Game On! Podcast featuring guest Jed Dearybury
In this episode of GAME ON, host Adam Bellow sits down with Jed Dearybury, an Educator, Author, Illustrator, and PLAYOLOGIST! They discuss favorite childhood games and drawing inspiration from Peter H. Reynolds, the beloved author and illustrator of “The Dot”. Jed talks about the power of play in his own life, overcoming obstacles and finding his true self, and the joy of sharing fun with others. Jed’s passion for teaching and his desire to equip, encourage, and empower others using creativity, laughter, and hands-on fun shines through in this conversation.
Jed Dearybury - Educator, Author, Illustrator
About Jed Dearybury
Jed Dearybury began his education career in 2001. During his 13 year early childhood classroom tenure, Jed received numerous awards. He was featured in GQ Magazine as Male Leader of the Year, met President Obama as the South Carolina honoree of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, and was named as a top 5 finalist for South Carolina Teacher of the Year because of his passion, love, and success in education. In 2016, he was also named the first ever Milken Fellow for the state of South Carolina. Since leaving the 2nd grade classroom in 2015 he has been leading professional development across the country, as well as training the next generation of educators through his work and teaching in Higher Ed. His courses include Children’s Literature, Creativity and Play for Early Childhood, Fine Arts in the Elementary Classroom, and Arts for Educational Advance. In August 2019, he started his own education consulting business, mrdearybury.com LLC, where he is the Director of Creativity. He published his first book, The Playful Classroom: The Power of Play for All Ages in June of 2020. His second book, Courageous Classroom, written with Dr. Janet Taylor was released in July 2021. Book number three, The Playful Life: The Power of Play in Our Everyday, released in October 2022. His mission: Equip, Encourage, Empower, and Engage the teaching profession using creativity, laughter, and hands-on fun!
Game On! – Guest Jed Dearybury - Transcript
Adam (00:00.758)
All right, welcome to the Game On Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Bellow, and I'm just super excited to have a fun interview with a fun guy. Fun is the theme over here. Really excited for our next guest, Jed Dearybury, who is an incredible former educator, fun expert, playologist, which is a shirt that I've seen him showing off that he created recently, and just an all -around great guy. And Jed, thank you so much for taking some time and joining me on the podcast.
@mrdearybury (00:02.372)
you
@mrdearybury (00:19.637)
Mm -hmm.
@mrdearybury (00:26.603)
man, it's an honor to be here. I've been a big fan of yours for a long, long time. And to chat with you for a little bit is just an honor. Excited to be here, see where our conversation leads us.
Adam (00:31.426)
Likewise.
Adam (00:37.706)
Awesome, yeah, and the last time we saw each other in person, think we ran into each other, of all places, in Disney. But as they say, it's a small world after all. So, ba -dum -bum.
@mrdearybury (00:39.863)
Yeah. It is a small world. You know, it was so funny. I remember when I saw you, I remember exactly where we were. We were walking across the bridge. You were coming from Adventureland into Main Street. I was going the other direction. And what a fun moment that was to look up and there you were. And it took me a minute to kind of process because you don't.
Adam (00:54.338)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Adam (01:05.998)
I know.
@mrdearybury (01:07.135)
You know, you just don't think of people that you know running into each other at Disney when you live in different parts of the country, you know? But I will tell you this, almost every time I've been to Disney in the last two or three years, I've seen somebody that I know in there. Almost every, it's so much fun to see somebody you know at Disney. I love it, I love it. I'm a big Disney nerd too. You you mentioned fun is the theme here. I'm going again in a few weeks.
Adam (01:15.458)
That's right. That's right.
Adam (01:23.672)
That's awesome.
Adam (01:35.586)
Nice, when are you going?
@mrdearybury (01:36.343)
Yeah, the first week of October, my friend of mine is gonna be down there and she hasn't been to Disney in like 15 years. And so it's gonna be like, you know, being there with somebody when it's fresh and new all over again, you know, I'm super, super excited about being a part of it. I can't wait. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Adam (01:39.502)
Very cool.
Adam (01:44.546)
Wow.
Adam (01:49.966)
That's awesome.
Adam (01:53.634)
I love it. That's a good segue. Sharing the magic and sharing the fun. And I think that's something you certainly know a heck of a lot about. So, I mean, I can go through the list of your bio and stuff like that. How would you introduce yourself to somebody if they were like, hey, tell you about you.
