As spring bursts in all its wild, bright, and unpredictable energy, I’m thrilled to share my latest junk journal creation—a tactile archive of the season’s rhythms and my own unfolding process. This is the third junk journal I’ve made this year, each representing a conference I’ve travelled to attend. This one was crafted from ‘junk’ collected during my trip to and from the unceded territories of Tiohtià:ke (where the currents divide/unite in Kanien’kéha)/Montreal, Quebec to ȟeská otȟúŋwahe (rocky mountain in Lakota)/Denver, Colorado for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting. 

What has been especially exciting for me is noticing how, alongside the evolution of my junk journaling process, I can also feel a shift in how I navigate conferences. Despite AERA being a huge and quite industrial space, I was able to quiet my imposter syndrome, navigate sessions intuitively, and overall feel more engaged, inspired, and connected. I learned and unlearned with fellow doctoral students and established scholars. I crossed paths with familiar faces and made meaningful connections…and, of course, I gathered little keepsakes and artifacts from the movement and special moments. 

The ‘junk’ collected here represents not only intellectual encounters, but also some of the affective, material, relational, and spiritual dimensions that unfolded along the way—both in and outside of the conference itself. It’s a reminder that meaning-making isn’t confined to official educational spaces—but often flourishes out of necessity along the edges. It took shape while getting lost in the stacks at a local independent bookstore, in a printmaker’s studio steeped in ink and community-made visual politics, in the sweet dialoguing silence of a museum visit, and through serendipitous conversations at a hostel...Even the in-between spaces—train rides, airport lounges, silent interludes, walks between venues—held their own meaning, reminding me of my younger self, who often encountered much growth, inspiration, and connection in movement. 

Coming home and taking the time to slowly gather, cut, curate, and glue these elements together made space for me to unpack the moments lived, process some of the lessons learned, and begin to map out key concepts and themes that I hope to engage with further. This process has also been making space for me to lean into the—at times uncomfortable—sites of growth that are rising to the surface, just like spring. This junk journal, like the conference itself, doesn’t offer a neat summary—it’s more of a living text. A layered, textured map of ideas, feelings, challenges, and connections that are still unfolding. Some pieces are clear and grounded; others are fragments I’m still figuring out how to hold... 

Below are a few references and links—some speak directly to what’s represented in the journal (What’s here), while others have emerged as part of what’s continuing to grow from it (Growing edges). Think of them as threads I’m following, each offering a glimpse into what’s been moving me, bringing joy, challenging me, or calling me to move forward. And while some knowings can’t be neatly cited—at least not yet, or not in ways I've figured out—they remain part of this unfolding archive that I know is there.

What’s here:
Barrales, W. (2023). Searching for Mami & Abuelita: Reimagining Ethnic Studies Praxis Through Women of Color Feminisms, Art, and Archiving. Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5412
Caswell, M. (2021). Urgent archives: Enacting liberatory memory work. 10.4324/9781003001355
Hooks, B. (2025). Art on my mind: Visual politics. Random House.
Sánchez, C. A. (2023). Mexican philosophy for the 21st century: Relajo, zozobra, and other frameworks for understanding our world. Bloomsbury Academic.
Serna-Gutiérrez, J. I. O. (2025). Mycelial languaging: Translanguaging, Assemblage, and Mexican Existentialism in Transnational youth. [Unpublished manuscript].
Tuck, E., & McKenzie, M. (2014). Place in Research: Theory, Methodology, and Methods. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315764849 
https://linktr.ee/EdScholars4Palestine
https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/kent-monkman
https://www.shopatmatter.com/
https://giorgialupi.com/observe-collect-draw

Growing edges:
Ait-Touati, F., Arenes, A., & Gregoire, A. (2022). Terra Forma: A Book of Speculative Maps. MIT Press.
Boveda, M., & Annamma, S. A. (2023). Beyond making a statement: An intersectional framing of the power and possibilities of positioning. Educational Researcher, 52(5), 306–314.
Campt, T. (2017). Listening to images. Duke University Press. WorldCat. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822373582
Germinaro, K., & Alvin Logan. (2025). Actualizing Black Spatial Histories Through a Speculative Youth Archiving Project. Occasional Paper Series, 2025(53). https://doi.org/10.58295/2375-3668.1543
Hartman, S. (2021). Intimate History, Radical Narrative. The Journal of African American History, 106(1), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1086/712019
Hooker, J. (2017). Theorizing race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos. Oxford University Press; WorldCat. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/ebooks/ebc/9780190633691
Jadallah, C. C. (2025). Positionality, relationality, place, and land: Considerations for ethical research with communities. Qualitative Research, 25(1), 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941241246174
López, J., & Irizarry, J. G. (2022). Somos pero no somos iguales/We Are But We Are Not the Same: Unpacking Latinx Indigeneity and the Implications for Urban Schools. Urban Education, 57(9), 1539–1564. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085919835292
Nxumalo, F. (2016). Towards ‘refiguring presences’ as an anti-colonial orientation to research in early childhood studies. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(5), 640–654. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2016.1139212
Ostendorf-Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Let’s become fungal!: Mycelium teachings and the arts: Based on conversations with indigenous wisdom keepers, artists, curators, feminists, and mycologists. Valiz.
Ríos, C. de los, & and Patel, L. (n.d.). Positions, positionality, and relationality in educational research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 0(0), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2268036
Sepúlveda, E. (2023). Chicanx studies, indigeneity and the politics of settler colonialism. Latino Studies, 21(2), 262–269. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-023-00411-9
Silverbloom, R. (2024). Political Bodies. In P. Landerreche Cardillo & R. Silverbloom (Eds.), Writings on Adriana Cavarero’s Political Thought (pp. 109–134). SUNY Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781438497105-007
Stornaiuolo, A., & Thomas, E. E. (2018). Restorying as political action: Authoring resistance through youth media arts. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(4), 345–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1498354