79. How LGBTQ+ Representation Impacts Future Generations of Teachers in Schools

Are you curious how your early queer experiences could shape your approach to education and activism today?

In this episode, Mx. Frankie Dascola and I how your lived experiences uniquely qualify you to make a difference in the lives of queer students.

Through our conversation you will discover how to:

• Harness personal queer experiences to create inclusive and supportive educational environments.
• Implement effective strategies for advocating LGBTQ+ rights and visibility within your community and school.
• Use your voice to push back against discrimination while maintaining personal and professional safety.

Tune in to gain insights and practical advice on using your past to fuel meaningful change in education and beyond!

Connect with Frankie on  Instagram at @mxdascola93.

Transcript

[00:00:00] 

Bryan (he/they): Hi Frankie, how are you doing today?

Mx Frankie: I'm doing great. How are you?

Bryan (he/they): I am doing fantastic. I'm actually enjoying the weather because it's cold in New York City in the summer because it's rainy. So I'm just like living it up today.

Mx Frankie: Same. I'm also in New York City, so I'm here for it.

Bryan (he/they): So can you introduce yourself to everybody?

Mx Frankie: Yeah, my name is Frankie Dascola. I am a Department of Education teacher in Ridgewood, Queens. am a music teacher. I also run a nonprofit in Brooklyn, with a dear friend of mine, the Big Apple Leadership Academy for the Arts, as well as work as an executive board member for Drag Story Hour NYC. I'm a 12 year educator and I've helped probably about a dozen, GSAs start all across the city. So I'm really excited, just to chat today.

Bryan (he/they): I love that so much and there's so many things that you just mentioned. that [00:01:00] are close to me that I would love to support.

What was life like for you as a queer student?

Mx Frankie: So I actually go back and forth sometimes about whether or not I was spoiled I was definitely fortunate enough to have a high school GSA, that was super instrumental in just me learning basic queer 101 stuff when I was really young. I was actually thinking about it because of the questions today about my GSA advisor, who was just this. Crusty old lesbian, like she was the health teacher and you didn't want her to be your help teacher because you were like, why is this video? Why? Why? And so it was just this really great moment when we would be in the club and At the time, that was, Gay Straight Alliance, which is now Gender Sexuality Alliance because we're more progressive and inclusive.

Yay, language. But at the time, the club would just be like, hey, let's hang out, and every once in a while, we would have these super educational moments, including the very dramatic time where she got [00:02:00] very serious and told us about AIDS. my experience as a young queer person in my teenage years, was very positive.

I would use to go to juice parties and things like that. And so for those of you who don't know what a juice party is, it's a not 21 party usually held on a college campus or in a community center so that you can go be not on the streets. And so we would dress up, look real cute. And that was where I met my first drag queen and trans person remarkably on the same night. And I got schooled on the difference. And so like my teenage queer experience was very awesome and I was fortunate enough to have positive friends. But at the same time, there was a very, real issue of substance, whether I myself was a teenage alcoholic, my friends were into various substances, whether it was chain smokers, weed, some of them got into harder substances over the years.

And so though there were these very, Positive experiences are rich in education. That gave me a lot [00:03:00] of, forward knowledge that maybe other individuals might not have had until their later years. It also came at a price of. I've been aware of teenage homelessness because, I've housed my friends when they've gotten been thrown out. It's just been interesting because though all of that was able to happen, I'm still pretty convinced both my my entire family doesn't understand I'm queer in any capacity.

My sisters might. I unfortunately don't speak to my family at this point in my life. We just are not, it's just not a positive experience. And so I just choose to keep my peace. And so it's a very interesting time when I think back and to this day, one of my best friends, who was also my first girlfriend in high school, has just in forever be, Oh yeah, she's Frankie's really good friend.

