Tamara A.

me to my snacks on the pontoon this summer:
ALL I WANTED WAS YOUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAHHHHH ❤️‍🔥
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i was taking a trip down memory lane during denver’s first real snow a few days ago & was reminded of this august moment of being hot & hungry on a boat.
🦋
braids by:
hair scarf: my mom
t-shirt tan by: my summer job at ✨the p00L✨
knee brace by:
🦋
ps. thank GOODNESS we are ending this year so much on our feeds. ❤️‍🔥

🤶🏾me: “what if we do this every year for your birthday? a really pretty holiday pop up + early presents?”
😻chloe: “I’d really like that”
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thank you to for hosting us for your gorgeous and sparkly ✨Snowed Inn✨ cozy experience & let me tell ya’ll the heaters on that festive enclosed patio WORK okay!!!
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this holiday pop up features:
❄️special menu items and seasonal beverages
❄️decor inspired by mountain lodges
❄️a cozy ambience for many types of gatherings
AND
💙 a FOOD DRIVE GIVEBACK. if you bring 4 non perishable food items in, you’ll recieve a complimentary holiday bevvyy for supporting the community

There are VERY few times in my life that I can remember being encouraged to speak up. However, I do have a lot of memories of silencing myself or being silenced by others out of fear that I will not be taken seriously, or my voice will not be heard. As a Black, le***an educator, it is rare that space is made for me. But, when reached out to me over the summer to be a part of the ,that reality completely changed. Proud Women is a book a coffee table style book that features more than 100 fierce, brave women in the LGBTQ+ community and their stories.

To say that I am grateful is an understatement, and to say that I’m terrified for you to read my words is the absolute truth. I hope you hear me. I hope you understand our community, and I hope the people who really needed this book are able to know they have a place in this world. I am so overwhelmed with 🌈 pride in my community, in the humans who shared the stories, and in myself for taking this opportunity and running with it.

IM IN A BOOK YA’LL!!! 😭💓

https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/proud-women-brittany-wheaton-jeltema/1135472651?ean=9781734225617

🎨: .sea.art
I remember being about 7 years old when Brandy’s Cinderella came on TV. My mom and I made popcorn, snuggled up, and watched together. I remember my eyes being glued to the screen. I remember watching the movie over and over to learn the words to all of the songs. What I couldn’t articulate then, but can articulate now, is it was the first time in my LIFE I saw myself represented as a princess. Allow me to repeat that-unlike all of my friends in elementary school, IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I SAW MYSELF REPRESENTED AS A PRINCESS.
🧜🏿‍♀️
Fast forward to age 19 when “Princess and the Frog” came out. At the time, I worked at the Disney Store. I was organizing the stuffed animals on plush mountain and saw the preview for the first time. I cried. Imagine not seeing yourself this way since you were a kid...for over ten years.
🧜🏾‍♀️
Fast forward ANOTHER TEN YEARS to last week when we learned that in the live action film of The Little Mermaid, Halle Bailey, a Black, talented, gorgeous human being would be playing Ariel. I immediately thought of my little sister, who is pictured above. She’s the same age that I was when Cinderella came out. The joy and excitement I felt for her was immeasurable. Until I read the comments...
🧜🏾‍♀️
People are mad that a princess is Black? Not just a princess, but a mermaid? A mermaid who talks to a seagull, a crab, and a fish? Damn.
🧜🏾‍♀️
People are mad about this but don’t care about
🔸the kids in cages?
🔸Or about police brutality?
🔸Or about guns in schools?
🔸Or about the presidential election?
🔸Or about the safety of our trans community?
Wow.
Imagine having the privilege to be mad about the race of a mermaid vs. having the joy of finally being apart of the story. As I’ve heard from .cargle , WHY IS WHITE THE DEFAULT?
🧜🏾‍♀️
While you’re mad at a mermaid, I will be taking my sister to show her that girls who look like her DESERVE TO TAKE UP SPACE...especially the ones that require a little (Black girl) magic. ✨



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❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
This is my charge to everyone.
We have to be better.
We have to love more. Hate less.
We got to listen more and talk less.
We got to know that this is everybody’s responsibility.
Every single person here.
Every single person’s who’s not here.
Every single person who doesn’t want to be here.
Every single person who agrees and doesn’t agree.
It’s our responsibility to make this world a better place. ✨
- words by .


📷: I babysat for a family I had last year & one of the kids took this picture of me. 🥰



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Last week this street was lined with flags. Those have since been taken down and replaced with American ones. I can’t help but feel the weight of this and honestly, every summer, when the rainbows leave, it takes my breath away. 🏳️‍🌈
Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and a article stated, “The Stonewall Riots electrified the nascent gay-liberation movement with urgent, ferocious energy during a time when homosexuality was illegal in 49 states and widely considered to be a
mental disorder.” A mental disorder. 💔
Reading this made me wonder...
✨When the glitter settles,
💁🏾‍♀️When the drag brunches stop,
🌈& when rainbows are no longer lining our favorite streets...
•What does your support for the LGBTQ+ community look like?
•How will you continue to educate yourself about this history in order to support your LGBTQ+ students, including LGBTQ+ students of color?
•When support requires more than dancing in a fabulous parade, how do you plan to show up? 🤷🏾‍♀️


I want to know and I want to hear your ideas and suggestions in the ✨comments below,✨ and remember
PRIDE
STARTED
AS
A
RIOT.




