A, what teachers do, but B, they want to see
00:28:09.740education and educators be more engaging. They want to know what you do in your class. What do
00:28:15.420do differently what are your perspectives again even if they don't agree right even if they don't
00:28:25.820they don't think my methodology is strong they don't think my viewpoints are useful
00:28:32.060this is the place where you can give all of that so what did i do i always started
00:28:36.460started sharing what i thought was important to education what i did in my classroom what i didn't
00:28:41.740do how many and people really like this how many mistakes i made along the way people love it when
00:28:47.980i tell them my baby teaching stories when i was a when i was a young teacher why because it was a
00:28:53.500disaster because because you don't know how you you know to teach history you know to teach whatever
00:29:05.820subject matter you have but guys that's not the most important part of teaching the most important
00:29:10.940part of teaching is understanding the students is understanding how you need to pivot is
00:29:15.660understanding what they need in every any given day is understanding how those kids fit with each
00:29:21.820other and form different student bodies depending on the class they're in and how you have to adjust
00:29:29.500in order to reach them help them educate them empower them and so there are moments where i
00:29:38.380think i'm great with students and then there's moments where i think oh my god i didn't see that
00:29:44.380coming i should have you know when i was a younger teacher there was a lot of yelling
00:29:51.420as a teacher when you have to yell you've lost because you didn't see and you didn't manage
00:29:59.820appropriately on the front end right i think that the whole point of teaching people ask what's my
00:30:10.540favorite part of teaching and it's the learning it's the learning it's not the learning about
00:30:16.780history although some kids teach me about history some kids teach me about politics things i never
00:30:21.900new? It's the learning about them. It's the learning about how to be a better teacher. It's
00:30:30.720the learning about developmental psychology. It's the learning about new things that inform their
00:30:38.580state of being. It's the learning about every single thing that those kids have to interact with
00:30:44.820and what they bring to the class. It's learning about mental health issues. It's learning about
00:30:49.420autism. It's learning about dyslexia. It goes and goes and goes, right? One of my favorite quotes
00:30:58.180from Socrates has to be, the more that I learn, the more that I know, I know nothing at all.
00:31:04.900The more that I know, I know nothing at all. It's also learning how to help them,
00:31:13.040how to watch them fail, let them fail, and help them get back up.
00:31:22.200And as a teacher, sometimes we forget how scary that grade nine drama classroom is.
00:31:30.620And when I joined the play and I did the play, it all came rushing back, right? It all came
00:31:37.840rushing back, how terrifying failure and embarrassment and all of those things were
00:31:45.180that I had put out of my head because I controlled everything in my life.
00:31:53.660So I joined that play to be a student again. The more you can put yourself in your student's shoes,
00:32:01.840the more you'll be able to understand them. So when I was in that play, want to know who helped me?
00:33:06.840Because the biggest thing you have to do for students, with students, is watch them fail because you can't control it. Help them get back up. Applaud their failure because you know they're going to learn something big if they'll get back up and try again.
00:33:25.620that's it, right? I think that's an incredibly important aspect. And I think when I share
00:33:39.060stories with that on social media, not only do parents like it because they can see what else
00:33:45.660they can do and teachers like it because they can see strategies, younger students like it who
00:33:50.760listen to me because, you know, they see themselves in different things and they can give me advice
00:33:59.340on different items. And they can also see that I didn't always have it perfect. I still don't
00:34:07.340have it perfect. Understand that. I still don't have it even close to being perfect. So when I
00:34:14.200make a mistake, it is the first thing I admit and the first thing I talk about it. And people around
00:34:19.940the world need to listen to though they want to listen to those stories because it makes them
00:34:25.700feel like oh damn okay well i made a mistake yesterday but that doesn't mean i'm down
00:34:30.420that doesn't mean i'm out that just means now tomorrow i'm going to be better right
00:34:38.580now i have two more parts of the chapter and i want to get your vibes on them um and i kind
00:34:45.940of want you guys to guess one of the chapters what one of the chapters is or not one of the
00:34:50.020chapters one of the sections is going to be called um but of course um i wouldn't have
00:35:00.900i won't write anything uh without talking about grammar ruby thank you styles get my purse get my
00:35:12.660purse is another section. Absolutely. Now I'm going to talk about grandma Ruby, um, not just
00:35:18.300because how she created me, not just because of the person she was, but I need everybody to
00:35:27.120understand that the power of social media not only allowed you guys to get no, to get to know me
00:35:34.300and my grandma but you made a 97 year old feel famous and important you did that
00:35:45.820you we i took my grandma to the mall and people knew who she was and people asked for photos with
00:35:53.660her and you guys made her feel important and special you guys you guys sent gifts to her
00:36:12.940you you guys and and she might have kept forgetting but i reminded her
00:36:17.020you guys made her feel important. And for 97 year olds, I don't think they feel important a lot.
00:36:31.660Right? I don't think they feel important a lot. And I know I shared her with you and I know you1.00
00:36:38.220got to know her and she had all these cool parts of her, but you made her feel super important.
00:36:43.800And then you also made my mom and my uncle so thankful because they know that forever their mom is going to, they know, like, the world got to get to know her and how much we love her and how important she is to all of us.