And I'm like, Oh, okay. I. Currently consider myself, not presenting trans masculine. So I do feel a lot of dysphoria in this body, but I also accept that this is the body that I have. And so I work with it in terms of, [00:04:00] I don't particularly need any type of medical transition, but I love everybody who.

feel like that's for them. I've personally gone through, cancer surgeries and things like that, a thyroid cancer survivor. And so I don't personally want any surgeries ever in my life again, like I'm good. Long story short, I had a lot of fortunate experiences, but my family might not have been the most affirming, but I didn't necessarily get thrown out and they just let me have friends. I am fortunate enough for that, but then I had family members that were various shades of what I now understand as queer. And so it's just this very interesting hatchpad of I didn't know that there was more, so I enjoyed what I had, and I experienced that, and now that I look back and I'm like, oh yeah, a couple of people could have been like, oh yeah, Frankie's a little queer, we should put her over here with these other cool people, and maybe help her out a bit. It was like the early 2000s, so that wasn't as, as it wasn't the 90s, but it wasn't [00:05:00] today where, I get to live as queer as I want. I am as transitioned as I want to be if I feel like dressing more masculine these days. I just get to be that.

I live in a very, welcoming community that there's a couple of, Crusty people who don't particularly care for my queerness, but also what are they going to do? Because I'm not breaking any rules. my existence is not up for debate because I'm a person and they deal with that person.

And I show up every day and it's a very interesting time because all of that really does inform how I deal with my kids every single day and how I run the Rams Rainbow Alliance, which is our school queer club. And this is our swag. And I love showing it off because my kids made it and I love it.

And this was our very first inaugural, we call this our classic look. And so we run this every once in a while as a fundraiser and we jack up the prices and people pay for it because it literally does only happen once a year. And yeah. If we're lucky, because rainbow stuff is still so expensive. So anyway, I use a lot of that now.

[00:06:00] Like my GSA is structured after how my GSA was structured in high school. I don't shy away from topics that I've known about since their age, like we exist, we live here, and they need to know because the other option is so much more unsafe, right? Like the education that we give in club. Isn't to indoctrinate or whatever nonsense that, the rhetoric is now saying these days. I want these kids to have a curate experience that is informative, that is education, that they know safe places to go and look up more information, and so that they can have language for what they are.

I didn't know I was pansexual until I was in college. I didn't know I was polyamorous until I was in college, but I was that weirdo teenager that had a girlfriend, had a boyfriend, we were all in band together, and we're still friends to this day, 

Bryan (he/they): Shout out to the band,

because I was that kid also. I love that. I'm thinking about your experience [00:07:00] and there's one thing that really strikes me is you mentioned like there was a price to be paid for the freedom that you had to an extent, which was, the bearing witness and living through substance abuse and whatnot.

It's striking to me that even at a young age, as a teenager, that your queer space would have substance abuse. there are so many queer spaces for very justifiable reasons in the 20th century that were in bars, and they were hidden 

And it was the safe space to be in. It centered around alcohol and it centered around dancing. And then eventually, drugs became a part of it. And that kind of blew up in the seventies and eighties, right? And so it's striking to me that even a teenage queer space would have substances present.

Mx Frankie: I think a lot of it had to do with the [00:08:00] intersectionality of the issues that were going on with my friends that, I now can speak to that I didn't fully understand at the time. Like a number of my friends were dealing with homelessness, And so when you're on the streets, there's a level of risk that goes up exponentially that also your exposure to that type of behavior.

goes up because you're trying to get into certain spaces, whether it's a shelter or you're trying to, stick with a group that, is already also in a similar situation and that those types of, substances might be present or, some people just turn to certain behaviors because that's their coping mechanisms.

There's a number of reasons as well as, I think particularly in my social group, there was a misunderstanding of, What it meant to be gay. And so I think for a lot of the late teen, early twenties, there was assumption that you had to go out and drink and you had to go to the club and you had to do that.

And so there was this, Like that was like the Hollywood representation of Hey, this is how you queer. And so that's what we [00:09:00] did. And that was, when I was in college at University of Illinois, we would go to C tap or C street though, shout out. I still think it's there and we would just go dancing and just drink way too much. You look back now and you're just like, Yeah, I could have done a lot less of that and my body would have thanked me a little sooner.

Bryan (he/they): And I think that's, you're absolutely correct. that's the Hollywood depiction, right? It's going to bars and it's going dancing and it's living up your life. But thinking back on those experiences, how do you think they inform your work in education?

