Tipsy Unicorns: Recent Episodes
Abigail Twyman
We welcome honored guests every month to share their stories of oppression and liberation. Our crew of Tipsy Unicorns (emerging social activists) then spend time centering these stories while we learn how to be more effective accomplices in our activism centered around anti-oppression and pro-liberation for all humans.
Thank you for listening to the first episode of "The Operant Chamber" during which we talk to Paulie Gloves about Leadership in Education... let us know what you think!
"Think like a scientist - behave like a social worker!"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were plenty of gems dropped throughout... here are a few to pique your interest!
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Lived experience with bullying. Feelings of being "lesser than" and fostered the development of a "fighting spirit."
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Lived experiences with leadership - good and bad - blame game - good people - bad behaviors
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Involved in school turn-around implementation - sustainability an issue - when working with adults need to also apply behavioral science to supporting them in the workplace.
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There's a significant cost to bad leadership - $20-30K for teacher turnover - emotional responding - need to realign with values - what to do more, less, or differently?
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Four hats of leadership: (1) Leading - establishing motivation, (2) Training - system of adult education, (3) Coaching - keep behavior going, and (4) Managing - maintenance of systems.
Link to Mystra's Origin Story: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tipsy-unicorns/episodes/TU-S2E1-Mystras-Origin-Story-e15b83s
Link to Book: https://www.amazon.ca/Positional-Authority-Aint-Leadership-Performance-ebook/dp/B0CSZJNKS2
Link to Slides: https://innovativeschoolssummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Paul-Gavoni_Positional-Authority-Aint-Leadership.pdf
Link to Article "Fighting Words in ABA?": https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fighting-words-aba-paul-paulie-gavoni-ed-d-bcba/
Listen to episode 1 of 4 in the "Generating Momentum Within Yourself" cycle of the Radical Action Talking Circle (RAT-C).
This 4-week cycle of conversations will serve as a call-to-action for emerging anti-oppression and pro-liberation activists.
To read more about our plans for 2022 and this work, please read our recent blog post: https://afapw.com/how-will-we-take-afapw-in-2022/
Join us for the first episode of Season 3 during which we listened to the story of Lisi Campbell, her family and their homeschooling journey. Their story will resonate with many homeschool families around the world. Listen in as we talk about everything from coping with challenges with our public special education system to learning how to serve the needs of her neurodiverse children by slowing down and really listening.
Thank you, Lisi, for sharing your story with us! We learned a lot and are inspired to continue acting in the service of our values of creating a more just, peaceful, and equitable education system for everyone!
If you'd like to give a Gift of Gratitude in honor of Lisi and her family, please consider making a donation to the Indiana Association of Home Educators.
If you'd like to learn more about Our Alaskan Oasis Homeschool Collective, please visit our website!
Editor's Note: In the episode, Lisi misspoke when she said her youngest son had a "feeding tube" when he was younger. She meant to say that he had "feeding issues".
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Join Our Alaskan Oasis (#OurAO) Homeschool Collective on Wednesday September 15th at 4PM Alaska time (5PST/8EST) for our first class with Tom Szabo. We will be learning with him together as a collective all 10-weeks of this Fall Term. Everyone is welcome!
Free for Collective Members
$10 for Non-Members
Sign up today at https://alaskanoasis.com
Below is the schedule of topics:
9/15/21 ACT 1: Find Your Heart
9/22/21 BCB 1: Staying Close
9/29/21 ACT 2: Watch Your Thinking
10/6/21 BCB 2: Using Reinforcement
10/13/21 ACT 3: Practice Willingness to Experience Life’s Ups and Downs
10/20/21 BCB 3: Pivoting
10/27/21 ACT 4: Return to the Now
11/3/21 BCB 4: Setting Expectations
11/10/19 ACT 5: Who You Are is Not What You Think
11/17/21 ACT 6: Doing the Next Right Thing
Join our collective today for the Fall Term for $100 ... you'll have access to all our workshops, resources and private Facebook Group.
Join us for the all three 10-week terms (Fall, Winter, and Spring) for $270.
