We are Bluebells – The ‘rhize’ of #JoyFE

Five years ago, as the UK went into the first, bewildering lockdown of Covid times, Stefanie Tinsley and I began early morning broadcasts on (what used to be called) Twitter, hoping to catch educators on their way from the kitchen to the temporary workstation of the day. We used the hashtag #JoyFE to amplify our intentions. By the end of the week, we’d gathered 20+ joyful educators in a WhatsApp group, which continues for many as a beloved friendship group.

Our intentions were purely joyful. What could we do, that would enable FE’s stalwarts to lift up their heads as we all battled with this brave new world? What I remember most from those times was a powerful sense of community, palpable enough to taste and smell (until Covid relieved me of those senses for a while). In those days, even the word ‘community‘ could bring me to tears – I who famously only cry at sport.

Fast forward five years and those of us still involved in JoyFE decision-making have agreed to wind up our social media. It’s looking a little neglected (and very few people are sticking around on Twitter/X these days). But the outpouring of love and appreciation this has invoked has made it clear that we are very much not winding up the spirit and influence of #JoyFE.

I wanted to present some of these comments in this article, but I’d not asked permission and anyway I was too moved by the words of contributors to want to chop them about. So I asked Google Gemini. Spent a happy hour prompting, ‘Make it Tolkien’, ‘Make it Shakespeare’, ‘Make it TV’, ‘Make it Yorkshire’ (“JoyFE’s a reight good do…“).

I am more than happy to share all of these, because each one captures something of the #JoyFE experience (if not the raw love that was transmitted through participants’ actual words, you always sort of know it’s AI). But I had to pick one, so here you are.

Through the power of hip hop (a personal fave), I present to you the legacy of #JoyFE:

(Record scratch) Yo, check the mic, one two! This is the JoyFE cypher, droppin’ truth bombs on you!

(Beat drops – something soulful and boom-bap inspired)

Verse 1 (MC Joy):

Yo, it’s the JoyFE fam, we comin’ in hot

Lou and Stef at the helm, ain’t no stoppin’ this plot

Pandemic hit hard, world turned upside down

But JoyFE rose up, wearin’ the yellow crown

Connectin’ educators, from every town

Spittin’ knowledge, makin’ the sound

Thinkin’ Environment, expandin’ the mind

Leavin’ the negativity far behind

Chorus: JoyFE, JoyFE, yeah, we the crew Spreadin’ the love, it’s what we do From the streets to the schools, the message is clear JoyFE’s in the house, banishin’ all fear

Verse 2 (MC Flow):

Remember the meet-ups, the energy high?

Sharing ideas, reachin’ for the sky

Inspiration flowin’, like a river so wide

JoyFE’s impact, can’t be denied

Now the network’s global, spreadin’ the word

Educators united, their voices are heard

From the classroom to the boardroom, the message is clear

JoyFE’s the movement, year after year

Chorus: JoyFE, JoyFE, yeah, we the crew Spreadin’ the love, it’s what we do From the streets to the schools, the message is clear JoyFE’s in the house, banishin’ all fear

Bridge (MC Harmony – spoken word style):

It’s more than a name, it’s a feeling inside

A sense of belonging, nowhere to hide

The yellow heart beats, a rhythm so strong

JoyFE’s legacy, forever lives on

Chorus: JoyFE, JoyFE, yeah, we the crew Spreadin’ the love, it’s what we do From the streets to the schools, the message is clear JoyFE’s in the house, banishin’ all fear

(Beat fades out with a final scratch) Word up! JoyFE! Keep it real!

Believe it or not, I’m actually near to tears again, reading this (*rolls eyes*). We did something special back then, something which is still part of the FE ecosystem now. #JoyFE was never a business, not even a website. No central organising committee, no funding, no bank account. No membership – even that WhatsApp group stopped being the driving force after a while, as leadership of various projects moved from hand to hand. Over the five years we published an online magazine, held hundreds of public Ideas Rooms, opened a Writing Room each Sunday (still running), put on events, shared skills, ran regular broadcasts, amplified and uplifted joyful work across FE, whether its instigators had engaged with the hashtag or not.

And, like bluebells, the concept of #JoyFE put down roots and spread, across the sector and beyond, driven by its own energy. Rhizomatically (as Gemini picked up when I prompted, ‘Make it Deleuze’), a network of roots with no explicit centre. Impossible now, to put it back in the box.

“It’s in us,” I read in so many of the comments, when we announced the retirement of the social media.

“This might be bigger than we think,” claimed ‘Make it Police Procedural’.

In the next article, I’ll share something about the lessons we learned, through being part of #JoyFE.

By Dr Lou Mycroft, Green Changemaker