Mx Frankie: For one, it's elevating the experience that's not that. Whatever. It's also I personally take a social, emotional learning approach where, we focus on all the different categories, self awareness, self management, decision making, all of these things. And so when you take that approach to expressing queerness, it's you, Also express when it's a trouble. Jonathan Van Ness, Queer Eye guy, he talks a lot or they talk a lot about, how to [00:10:00] experience the highs and lows. And so we, highlight them in the who's who and LGBTQ. And so we watch videos and stuff in club and we discuss Hey, you might not have the best day. And so we do our.

Our glows and gripes is what we call it. And we can gripe about things because sometimes things suck. And it's what we do with that though. And so we give them a moment to sit in the suck, sometimes getting it with them. And then we come out of it and it's okay what are we going to do now?

Now that we're here, now that we've accepted, this is what we feel. What do we do? And so it could be any of our feelings. And so that's where we take the more, Feeling feel good approach, but it's also grounded in a lot of like really good research And so I try to take the informed approach. That's what I take from my thing is I've got lucky a lot of times that I didn't end up in a much stickier situation overall. And I still ended up in my fair share. So I think it was more, making sure they have. [00:11:00] Not just what I wish I had, but what I wish everyone has had, right?

And so we really focus on how do we stay active? I love sharing our annual rundown. you can do this too. invite authors to talk at your school. Have people, real life queer people come out and talk. We had, former city council member Danny Drom was our Who's Who LGBTQ in real life that we had at our Pride Fest this year. He was interviewed by drag artist Bella Noche, who, has a long term relationship with our school. our students were able to see real live queer people doing amazing art, doing beautiful things, and hear about what it meant to be one of the first out queer teachers in New York City, what it was like to be an out city council member, the first one ever in New York City, right?

What it means to still fight despite everything that he's had to go through, because I promise you District 24 was not as welcoming of him as they are welcoming of me, right? I love my district, but also we have to acknowledge where we come from. And so I stand [00:12:00] on the shoulders of this amazing giant who has done he's the reason we got 10 million in, curriculum education going through the DOE annually.

He's the reason we're able to fund amazing clubs throughout the entire city. I get to do that and just bring queer joy into my space. And Part of that is educating them. We do a word of the week, and they pick the words. At the very first thing, hey, what words do you want to do? We have new members, and so sometimes the kids do the, lead the club. It's great. And so then we do who's who in LGBTQ, which is past, present LGBT people, whether it's rainbow revolutionaries, which is like an amazing book.

Everyone should read about 50 historical LGBT figures, or we have this amazing document I will share with anybody that has 140 some slides of famous queer people from throughout the entire world. And it tells you their content, whether it's. Sports, politics, art, music, whatever, and it gives you a little bio blurb about them and their, representation in the community. And so we do that and then we check [00:13:00] in, we have an arts and craft activityso I do all that because that make it better make the world we want to have we can do that.

Bryan (he/they): Absolutely. And you're planting seeds for your students to then go on and do that as well. So you become one of those rainbow revolutionaries for them, which I think is super cool. 

And what are some things that you do if you are confronted with anti queer behavior?

Mx Frankie: So I'm going to preface this with please no one, like I say this all the time. Please do not light your house on fire while you're standing in it. That means take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt and keep your safety in mind. I cannot dictate what is safe for you. I just ask you to toe the line because we gotta put ourselves in the way. And so my answer to when I do, I fight back, right? Now that might not be necessarily like physical violence because I'm not for that. I like my job. I'm not here for it. I'm too old to fight in the streets, right? But I go protest, right? I put my body in the way. I was actually recently faced in my own school building with being told when I requested an [00:14:00] annual PD for my staff, I was told, Oh I don't want to have these conversations.

They don't belong in school. Now, mind you, I thought everyone heard in this room. And so I reacted accordingly, which might not have been the most So where we can, say that I am a little edgy sometimes, right? And so I felt like I was just told that I don't belong in the building. I work every day that everyone else works. And so I was a little heated and I was like, no. I even walked into my principal and said, sir, you got to support me. You can't let please don't let people speak to me about me this way. And he was like, that was said? And I genuinely believe, because this is a good man. This is a man who has gone to LGBT networks, annual, professional development and like day of queer joy.