@mrdearybury (02:06.273)
So I always start with educator because I am an educator at heart. That was where my career started. I still working higher ed training future teachers. I teach two courses, Children's Lit and Fine Arts for the elementary classroom for the University of South Carolina. I love the work that I do there. The next thing I say is I'm an author. I've published three books, The Playful Classroom, The Courageous Classroom and The Playful Life. I also added the title illustrator.
Hesitantly, hesitantly added the title illustrator because some of my artwork is in the playful classroom and the playful life. And the publisher said, hey, when your artwork is in a book that aids to the telling of the work, you're an illustrator. And I was like, okay, when I think of an illustrator, think of, you know, Peter Reynolds, all these amazing people out there who do incredible, you know, but I'm going to own it. I'm an illustrator and
You know, I'm also leaning into the title of artist these days. I've been making a lot of art, creating art, and putting it out there in the world, different platforms, and it's been a lot of fun. So educator, author, illustrator, and newly named artist. Yeah.
Adam (03:21.56)
That's amazing. I love that. And you mentioned Peter, who's a dear friend and just an amazing human being. I've told this story a couple of times. Actually, we had Peter on maybe a year ago on the podcast. And I always tell this story, but it was one of my favorites. We took our kids when they were super little to go to his bookstore. he was actually, yeah, which is incredible. he actually was drawing across the street in his studio. Whoever was working at the store called over and he came on over, which was so kind and spent some time with my kids. And he said,
@mrdearybury (03:25.597)
yeah, yeah, yeah.
@mrdearybury (03:38.109)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, Blue Bunny. It's amazing.
Adam (03:51.138)
He took out a blank book. They sell books at the bookstore, but one of the books they sold was just like a blank bound white book with just blank pages. And he hands it to my older son at the time, who I think was maybe seven. And he says, like, this is my favorite book, because it could be anything you want it to be. And it's that mentality. And I love that you've leaned into sharing your artwork with the world, which I think is awesome, by the way. mean, I'm a big fan, seen it on Twitter and Instagram and the Etsy shop and all that stuff. So super excited to see that.
@mrdearybury (03:53.846)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (04:07.436)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (04:14.635)
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.
Adam (04:21.004)
being shared and obviously people love it, is awesome.
@mrdearybury (04:24.887)
Yeah, Peter is a dear friend. I'm glad we got on the topic of him. You know, he illustrated the cover of the playful classroom and the playful life for us. And it just was, you know, when he reached out about doing that, it just floored me because I've teaching since 2001, but my first year with my very own classroom was 2003. And that was the year the dot came out.
Adam (04:32.066)
That's right.
Adam (04:41.336)
That's awesome.
@mrdearybury (04:53.787)
And I have used that book every year of my career and I'm just obsessed with it. And when I actually got to meet him for the first time was Isti. And if I could tell this funny story since we're talking about him, was at Isti and I was kind of in a tech overload. I was like, don't want any more tech, get me away from tech. And I wandered into this booth where they were just making art and making and doing.
Adam (04:53.816)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (05:21.375)
I started talking to this girl, Andrea, who later I found out was Andrea Calvin, who's now is a dear friend, who works with Peter. And I was telling her about the work that I did with the dot. She was like, you got to meet Peter. And I swear to you, I thought, who's Peter?
I didn't even know who she was talking about because sadly, and this is something I've tried to help in my children's lit class, sadly, I think we don't know the authors of children's books enough. We connect with the story, we connect with the illustrations, and we don't know the authors and illustrators as well as we should. So I knew all of Peter's work, but I didn't know who Peter was. And next thing I know, Peter Reynolds was standing there talking to me. And I was just like having a moment and I told him, you know,
Adam (05:41.592)
Yeah.
Adam (05:54.712)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (06:07.699)
I would love to tell you more about the work that I do with your books and yada yada yada. He said, well, send me some pictures and he grabs my phone and he puts his number in my phone. I thought he was sending, I thought he was putting his email in there. He was putting his cell phone in there. So a weeks later, was, a weeks later, I was sitting there watching something on TV and I was like, you know, he gave me that number. I'm going to text it and just see what happens. And next thing I know, there I am to having a conversation with Peter. It was just.
Adam (06:21.688)
Easy.
@mrdearybury (06:35.159)
one of those magical moments, he calls them dot connecting moments, you know? And here we are, years later, that was 2016, and here we are, you know, eight years later. He's such a great human, and I'm glad to be connected with him. He's influenced a lot of the work that I do, especially the art part, you know, he's influenced that. So I'm glad we get to talk about him, honor him here.
Adam (06:45.494)
I love that.