On Friday September 10th, 2021, homeschool duo Adrianna Horne and Connie Stewart joined #OurAO Homeschool Collective to share their shared journey as parents and proponents of incorporating Direct Instruction, Precision Teaching, Prosocial Skills, and Self-Directed Education into every homeschool program. They believe this is the only way to create fun, engaging, nurturing, and successful environments!
Listen in as they share stories and take questions from our collective members!
On Friday September 10th, 2021, we hosted the kick-off event for Our Alaskan Oasis Homeschool Collective. Listen in as Abby describes the vision and mission of Our Alaskan Oasis, and how families can get involved in the collective.
This year they are offering support and guidance to families who are dedicated to learning more about how to integrate Direct Instruction, Precision Teaching, Prosocial Skills, and Self-Directed Education into their homeschool program to help their children thrive and make learning FUN!! The collective will be providing the following services this year:
- Weekly Family Support Workshops
- Weekly Family Literacy Coaching
- Daily Direct Instruction Coaching
- Community-Driven Adventures!!
Welcome to Episode 2 of the second season of the Tipsy Unicorns podcast. On this episode, Mystra tells a bit of the origin story of Our Alaskan Oasis. Today is Sunday August 8th and the New Moon which is the time of the month we seal our intentions. This month, I intend to ensure everyone who hears about Our Alaskan Oasis feels inspired, uplifted, empowered, and honored!
Check out the blog associated with this podcast: https://afapw.com/the-origin-of-our-alaskan-oasis/
We would greatly appreciate your support of our Just Learning Center through participation in our action circles on Mondays at 5:00pm AK (6PST/9EST) and Fridays at 9:00am AK (10PST/1EST).
Register for Monday: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErcOCuqTwiHtwxDSW8quxbV7AzvCdwgrX7
Register for Friday: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcldeiprjovG9xRy_q-PSyCCs7VrbpaqPgf
If you're not able to join us live, schedule a time to meet with Mystra one-on-one to discover how you can best support our mission.
My calendly: https://calendly.com/action4peace
We're actively accepting contributions to support us in purchasing all of the curriculum we will need to guide our learners and train our coaches. Our Go Fund Me: https://gofund.me/676c57b9
*Season 2: Episode 1 - Mystra’s Origin Story*
Dear Friends,
As you may already know, there are very serious problems in our world that we’ve allowed to go unaddressed for way too long. Our systems, as they are currently designed and implemented, are not serving us in the way they need to be serving us. It’s time for a positive change!
I’m writing to you today seeking support for our homeschool cooperative, Our Alaskan Oasis (AO). We are in need of many layers of support, which I’m sure you will understand once you listen to our story. As you are listening, please consider how you envision yourself contributing to our mission. We need people power as much, if not more, than we need financial resources.
Our guiding question for you is… How can you help?
Gunalchéesh! Háw’aa! Thank you for your gifts of generative gratitude! Much love from Alaska!
May your lives be filled with all the peace, love and joy your heart can handle!
All my very best, Abby - aka BABS, Mystra the Mysterious, and the Tipsiest of Unicorns
“People need to be given the opportunity to tell their stories in the way that is most meaningful to THEM… it’s our responsibility to learn how to be better listeners!”
“We need to share our stories, including the emotions and how we were impacted. This open release of information allows us to be able to live as our authentic selves.”
“Things don’t change because we have been conditioned to believe we are POWERLESS!!”
“When we show up for ourselves, we’re always right on time!”
“Together we will create a more peaceful world.”
How to Support Our Mission
- Join us on Mondays at 5:00 PM for an action circle focused on organization: Click Here to Register
- Join us on Fridays at 9:00 AM for an action circle focused on implementation: Click Here to Register
- Share our work with your family, friends, and colleagues and tag #OurAO
- Support our work with a financial contribution: Our Go Fund Me
Learn More About Our Work
Our Global Literacy Action Circle
Blog post associated with the podcast
In this special edition of the Tipsy Unicorn podcast, we welcome Sarah Alford Hart and Worner Leland to talk about Pride, our shared path forward to create a more safe world for all, finding what feels good and right for us as individuals, learning to love and live unapologetically, and how we can ensure we minimize harm, maximize autonomy, and ensure assent first, foremost and always.
