Teachable Moments is a collection of essays about education, cultural politics and practices of self-care that are connected by their focus on the essential lessons we can learn from everyday experiences in times of crisis. The essays are "critical" in their attention to how power operates in the spheres of politics, culture and education as a veil that hides various mechanisms of influence and control. These mechanisms, like cogs in a well-oiled machine, turn quietly and consistently, forming the backdrop against which the drama of daily life unfolds. Although the essays in this collection can stand on their own, they are in deep, yet not always obvious, conversations with each other. A discussion about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of living with and caring for a child with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) merges into trenchant examinations of Trumpism, neofascism, and white supremacy, which then dovetail into a cultural study of boots and sexuality. Disparate and wide-ranging in subject matter, these essays weave together a story about what it means to live an engaged life.

Eric J. Weiner is associate professor of educational foundations at Montclair State University. He earned his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 2001 in education and cultural studies with a research focus on power, language, culture, critical thinking, and aesthetic education. He works within the disciplinary perspectives of cultural studies, critical pedagogy, and sociology. This is his fourth book.