Overview

"I just could not imagine a future in which I was being myself."

In this documentary Tristan Angieri brings the reader into their body and into a narrative of trauma and healing. Tristan tells of an anger at their own body, “for being queer, for being trans,” that comes to threaten their life. Their saving of their own life comes from a body-centered healing practice in the form of a groundbreaking therapy for PTSD. From that beginning, Tristan goes on to find sources of joy and recovery in other healthy and healing risks, also centered in their body. Social media and the public chronicling of self was one of the key components of journey. They posted videos of themselves dancing to social media, not with the intention of garnering a following, but as a self-revelatory act. They discovered that those moments of honest self-portrayal in turn helped others. Clips of those videos are interspersed through this documentary. Tristan Angieri is a non-binary multi-disciplinary artist, director and actor. Their streetwear is sold on the queer and trans design label Homogoods. In 2018, they released the EP Eccolocations as half of the artpop group Hairband Hairband. As Themperor, they are currently recording their debut album. Their multi-faceted, multi-genre approach to their work infuses this film, which includes music, narration, animation, personal archical videos and photos, and social media posts. It is a unified story told with a collage of tools.

This is a fitting time for their work and for this project. The news media is focused on the theme of cultural and political division in the U.S., and the realm of social media is often viewed as the hive of that division. This film (and this lesson) lives outside of that dominant framing and lives into the truths of the authors’ life. Instead, the film reminds us that social media can also be a platform for vulnerability, for self-revelation, for providing a counter narrative to those that would tell a very different story about what our bodies mean in the world.

This lesson will challenge students to examine the dynamic between their external and internal selves and to take on one contained (yet immense) transformative journey. It is introspective work but that concludes with a public, creative work. As Tristan did, students will document their own process and craft it into a contained post or series of posts shared to a class Instagram account. The lesson concludes with a celebratory screening.

A Note on Technology and Accessibility

This lesson, as well as the others in the Otherly series, bring social media into the classroom. These lessons are designed to integrate ethical engagement on social platforms to complete the assignments. It will be important for you to check with your school or district for any regulations around classroom or in-school student social media use. In addition, this lesson entails the creation of a class Instagram account. In order to set this up, the teacher will need to set up an IG account which will be shared only to the class, with a username and password that students can all access. That said, while some of the content and theory of the lessons would be lost without the use of social media, students could complete the assignments using the photo and video tools on their phones. However! The lessons are intended to critique, engage, and potentially transform the use of social media. If possible, the lesson will be most transformative as a social media-based engagement. And with enough planning, you and your learning community can create an analogue version of this lesson with printed-out photographs, storyboards on large paper in the classroom, and using school-based technology to record and play videos in school.

A Note from Curriculum Creator, Jade Sanchez-Ventura

I believe in personal narrative. I think that to communicate the particular experience of a life and to tie it literally or intuitively to the histories--familial, cultural, societal--that have shaped us is an act of resistance that also makes for excellent storytelling. This conviction is the underpinning of my work as an educator: No matter the subject, I know that every young person has a singular, vital perspective to bring and my role is to act as a catalyst for their bursts of insight and inspiration. Sometimes (too often) my role is to help students recognize the power of their own insight and intelligence. As with all systems of our society, the classroom can also be a site of profound oppression and silencing. As one mentor told me, “You want your students to leave a classroom not thinking that you’re smart, but that they are.” Often that entails reminding myself that with every generation there are new methods of making and communication emerging; reminding myself to ask students about what is present and relevant to their daily lives.

Smartphones and apps and social media often feel like the epitome of a generational divide. Phones are banned from classrooms (including my own, generally), social media is demonized (even though we all use it), or if not demonized, trivialized--regarded as a cultural arena for entertainment and play, but not for serious study and critique. However, many of us, and certainly most young people, are daily crafting intimate narratives about their own lives on those very phones. Any minute on Instagram is one crammed with countless Stories, Posts, Live broadcasts from our lives. Yes, the celebrities and politicians and gatekeepers are there too, but one can easily ignore them and follow only the interpretations and explorations of regular folks like us.

Much has been made of the information bubbles made possible by social media. Certainly that is an important conversation to have, but for the purpose of this lesson (and it’s partner lessons featuring the Otherly documentary series), we have the chance to interrogate the vast options for self-expression and self-chronicling afforded by social media, in particular Instagram. I am enchanted by the truism that the more focused and personal a story, the more broadly it appeals. There is a magic that happens when an artist tells one small story honestly-It becomes a big truth that resonates for countless others.

Integrate.Me is one of those stories. In under nine minutes, Tristan Angieri crafts an intricate and powerful story of trauma and healing facilitated by therapeutic support, but also by the deceptively simple act of posting videos of themselves dancing on Instagram.. Through the lens of Tristan’s film, this lesson will help students explore mental health and self-care as it shows up in their own lives, and to transform that exploration into a series of posts that tells a story about a personal process of self-care. It will challenge students to consider which truths they choose to share and in the process, to celebrate the power and vitality of their own perspective.

A Note to Teachers

This is intimate work that will ask students to take a leap of trust in each other and in you. Depending on where you are in your year and with your group, this may be a first flight or one that builds on the bond in an already tight knit class. And of course, you may be applying this to a group of students who have only ever met each other on a digital platform like Zoom. Wherever you are, I encourage you to have faith in yourself and your students to make this leap! However, there are preparations that will be necessary to keep this space safe, and therefore positive, for all. Before beginning, I strongly suggest you create community agreements with your group. Even if you already have these in place, this is a good moment to review. You can also adapt your class agreements to a set specific to this project. Here is a sample list of community agreements, and there are a wealth of resources online for how to create a set of agreements with your class. In addition, given that this lesson will involve the creation and shared usage of an Instagram account, it will be essential to create a set of agreements focused on how to use the app and the related technology in a respectful, inclusive manner. Though the time spent on these agreements might seem an aside to the curriculum itself, in fact those conversations will help create a shared trust that will facilitate powerful creative and academic learning.

Subject Areas

• Health
• English
• Social Justice
• History
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Filmmaking/Visual art
• Creative Writing
• Peer support
• Gender Studies

Grade Levels: 8-12
*The following program contains mentions of childhood trauma and suicide, which some viewers may find troubling. Viewer discretion is advised. If you're looking for someone to talk to here are two resources:

@trevorproject @suicidepreventionhotline

Please take care of yourself, support is here:

The TrevorLifeline 866. 488. 7386

24/7/365 crisis intervention and suicide prevention lifeline for LGBTQ young people.

Objectives:

In this lesson, students will:

• Explore and define mental health, self-care, and healthy risk.
• Explore the ways that gender socialization impacts our ability to take risk.
  • For more in-depth work on gender socialization, see the suggested “Extension”.
• Chart a road map to meet a personal self-care challenge.
• Design a series of social media posts that shares a reflection on a self-care process.

Materials

• Film and equipment to project/screen the film.
• Physical or digital space for charting student discussions. (Whiteboards, chalkboards, poster paper, digital whiteboard, etc.)
• Note taking materials: Pen, pencils, paper, or relevant assistive technology for students who use electronic devices for note taking.
• Personal recording devices, one per student: Smartphones, laptops, tablets would all work.
• A private Instagram account created by the teacher for each class section; teacher and students share account admin capabilities through a shared username and password.
• “What We See/What We Don’t” template.
• “Transformation Map” template.

Time Needed

1-4 sixty minute sessions, depending on degree of in-class sharing.

FILM CLIPS

Integrate.Me is available in Instagram story highlights on the Otherly Instagram account page:

@otherlyseries.

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