00:37:11.220and and that's powerful and and and then in that same sense you know i shared with you guys my mom
00:37:21.060battling cancer how hard it was how scary it was i shared with you my uncle ray who would calm down
00:37:31.400and take care of everything and take care of us and who would do anything for us i i literally
00:37:38.300use this app and this means this medium in order to just share as much as I could about my life
00:37:51.400and about connection and about family and about the hard things and about the fun things. And as
00:37:57.420I did, it was therapy. It was therapy for me. And for some of you, you said it was therapy for you
00:38:04.320because you felt like there was a connection and I understood
00:38:07.480and everybody could kind of have a moment where they pull parts of their lives
00:38:13.580and can see themselves reflected in that.
00:38:17.920If we have the comfortable, like if you can be comfortable sharing
00:38:24.920the good, the bad, and the ugly, it is amazing to me
00:38:30.700how that authenticity can connect with so many different people that's what's fascinating
00:38:37.920right it was amazing to me how it would make people how how my grandma would make people
00:38:46.680feel better about the loss they've endured because they have this new connection
00:38:51.140when i when i would talk about getting angry about my mom having cancer or getting angry about my
00:38:59.780grandma getting sick or getting angry about, you know, how unjust I felt that it was, you guys were
00:39:07.840there to sometimes commiserate, to sometimes shed some light, to sometimes make me feel better,
00:39:16.280to sometimes, you know, sort of just let me feel that.
00:39:23.140it's all all of what we're talking about is absolutely there but when people talk about
00:39:32.800social media this is the positive this is the positive of connection this is the positive of
00:39:46.320being authentic. This is the positive of showing more people your heart. That's it.
00:40:00.980So that's going to be a really important part of my chapter. I'll try not to cry during it.
00:40:07.480But you won't know anyway, because I'll be typing little watermarks on the table, right?
00:40:13.000but it will be incredibly uh focused on how i have tried to share my family
00:40:24.840well because you know that's who who i am and so when they talk about social media being this oh
00:40:37.420it's such a horrible place. We, you really have to tap into how beautiful it is. And this chapter,
00:40:45.580guys, this chapter of the book, if it goes well, if it's well received, I'm going to send it out.
00:40:49.740I, I might give it a go. I might give the whole book a go. We'll see. Thank you. I might give
00:40:57.280the whole book a go. And then my last chapter, you know, I don't know what order I'm going to,
00:41:06.520not my last chapter my last section is going to talk about sort of my almost famous section
00:41:12.520the idea that the power you have and the authentic authenticity you have enables you
00:41:22.200to especially through this medium to talk to like-minded people and to touch like-minded
00:41:28.940people. You know, I've met Rosie O'Donnell. I've met Vanessa Marcel. I've met Jan, I've spoken to
00:41:37.240Jan Arden. I've met all of you beautiful people. And, and what I found, what I found is that
00:41:46.600connecting to people who are quote unquote celebrities, right? In that industry
00:41:53.440are those three people i just mentioned are three of the most beautiful people i've ever met
00:42:02.860and you have perceptions about all of that in your head right you have perceptions and
00:42:08.100separations from all of those things yet those individuals get to be a beautiful example
00:42:17.060of celebrity and heart, celebrity and intelligence, and all of these things.
00:42:27.800If you can connect with the people you think are so out of reach,
00:42:31.280all of a sudden the world seems like a much smaller place.
00:42:38.260Because you can start to see that if you're authentically you here,
00:42:42.840you connect with other authentic human beings on this planet,
00:42:46.860no matter where they live, what they do, who they are, what their age is, what their bank account
00:42:51.660looks like, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And connecting with you guys, connecting with
00:43:03.260people who watch my podcast, connecting with people on live on TikTok or on Instagram or
00:43:09.200heaven forbid Twitter. It also shows me and social media has proven to me that we have the power
00:43:19.720to do beautiful and amazing things. And for every person that chirps me and that says something
00:43:29.300stupid or says something hateful there's a thousand of you who are empathetic intelligent0.97
00:43:39.780beautiful heartfelt loving people who just want the best for everybody in this world period1.00
00:43:48.740that's what social media does this is it
00:43:55.140obviously the podcast that i'm talking about i'm doing the podcast right now while i'm
00:43:58.660talking to you guys right now i'm trying to merge two forms of media it is unlearn 16 classes in
00:44:04.180session but if we can laugh together if we can cry together if we can do it all authentically
00:44:14.340i don't think there's anything on this world that we can't accomplish
00:44:22.340i think i think that people are powerful and beautiful
00:44:28.660And I think that social media and what I've been lucky enough to fall into is proof that the more people I come in contact with, the more I am blown away, the more that I realize this planet is filled with love and empathy and beauty.
00:44:54.220and we should absolutely, absolutely hold on to that with both hands,
00:45:02.760keep reaching out, keep doing it more, and keep writing those books.
00:45:09.100And before I go on my podcast, I'll continue talking on TikTok Live.
00:45:14.780Before I go on my podcast, I want to ask one question.
00:45:19.520Who do you think my big thank you is in this chapter?
00:45:25.020Who do you think, as you're listening to this podcast, if you know me at all,
00:45:30.520who do you think I had to thank at the very end of this chapter?
00:45:37.440Because without them, I would never have started.