Adam (06:53.922)
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, he is definitely one of those special humans. And I love the connecting dots and it's dot day, I think a month from today when we're recording. yeah, or a month -ish as they would say. Well, cool, let's dive in. I mean, I feel like we've already kind of got a good sense of kind of, you know, some of the awesome stuff you're doing now, but let's kind of take it back a little bit. We're gonna start our questions. I always ask a level one question, you know.
@mrdearybury (06:59.915)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's coming up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
@mrdearybury (07:17.119)
Okay, yeah. Okay.
Adam (07:20.44)
Breakouts about gaming. So I always like to ask people like, what was a game that you played when you were a kid? You have a favorite game from when you were growing up?
@mrdearybury (07:25.335)
Gosh. So we played a lot when I was little. Play, my play history, we talk about that in the book, What's Your Play History? I played a lot when I was little. I grew up, I say farm adjacent. My stepdad's family owned a dairy farm and every house that was on my street was part of the family. And there were peach orchards and dairy cows and corn fields all around me when I was growing up. So we spent a lot of time out in outside.
And one of the games that we played a lot was something called Rollerbat. I was obsessed with Rollerbat because it was sports -ish. I wasn't great at sports. I'm still not great at sports. But Rollerbat, all of your team, all of the people playing with you stood out in a field and you were at the front of them looking at them like a baseball field, if you will.
you hold a bat and a ball, you threw the ball up and you hit the ball as far as you could. And then the people in the outfield, if they caught it, they got to become the automatic batter. But if they didn't catch it, they had to throw the ball towards the bat that was laying on the ground or like roll it. And if they rolled the ball and it hit the bat, then they got to come be the batter. But if they missed, you got to keep batting.
Adam (08:30.293)
okay.
Adam (08:47.734)
okay.
@mrdearybury (08:48.433)
So it was you. think I liked it because we didn't need anything to play it but a bat and a ball. And even if you didn't have a bat and a ball, if you had a stick and one of those magnolia tree seed pods, you know, the seed pods from a magnolia tree, they make a great ball or a big fat walnut or some pecans or whatever, you know, that you could play with anything. And so I was obsessed with roller bat. We wanted to play it all the time. Another thing that another thing that we did.
Adam (09:01.044)
Yeah, yep.
@mrdearybury (09:17.047)
We love to recreate field day games at home. And one of the field day games that I was obsessed with, my PE teacher, Miss Austin, taught it to me. It's called Potato in the Can. Have you ever heard of Potato in the Can? Okay, so you get one of those tin cans, like the big tin cans that they use in the cafeteria at school. You get one of those, you put it, say, 20 yards down from where you are, and then you put a potato between your legs, and you hop.
Adam (09:20.946)
fun.
Adam (09:29.038)
Okay, now.
Adam (09:36.96)
-huh.
Adam (09:44.505)
okay. Yeah, yeah, Yep.
@mrdearybury (09:45.301)
You hop to the can, you hop to the can, and then when you get over the can, you had to drop that potato in the can. It looks a little bit like you're using a bathroom, but middle school me, middle school me loved it because it was hysterical. To play with grownups and watch them drop that potato in the can was just absolutely hysterical. And you could do this like a one -time race or you could divide the teams into a relay. I was obsessed.
Adam (10:05.304)
That's awesome.
Adam (10:10.498)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We used to relay with like hard boiled eggs on a spoon and you had it, See ya.
@mrdearybury (10:13.911)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the same thing. I was obsessed with field day games. One year, my sister, I was 12, so she would have been like six or seven. I can't remember how, maybe she was in first grade, but she wanted a field day themed birthday party. And I got to organize the whole thing. it was one of my favorite things I've ever done was organize her birthday party.
Adam (10:33.313)
awesome.
Adam (10:41.122)
I love that. You can make that a side business right now. I bet you there's parents that would love that, know, anyway.
@mrdearybury (10:42.005)
Yeah, it was really fantastic. I had such a fun time doing it. I'm sure they would. Look, look, you, I will charge you out the wazoo for that. Just so you know, but.
Adam (10:52.398)
That's right, you're busy guy. You got stuff going on, I get it. But I'm just saying, you know, I love that. Well, what about now? I I would imagine you haven't played most of those games recently. What about now? Do you play any games?
@mrdearybury (11:01.011)
Yes. I have not played, I have not played roller bat, but I will tell you, I did stumble across a potato in the can game that comes with, it comes with two plastic cans and some stuffed potatoes. And I do own the game. do own it. I haven't played in while. How do I play now? Or like games I play. I'll tell you a game that I am obsessed with that me and Matt and my brother -in -law play often.
Adam (11:11.885)
Okay?
