I seek refuge in the languages of
Truth.
I seek refuge in the languages of
Truth.
Much of my work emerges from a refusal to quiet rage—to instead transform it into something deliberate, generative, and accountable. I understand scholarship as a form of HeArt: disciplined, relational, and shaped by lineage, labor, and lived experience. While academia does not always recognize it as such, I remain committed to challenging what counts as meaningful intellectual work.
At a moment marked by institutional backlash, deep uncertainty, and ongoing harm, I write and teach with the conviction that how we show up—for our students, for one another, and for ourselves—matters deeply.
If you choose to share or reference this work, I ask that you do so responsibly and with attribution. Careful citation sustains situated BIPOC voices and resists the extraction of lived experience without consent.
Recent and revised work shared with intention:
Why I Write explains the purpose, commitments, and lineage of this blog. Writing from feminist, decolonial, and critical traditions, I situate this space as a refusal of academic neutrality and a response to the ways institutions police knowledge, voice, and labor—particularly for scholars working from racialized, gendered, marginalized, and politically situated positions. This page names how my teaching, writing, and leadership are shaped by lived experience, critical scholarship, and a commitment to epistemic justice, care, and accountability. What follows is both an introduction and a declaration: of who I am, how I write and teach, and why this space exists at the margins of the academy.
In Academic Hazing Dressed as Evaluation: A Critical Reflection, I reflect on my experience as a contingent faculty member subjected to what I now understand as academic hazing—disciplinary practices disguised as mentorship and evaluation. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis and scholars such as Norman Fairclough, this piece examines how language, policy, and “professional” feedback reproduce covert racism, Eurocentric norms, and institutional gatekeeping. This reflection situates personal harm within broader structural patterns in academia and calls for more humane, accountable, and liberatory evaluation practices. (If you wish to read this, please email me, and I will provide access.)
Wurdz From Far Podcast: Lonely Nerds Book Club: Reflections on Eve L. Ewing’s The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism
At Cosumnes River Community College, Dr. Jose Alfaro and Dr. Winnie Hung led a group of dedicated nerds (me included) who met biweekly during the Fall 2025 semester to discuss Eve Ewing's Original Sins: The (Mis) Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism. In this episode, I share my reflections on two chapters and why they stood out to me.
Resisting Erasure: Discourse of Truth I Listen To
Here you’ll find my opening remarks, slide deck, and a recording from a Los Rios Faculty for Justice in Palestine social justice teach-in that I co-led on November 13, 2025. The teach-in explored how famine has been used as a tool of empire across history—from Ireland, Namibia, and Poland to Gaza and Sudan—and how food, infrastructure, and technology are weaponized by imperial powers, alongside histories of resistance rooted in solidarity and care. The event included a screening of How Colonizers Force Starvation (Uncivilized Media), reflections honoring the Gaza flotillas, and poetry by Palestinian writers. Together, these pieces offered both historical context and a reminder that teaching can be an act of resistance.
Thank you for engaging with curiosity and care,
Fairuze Ahmed Ramirez (a.k.a. Rosie)
What I learned from my student, Robert Brown, is that literacy—when rooted in lived experience—becomes an act of care. In this student portfolio spotlight, Robert Brown’s writing reminds me that literacy is not something we master, but something we stay in conversation with. Across an eight-week semester, his work traces literacy as lived practice—through humor, humility, and careful listening. From a classroom moment shaped by AAVE to a solidarity-based research project on depression among Black men, Robert’s writing resists abstraction and extraction, asking instead how writing can function as care. Together, these pieces document not just academic growth, but a return to learning with intention. Access Robert Brown's Creations, here and scroll down to Student Fall 2025 Portfolio Spotlight: Robert Brown Literacy Rooted in Lived Experience and Care
Welcome. I am an Adjunct Professor of English Composition and English as a Second Language at Cosumnes River College, and the English Composition Faculty Coordinator for the Sacramento State EOP Summer Bridge Programs.
This teacher–scholar blog serves as both a teaching portfolio and a reflective space. It documents how I use open educational resources (OER), open pedagogy, and culturally responsive teaching to support anti-racist, inclusive, and student-centered learning in college literacy classrooms.
Grounded in interdisciplinary and humanizing pedagogies, the site brings together teaching materials, critical reflections, collaborative projects, and public-facing scholarship. Much of this work is shaped by scholars I understand as critics of the academy—thinkers who resist rigid disciplines and challenge dominant ways of knowing and being.
I see this blog as part of my teaching praxis: a living archive that holds me accountable to move beyond theory and toward practice. It is a space where I make my pedagogical commitments visible, revise my methods over time, and invite others to think critically about language, power, and how institutions produce “knowledge” and “truth.”
The work shared here does not offer final answers. Instead, it offers invitations—to reflect, to teach, and to resist with care.
How to Cite This Blog?
General APA format:
Last Name, First Initial. (n.d.). Title of the blog post [Blog post]. Personal teacher–scholar blog. URL
Example
Ahmed Ramirez, F. (n.d.). Why I Write [Blog post]. Personal teacher–scholar blog. https://sites.google.com/view/far-rosie-teachingportfolio/