Please check out the #RetractHate campaign and sign the petition to get future updates.
Please share your love with Sarah by supporting LEAP ABA and consulting with her through NESSI.
Please share your love with Worner by emailing them at worner@upswingadvocates.org, and checking out their website and continuing education events at Sex Ed Continuing Ed, Sex Ed Care Con, and Sex ABA Conference.
Please enjoy this episode of Tipsy Unicorns with Brian Middleton - the Bearded Behaviorist - and Abigail Twyman - aka Mystra the Mysterious. We had an in-depth conversation in which we dropped all sorts of gems along the way. Conversation topics included social justice, compassionate care, cultivating spaces we can speak without judgment, experiential avoidance, and accepting the possibility of failure.
You can learn more about Brian, check out his podcasts Act Natural and Oh Behave, read his blog, and purchase some dope swag at his website.
In this episode of Tipsy Unicorns, Abigail is joined by Rachel Cullen, a gay autistic advocate from the UK with a background in literature and linguistics who is currently studying for her Masters in Autism studies with a main academic focus on autistic language systems. Listen in on our conversation as Rachel shares her lived experiences and perspective on oppression, self-liberation, and the path towards collective liberation.
April is Autism Acceptance Month and we are focusing our attention, conversations, and action planning on Anti-Ableism Activism. During our conversation, we talked about the double empathy problem, co-morbid conditions, stigmatization, traumatic experiences of Autistic and Disabled people abused and neglected by those charged with their care, and the importance of open and honest communication to the change process. We also discussed the responsibility behavioral scientists have to acknowledge and then take action to right historical and current wrongdoings.
Check out Rachel's page to learn more about her read highlights from our conversation: https://afapw.com/member/rachel-cullen/
In this episode of Tipsy Unicorns, Abigail is joined by Sarah Alford Hart owner of NESSI - Neurodiversity-Emphasizing Support Services and Information - and admin of the ADR: Anti-Ablelism 101 group on Facebook. Listen in on our conversation as Sarah shares her lived experiences and perspective on oppression, self-liberation, and the path towards collective liberation.
April is Autism Acceptance Month and we are focusing our attention, conversations, and action planning on Anti-Ableism Activism. During our conversation, we talked about the rights of Autistic and Disabled people to live happy, safe, and autonomous lives, her recommendation for us to read the article "Don't Mourn for Us" by Jim Sinclair which is a call to action for parents and caregivers, her work to carry forward the message of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network that emphasizes "Nothing about us without us", and her suggestions for how we can all get involved in the Neurodiversity Movement which is pushing for changes that will create a more just, equitable, and peaceful world for us all.
Please check out Sarah's page to learn more about her and read highlights from our conversation: https://afapw.com/member/sarah-alford-hart/
In this episode of Tipsy Unicorns, Abigail is joined by Harry Hirsh author of "Don't Read This Book! It's a Waste of Your Time". Listen in on their conversation that delves into Harry's lived experiences and perspective on oppression, self-liberation, and collective liberation.
This month is Autism Acceptance Month, and we're focusing our attention, conversations, and action planning on Anti-Ableism Activism. During this episode, we talk about Harry's experiences growing up with abusive parents in a broken system, how he's working towards becoming a more autonomous adult while still living within the confines of a broken system, and his suggestions for actions that would produce the kind of change we all want to create a more just, equitable, and peaceful world for all. He recommends that we start small, be diplomatic in our approach, validate the fears and values of others, and focus on empowering others because "social power is renewable".
Read more about Harry and highlights from our conversation here: https://afapw.com/member/harry-hirsh
On this episode of Tipsy Unicorns, host Abigail Twyman is joined by LeAsia Leach-Thompson of Life Changing Missions. She is one of three honored guests being centered during our March Radical Action Circle cycle focused on Anti-Racist and Anti-Sexist Action. Listen in to our conversation as she shares some gems of inspiration while telling us about her lived experiences with oppression and vision for us all on our path towards collective liberation. Visit her Gifts of Generative Gratitude page to learn more about her and support her life work.
https://afapw.com/member/leasia-leach-thompson/