Adam (11:18.478)
That's awesome.
@mrdearybury (11:30.879)
Is Catan? Settlers of Catan? Do you play Catan? I would think you are a Catan guy. Are you?
Adam (11:36.046)
I'm not a huge Catan guy. My kids are big Catan players. They're big into RPGs and Catan and all that stuff. So that's fun.
@mrdearybury (11:38.871)
I love Catan. Yeah. I love board games in general. Catan is when we play a lot as a family. There's one called Chameleon. Have you ever heard of Chameleon? It's a board game. The premise is everybody in the room is trying to describe one word, but one person doesn't know what that word is. So they have to pretend that they know what the word is.
Adam (11:52.846)
It sounds familiar, what's the premise?
Adam (12:06.264)
Yes, yes, Yep.
@mrdearybury (12:09.023)
And then at the end, have to guess which person was the chameleon, who was the one lying. And it's a really fun game. My brother -in -law, he really stinks at lying and we can always peg him as being, you know, like he can't keep a straight face. I don't know if it's good to be good at lying, but in this game you have to be good at it. But he stinks at the game. We love to play that.
Adam (12:16.622)
That's awesome.
Adam (12:25.838)
That's awesome.
@mrdearybury (12:38.199)
Just you know I mentioned art art is very much a form of play for me this past week this past week I spent one full day in my office and did nothing but make art some of it is stuff I'll share with the world stuff some of it is stuff that nobody will ever see and till I'm long gone and somebody decides what they want to do with it but that's definitely I So I love digital art recently on my iPad
Adam (12:44.173)
Yeah.
Adam (12:57.838)
And what's the medium you're using? Are you drawing or are you doing it on canvas or?
@mrdearybury (13:06.191)
I have a journal that I love to just doodle in. So black ink and crayons. But also I've been leaning into some painted paper and collage lately on canvas. it's when you when you do painted paper, I think what I've had to do is I had to work to overcome my fear of it being good enough, you know, because you see people who make art and you're like, my gosh, that's amazing. Mine would never be that good. So
Adam (13:17.468)
cool.
@mrdearybury (13:35.679)
What I had to start, where I've started in my creating process is, okay, I love to create. What is something I can create that doesn't have to be perfect? know, collage, painted paper, doodles. That's why I love the word doodle instead of draw. If you ask somebody to draw, they tense up, they get nervous. I can't draw. I've never met anybody that says, I can't doodle. know, anybody can doodle.
Adam (14:01.39)
Sure. I mean, this.
@mrdearybury (14:02.325)
because it takes away the pressure. It takes away the pressure of perfection. And so I believe art should be accessible to all of us. And part of that is shifting our mindset of what art is and how to create it, the process. so that's why I've been leaning into that. In my mind, I want to be a beautiful acrylic painter. I want to make beautiful art with acrylic paint. But I cannot...
Adam (14:06.531)
Yeah.
Adam (14:24.972)
All right, that's awesome.
@mrdearybury (14:27.465)
I love fun and whimsy and so that's what most of my stuff is, fun and whimsy versus like, you know, I don't know, a setting sun. I probably won't ever paint a setting sun because it's too, I don't know, it's too real. I like fun and whimsy, fictitious stuff, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep,
Adam (14:42.232)
Yeah, well, if you haven't seen Jed's artwork, you could easily go and check it out on his website or on the Etsy shop that's connected there. There's lots of great stickers and stationery and some awesome stuff that you've been creating. So I would urge everyone listening to check it out if they haven't already. Yeah, I love that you're still doing that. It's funny, because it all really kind of harkens back to even the message of the dot, like starting and not being perfect. And yeah, exactly.
@mrdearybury (14:57.815)
Thank you. Thank you for that.
@mrdearybury (15:05.109)
Yeah, make a mark. don't know if you can see this, but I have that tattooed on my arm right there. This is this is Peter's writing. He wrote it in my journal and I took it to my tattoo artist and he went, stick it right on there.
Adam (15:09.612)
Yeah, make a mark. I love it. I love that.
Adam (15:18.144)
Amazing. I love that. think you're not the only Peter Reynolds tattoo that I've seen. I think Diane Mayne has one and I'm trying to think. Yeah, I would imagine there's a bunch. mean, that's if I were to get one and I'm a baby, I'm not getting needles unless I actually have to. But if I were to get one that that would definitely be up in the running. I love that guy. Well, that's awesome, Jed. So kind of I love the fact you're still playing and creating and sharing. It's obviously a mantra from your books and from
@mrdearybury (15:25.072)
There's a couple out there. There's a couple out there. Yeah. Yeah.