Like he was the unicorn in the room where he actually showed up, got the principle, like permission, the whole words. Yeah. So I know I'm supported by him. And so when he was like, I didn't hear it, I believe him. But also, have individuals be like, this is not for us. We don't need this. [00:15:00] And I very much said what are we going to do if a kid comes out to you? Like, why would you not want a tool that is just sitting in your tool box? That if magically this kid feels safe enough in your space. They love you so much that they feel like connected to you. You don't think that's ever going to happen?

Come on, you, like every teacher is just yeah, I got these kids that just tell me things. And so it's I had to advocate and we got a plan in place, but it was just like these moments where it was just like not only did I, step up to my principal and say, Hey, sir, we need this to change.

This is why we need this training. Everybody is supporting me. Every admin in my room we're going to be doing it in the fall. I'm really excited. And so not only did I, speak to the education committee for the city council and say, hey, we need this annually. Turns out there's actual legislation on state legislation to mandate. All of New York State to have annual training and procedures in place for every institution and for all stakeholders. And so I was like, Oh, [00:16:00] so you're telling me I can just be super. Oh, it sounds great. We'll just go statewide with this. And so I just fight back and I fight back in intelligent ways where here's data, We're going to do it anyway. It might not be the way you thought it was going to be. It might not be the way I even thought it was, but we're still doing this. And so even though I've had pushback, I now have an entire cohort of teachers that are like, no, we should do this. I went to our district union rep and I was like, Hey, so can teachers opt out of this? And he was like, not at the principal mandates. And I was like, great, sounds amazing. for the second year in a row, our pride fest was conveniently scheduled the same day as the eighth grade trip.

Even though we came September one with our date. I understand there's education dates. Cool. Two years in a row. You can't sell me that bridge one year. Fine. Two years in a row. I have feelings, right? And so my response was, Hey, so you're going to put the date on the calendar right now. We're going to put it on a Monday PD.

We're going to give it [00:17:00] OPW. So anybody who wants to go can go. And if you are really not into this joy, stay in your room and do grades, have fun, enjoy yourself. Give yourself time because you're not going to be mad. I gave you time. So I fight back, but I do it in a curated, calculated way that follows the rules.

The rules are there for a reason. Like they're there to protect me, but they're also there to put you in your place when you want to be hateful or harmful to my kids. And so I'm going to use it against you because you shouldn't be towing this line anyway. You can just love people and let them be, and if you don't want to talk about it at school, then don't talk about it at school, but don't you dare bar me from training people. 

Bryan (he/they): If you don't want to have the conversation, don't have the conversation, There's a lot of information that I don't want to talk about it and so I just don't talk about it. Like I don't talk about how reproduction works because I don't need to and I don't want to.

So I have that information, but I don't need to use it.

Mx Frankie: you go. 

Bryan (he/they): It's that simple. But thinking about, you encountered [00:18:00] teachers like that and you're saying you're encountering a teacher like that in New York City, which is a pretty progressive place, right? And so if you were to talk to someone who's going into education, who's in our community, and they're concerned about being authentic at work, what kind of advice would you give them?

Mx Frankie: as much as safety allows, just do it anyway. It's hard. I'm not gonna sit here and be like, it's easy. Because, I'll tell you about how first day of school, I wasn't even in rainbow colors. I was just loud. I got these gorgeous, I call them disco bell bottoms. And they're like, mainly pink, but they're like, they're just multicolored amazingness.

I wore my music t shirt with it for back to school. And I was literally walking down the hallway saying hello to one of those like second year teachers who I know struggling in SPED.

And there was another teacher who literally saw me, looks me up and down. And as I'm walking by says clearly to the other teacher, [00:19:00] I'm just so glad you just dress regular. What? And I just, I'm just like, just do it anyway. Just show up as yourself because I love Spirit Days the most because I get talked about so much and it is fabulous.

Like my favorite, again, Rainbow is your best person. If you really like Spirit Days, go to Rainbow, order online. They are amazing. But like I found a Golden Green Sequins little like shrug that looks like one of those old school, a denim, like jackets. And it zips up. It is g it is gaudy, it is delightful and I wear it every St.

