Though I usually use this space to offer answers to teaching advice questions from professors, I wanted to try something different. For my next few installments, I’m writing letters to people who have exemplified what it means to be an effective teacher. The first letter in the series was about what I learned when visiting a colleague’s hybrid class. This column, the second in the series, is to my Mom. She will forever be one of my greatest teachers.

Dear Mom,

My friend and colleague, Jeff Hittenberger, worked with us to launch a new faculty learning community last year. Together, we explored how to engage in civic life with love and wisdom. We didn’t have to go further than the daily news to hear of school board meetings, classrooms, grocery stores and libraries being impacted by political polarization in our country.

What really struck me throughout the experience was that so many people in the learning community shared how they find it hardest to show up with love and wisdom with their families. My colleagues described how they cannot talk to their parents or other family members about anything even remotely political without sparking tension that felt impossible to defuse. A few stressed that the only way their marriages keep going is to avoid any topics outside the “safe” ones, such as what’s for dinner or the weather.