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I’ve been speaking to a few teacher friends about the emotional challenges of summer break & I want to open up the discussion here. While I appreciate that I only hear my name being called once a day and it’s with my coffee order ☕️ & I don’t have to set an alarm for 5am, the seemingly endless amounts of unstructured time can be anxiety inducing. It leaves so much time to T H I N K about E V E R Y T H I N G & motivation can be difficult to find. I’m feeling it more this year than I have before and it seems as though some of you are feeling it too. 💜


I want to acknowledge this and hold space for you to share how you’re working on this. In the ✨comments below ✨ please feel free to share how you’re feeling & what you do to combat the “Summer Scaries.”


For example, one thing I’ve done to support myself is make plans during “school day” times. It makes whatever it is that I’m doing (yes, even errands) feel special & I can feel the benefits of summer break. So, let’s help each other out by sharing ideas & I’ll see y’all for margaritas at 1pm on Tuesday, okay? ☀️🍹😘✨



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I was at a bar for and while I was walking to grab a drink, I felt someone, a total stranger, grab my hair and start to play with/pull on it. This was 5 days ago and I’m still on fire about this interaction.
🗣This is yet another PSA:
DONT
TOUCH
MY
HAIR
or hers,
or his,
or theirs.
Black People are not up for grabs.
Black People are not exhibits.
Black People are not touch tanks.
Black hair is not for you.
Black hair is not unprofessional.
Black hair is beautiful always...
no matter how we choose to wear it. ✨
and again...
Don’t. Touch. My. Hair. ✊🏿



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Over the past few weeks a bunch of you have decided to click that blue follow button and join me here in this space. Hallelooo! It’s so nice to have to you here! Here are a few things you need to know about me.


🐝 My name is Tamara (Tam-Ruh) and I am a q***r 4th grade teacher in Colorado.
🐝 Enneagram Type: 6w5
🐝I believe that equitable and inclusive representation matters in our classrooms from the stories we tell, to the lessons we teach, and the books we read.
🐝 Racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, Islamophobia or any other ism/phobia rooted in ignorance, prejudice, or hatred for another human being does not have a place on this page, in our classrooms, or in our communities. I share about this in my stories often, so please meet me there.
🐝 I’m doing my best to live my life in the arena and show up for myself in spaces that mean something to me. If you’re not quite sure what that means, I highly recommend watching Brené Brown in “The Call to Courage” on Netflix.
🐝 Being a teacher is my greatest passion and building relationships with my students is the best part.
🐝 Fun facts: coffee over tea, spicy over sweet, car rides are for water bottle microphone concerts, and Disneyland is my favorite place on earth.


Thanks again for joining me! I can’t wait to learn and share with you. You are invited to drop a line or two about yourself in the comments below. I’m looking forward to meeting you. ✨


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June is Pride month, and as a result, every June, my first real kiss always pops into my head. The first kiss I had with my first girlfriend. Not because of some decade old, lingering feelings but because it was in that tiny, yet life changing moment, 10+ years ago, that for the first time, I felt like me.


❤️Pride reminds me of the first, second, and third time I had my heart broken, because I had finally experienced the feelings that I only pretended to have when I gushed about boys during high school sleepovers and in college dorm rooms.
🧡It reminds me of the first time I tried to come out to my family and someone told me, “oh honey, maybe it’s just a phase. Try dating a man. You’ll be fine.”
💛Pride reminds me of the version of me that was scared of saying, “I am a le***an,” to anyone, including to the girl in the mirror.
💚It reminds of me of the late night google searches that started with, “how do I know if I’m gay?” and watching too many episodes of “South of Nowhere,” praying for the day I could experience what the characters on that show did.
💙But, as I sit here, knowing that I’m out at my workplace, to all my family and friends, and now to almost 1,800 of you...pride reminds me of how far I’ve come to walk in my truth, and how 10 year old, questioning me, is so happy to see where I am today...OUT & PROUD. 🌟
💜To my LGBTQ+ family, wherever you are in your coming out story, I’m on the other side of that closet welcoming you and cheering you on. 🌈 Happy Pride Month, fam. I love you.



Photo is from my first Pride in LA 2014 with my soul sister and best friend, . 🐝

Today was officially my last day of the school year, but yesterday was the last day with my students. We made memory books, took photos in my classroom photo booth, played grade level kickball, and watched our end of year slideshow. 📷💕


There is so much I want to say about this special group (truly we laughed SO MUCH together) , but as I feel myself start to get emotional (they would tell you I’m a crier), all I can type is the 2018-2019 school year was the year I fell in love with teaching all over again. 💕 I’m exhausted, and my heart is full. Cheers to the end year 3! 🥂✨



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I CAME OUT TO MY STUDENTS TODAY 🌈 which is why my smile is so big that my eyes are closed & you can see my teeth/gums. I am so grateful that I am at a school that holds space for me to be my authentic self with my students...even if it took me until the last leg of the school year to get here. ❤️


My favorite part? One of my students said “omg Ms.Moore, I just have to say you’re my favorite teacher! Thank you for being yourself and being so brave.” 😭 .


All year long, we have discussed being inclusive to people who are different than us and the importance of individual identity. This book was the perfect ending to that. I read this today and tied a little project to it that allowed me to come out to my 4th graders. I’ll be sharing more on that later, but for now, I’ll be closed eye smiling until the end of the school year because nothing feels better than being accepted for who I am by my favorite people....especially the ones who are barely entering double digits. 💕 Today was a good day.



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