Patrick's day with these p literally got them at Old Navy when I was like 15. These, they literally are just straight shamrock PJ pants that say, kiss me. I'm Irish. And every once in a while there's a little red kiss across it. It's amazing. I usually have some shamrock, my goal is to get me, I'm from Chicago originally, [00:20:00] and so I really want the Chicago Cubs shamrock t shirt, but I want to get it when I'm home at a game and I haven't been home in a couple years.

So like my goal is to get the shamrock t shirt to wear underneath it for Chicago, like shamrock because they turn the river green, it's a great tradition. And so I always bring a little bit of home. Into my stuff, like Chicago Pride Fest is the pride parade in Chicago. We call ourselves Pride Fest and I didn't realize until years later that's probably where I got it from.

But so I say it's like a little homage to home. 

Bryan (he/they): authenticity, it's more than just rainbows. It's 

Mx Frankie: it's just be 

Bryan (he/they): unapologetically me. I'm representing where I'm from. I'm just, you're just being you. And I think that's so necessary because honestly life's too short. 

Mx Frankie: hard because even the things that get back to you that always get back to you, Every once in a while, someone wants to try it. Like we're going into, we're almost five. in March, we'll be five for our GSA. Like we've been established. We do the Pride Fest.

It's huge. We do a huge blowout. And every once in a while, someone wants to be like, Oh, you can't have club at that time. And I'm just [00:21:00] like, What? You have to go or for instance, I had the New York Post come and call my school office, right? Like I've been personally attacked and not, I've heard some of the stories on your shows, not like that.

Cause some of that stuff, I'm just like, man, the therapy needed the healing. I just it's real. And I just, I hope people hear it, that's why I really like your show, it's like, it's getting that word out there and the stories, the oration is really necessary, the erasure that, it's happening with the book banning, with the censorship, all of that is just so necessary.

Everybody gets to hear their stories in some way or be like, oh, it's very close, and it's just important because we're not, isolated creatures. We're very communal creatures. And I think part of the reason we're in our situation, politically, socially, that we are is because We've allowed the story to become individualism is the best, right?

Bryan (he/they): And that somehow community is a nasty word, or somehow if we're in this community, others can't be in community with us, right? And that's [00:22:00] just, that's not what we are. We have our own internal struggles within the LGBTQ community on, who's nice to who, who's accepting of who. I really, truly believe it's about radical love and radical acceptance. And when you look at those both in a philosophical way and a social way, it's just about loving people for who they show up as. one of the best things I did for myself, both in my education and just personally was What if for a split second you believe everyone, right? Just give yourself that grace of what if this is actually true in the way that it's being presented to you and the way that people are showing up? What would that mean to you, right? What does that mean for you as the person you are that you're showing up? What does it mean to authentically just love someone regardless of whether they're irate, whether they're angry, whether they're sad, happy, whatever. And, as a teacher, these kids come in every state at every moment, right? And so what does it mean for me to just be truly, genuinely accepting of, here are these tiny humans that are [00:23:00] struggling to exist? And I'm giving them noisemakers and saying, Hey, feel into this thing and let's feel together. And maybe we'll make the world a little, more noisy, but it's great. love that. Let's make the world more noisy. Because you're right. Handing them a little noisemaker and just being like, woo, we're here can help remove some of that stress and it can completely change that kind of like energy that somebody has. And you're absolutely correct in that students come into a classroom and every day they might come in with a different energy because life happens and life is full of different energies.

I love that, of just radical acceptance, and radical love, and give them some noisemakers and go, woo! Let's just Alright, also the, what is it, grows and gripes?

Mx Frankie: yeah.

Bryan (he/they): Yeah, the gripes part, because sometimes, [00:24:00] like honestly, sometimes you just need a good bent session.

Mx Frankie: And we're also very social justice oriented, like active, like in terms of action, like making noise in that way. One of the greatest things that came out of the GSA slash in tandem with it was our student government. And so we have one of the most active student bodies where every class has a representative.

They get to go into this Congress. We have great presidents. Our great presidents actually sit on our school leadership team. And so we're one of the few schools that has genuine student representation. We've had curriculum books brought to student government. Or even just suggested like civics reading, like there was this one weird back, the blue comic we considered.

And so the student government engaged with that. And so we really try to get people to make noise in a positive way. Sometimes it doesn't do exactly what we want it to, because, maybe the other side winds up having more noise than we do, and so there have been, back and forth, within the community. Cell phone policies, too extreme, not extreme, accessibility issues, all sorts of stuff that [00:25:00] comes with being in a genuine community. And sometimes, we really got to talk about what it means to not get what you like, not get it the way that you want, but you still got to work and exist in it, right?

Band didn't do so hot at the NISMA competition this year. they always go, Hey, you should go for comments only. And I was like, Yeah, but we all know what you're gonna say to us because we were in the same room, right? But what does it mean for us to take that participation instead of getting gold, silver or bronze? Like you really like we, it was a day and our kids had to sit with that, right? and we got through it and we're stronger for it. And so all of that kind of plays into whether it's a GSA, whether it's a student government, the community, like what. Our overall community goal is just elevation.

And we use the arts, we use student government, we use civics, whatever our vehicle is, it's to elevate our community in whatever way we can. And some days we don't get as high or some days we just gotta sit. Sometimes it's a coast day. every once in a while you need that because things, you're tired and rest is good.

Rest is not a dirty [00:26:00] word.

Bryan (he/they): No, and you're 100 percent correct. Sometimes as an educator, you just need to read the room and provide what's needed. And if it means that you're behind a day in a curriculum, You're going to be able to pick up quicker because you allowed the kids to just have their moment.

And so you've given a couple of practical examples, even in that last minute, about, things that the education community can do to be more inclusive of queer folks. And I'm just wondering if you've got more insight that you might want to share.

Mx Frankie: Believe queer teachers. that has always been, like, any time someone's what can the education spaces do is believe queer educators, right? If they're bringing up a concern no one wants to be in the spotlight or in these marginalized spaces. And so it's if someone is having the courage right in my classroom, instead of saying, Oh, who volunteers, raise your hand.

I would go, Hey, who's going to be brave and courageous today. And so if individuals are being brave and courageous and speaking up please believe them, or at least [00:27:00] for a split second what is the harm in believing what they're saying is true? It does all that much really change. Are we afraid of conversations or the assumed conversations, Because, closed mouths don't get fed, right? And until we speak up, until we're brave and courageous, we're really not gonna see the change. People don't change until you force them to change or until there's a situation that requires them to change. If people speak up, if we say, Hey, in our policies and stuff like that, we don't expressively name educators, right? Like that's a major goal. how do we protect educators as much as we protect students? How do we protect our community, right? Like I love doing all these events at my school, 

I love drag story hour. I've had to stop galas. I've had to evacuate libraries because of bomb threats, right? Like years ago, a couple years ago, right before Pride Month, I got a email from Homeland Security being like, hey, there is a threat of real violence to these [00:28:00] organizations. My organization has been named in bills, like in anti queer legislation, on the floor, in Congress, in the Senate. And it's surreal. There are these moments where I'm just like, wait my organization, really? For, like, why? All we're trying to do is read. We're trying to build a read rich culture because, for whatever reason, people don't like books right now. And I'm just like, That's somehow bad. Please explain to me why people in costume spreading joy is bad. And I'm just like, okay, cool. We're going to do this, but it's also making sure my communities are safe. And so again, I cannot stress enough. Please don't let your house on fire while you're standing in it. Do what makes you safe. And if there's pushback and you're worried about your job and you need your paper, I would never fault you.

And I don't think any reasonable person, regardless of what community they're in would either because surviving is part of the goal, right? like to become queer elders in whatever capacity we can. That is a thrive, right? That is a star. That [00:29:00] is a notch in the belt we should all aim for, right?

And so in whatever way we can survive to thrive, right? that's the goal. And so if we're not in a thriving space, It's okay for us to take that moment to rest, to heal, to recover, and then move into that space. And I think it's okay for us to say that, particularly whether it's recovery, substance abuse, whether it's just life and trauma, right?

Like my mind is more specifically, working through Oh no, what she was survived was traumatic. Whether it was, extremist religious upbringing again, later realizing that's queerness, very Catholic. Just people being scared of, being said, you don't want to be queer because that's just going to make your life harder.

It's I can't help it. I'm just a weird, on top of it, I'm a good nerdy weirdo, like every fandom ever. So it adds, you add the intersectionality of queer, assumes women of color, polyamorous, it just keeps. The intersectionality becomes a crazy web and it's you could just be a little [00:30:00] normal.

I was like, nah, we're going to listen to rock music while you teach concert band. It's fine.

Bryan (he/they): We have a lot of overlapping identities, I'm realizing, or connections, because I'm also pagan, I'm also polyamorous, also queer, right? And I think that's another thing, another aspect of identity that a lot of people forget about is that they are intersecting identities. They don't live in a vacuum.

None of us live in a vacuum of, this is just, I'm putting on my queer hat right now and I'm only queer. No, all these other things play into who you are and it's the same thing with heterosexual people. I'm putting on my heterosexual hat and I'm only heterosexual. I have no other identity. That's not true.

 You are a whole person. All of us are. We're a whole person. Speaking of whole people, there are some people who have been sending in questions to the podcast, and today's question comes from Monet, and Monet asks, [00:31:00] With education being so politicized right now. Why stick around?

Mx Frankie: I love it. I can't stop. Like I've wanted to be a teacher since I was 12. I've never wanted to do anything else. And people were just like, Oh, you're not going to do it. And I was just like, but it's fun. Get this joy out of writing lesson plans. I actually am a district facilitator for music in District 24. So I go out of my way to write curriculum. I just, I love grant writing. I have over, over the last six years at my school, I have over a million dollars in grant money, that I bring in. I'm just super nice. And it's like, why do it? And. This is again, something that I've really been thinking about just over the years, but this interview has allowed me to put it in some more substantive words.

It's just I appreciate the experiences I've had, but one of the things that stuck with me was I just never had that person, right? That teacher that was like in the streets, right? I have pictures of me on the steps of City Hall during the George Floyd [00:32:00] protest during COVID, like with a couple of buddies of mine from the school.

We all still work together. at my current school is great. I'm just in the streets for these kids, right? Like I have no problem putting my body in the way where it needs to be and my action and my money where my mouth is to really show up for these kids to be like, Hey, no, this budget hearing is boring and dry, but I'm going to sit here to make sure they get another 2 million. For food equity, So that they get sustainability programs in school, Because that matters, how do we get more arts in there? I'm newly into government relations, why show up is because honestly they need to see that somebody's showing up for them and that could be anybody, 

And not for nothing like we can do it, right? And so like I come from like dirt poor Chicago, And now I'm like, literally, you can make arguments, not middle class, but to me, it's middle class. Like I live middle class Brooklyn, like I'm in Williamsburg, right? Like I live a bougie life and I like that. And I like that the way I get to give back, being a child free person, All politicians can say what they want, but I believe in the [00:33:00] future and I believe that like my way, I don't have kids and so now I get to be in the streets. I get to be, calling these politicians and being like, hey, where's our money?

Why aren't music and the arts codified in New York state? What can we do so that this is now permanent? So that, years from now, Not only are there policies, procedures, and things in place, but they can build on those things and make an even better world. And so I just want my kids to see that I show up whether they need it today, tomorrow, or never need it. I want them to know that there at least someone was out there, right? and I think that's important and I also want to say that like it's okay to not be that because I know sometimes in my language it assumes somehow if you don't do that it's not as good or something and, I want people to show up in whatever way they can and to push yourself so that you feel like you've done enough, whatever you feel like that is.

That's enough. But also put yourself out there. Cause you have good ideas and we're going to only do it by learning about each other. 

Bryan (he/they): and I also want to thank Monet [00:34:00] for the hard hitting question because it really is a hard time but you're absolutely right. I mean you gotta love what you do and clearly you do love what you do. Hey Frankie, thank you so much for spending some time with me today and sharing your story with everyone.

I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and I'm so excited to connect with you over Other things that I can help support, and just expand my network. So I appreciate so much that you came on today.

Mx Frankie: I make a little shameless plug for my social media?

Bryan (he/they): Shameless plugs, 

Mx Frankie: So I'm mixdascola, M X D A S C O L A, on Instagram. Follow me. it's about my happenings in New York and just some Ed commentary, arts, fun things like that, we can do queer stuff together.

I'm into it.