@mrdearybury (15:39.359)
Yeah.
Adam (15:47.054)
just the work that you embody. But let's go back a little bit in your history. So why teaching? Like, I know you were a teacher for what, around 13 years or so? Like, how'd you get there?
@mrdearybury (15:47.255)
Mm
@mrdearybury (15:56.119)
I started in 2001 in elementary and went until 2015 in the elementary world. How did I get there? Well, know, I guess I tell people that it started with my Cabbage Patch doll, Eric. I got a Cabbage Patch doll when I was a kid and I played school all the time with him and my sister. And I think being, to me, teacher is also a helper.
Adam (16:04.504)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (16:25.971)
And I've just constantly had this desire to help, you know, to help others be better than where they are, you know, not not be perfect. But if somebody wants to grow, I want to be a part of that. I want to help them. Ironically, I really suck at plants. I can't nurture a plant to save my life. I cannot I cannot help a plant, but I like to help others. And teaching felt like an avenue that was right for that. I went to
Adam (16:46.114)
Yeah, fair enough.
@mrdearybury (16:55.071)
I was in Senegal in West Africa for the semester before I started teaching. I was teaching there in a mud hut in a village in West Africa. And when I came home, I was like, this is it. I actually did not, my four year degree was not in education. A lot of people don't know that, but it was actually in Christian studies. I went to a very conservative Southern Baptist college here in Spartanburg.
Adam (17:00.971)
wow.
Adam (17:06.402)
That's awesome.
Adam (17:16.173)
Mm -hmm.
@mrdearybury (17:25.275)
or in Greenville, not Spartanburg, I'm in Greenville. And when I was in Africa, I just had a real shift in my thinking and my belief system and made some changes in my life and came home and got my master's in education and started that journey of teaching because it just felt like who I was. I mentioned that field day birthday party. That was a teaching experience.
Two summers, I babysat all my cousins and I ran that like a little summer school. We had learning times, we had center time, we had nap time, because I needed to watch the Young and the Restless. The lunchtime news and then the Young and the Restless, that was nap time. Don't bother me. They didn't have to sleep, but they had to go lay down somewhere. So I don't know, just think it's just part of who I am. And now...
Adam (17:58.958)
That's awesome.
Adam (18:03.778)
Ha ha.
Okay, fair enough.
Adam (18:14.477)
Ha
@mrdearybury (18:22.305)
teaching in higher ed, trying to help the future generations of teachers learn and understand the pedagogy and the art of teaching is just so very fulfilling for me. I love that. And then, you my mantra is to equip, encourage, and empower. That's what I say everywhere I go, that I want to equip, encourage, and empower. And it has been always just educators, but recently I've really opened that door up to I want to help equip, encourage everybody and empower every.
So, and art is helping me do that right now.
Adam (18:53.058)
Love that.
Adam (18:57.026)
That's incredible. And I love the fact that you're living what you're preaching about. Like The Playful Life was a book I was honored to get to review it before it came out. I love the fact that it's a genuine, I am watching you embody a lot of what you've talked about. And I don't think that that's always the case with folks that write books. A lot of the times it's, they say it, but it's not a lifestyle.
@mrdearybury (18:58.166)
Yeah, thanks.
@mrdearybury (19:02.741)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
@mrdearybury (19:16.011)
Well, I'll tell you, Adam, that is just one of the best compliments you could give me. I appreciate that so much because in the world we live in, especially in social media world where, you know, it's hard. I feel like it's very hard for people to be authentic because you always put your best. So I've really been impacted by the work of Austin Kleon. I'm sure you, if you haven't, show your work.
Adam (19:36.44)
Mm -hmm.
Adam (19:41.292)
Yeah, of course, show your work and yeah.
@mrdearybury (19:45.259)
You know, show your work. It started with still like an artist. Show your work and then keep going. But that show your work part is so important to me and that's why I put process videos out there. I don't always put finished product. My products are not always perfect. You know, I share those things anyway. I try and fail. I try and fail. I will put a product on my store.
whether I think it'll sell or not, just to see what happens, you know, because you never know how. So and that has come from the work that I did, you know, in researching play through learning and to life. And I had to apply it to my life. I've always been a playful person. think play has always been a part of my life. You know, as I was telling you my history here, it was easy to rattle off things, you know. But I really felt like I needed to lean into it a little bit more as a grown up.
And that's how I landed with the art and things like that. And I love to go and speak and tell others about it. It's so much fun to see the ripple effect of that. Months after I go somewhere, I'll get a message from somebody that says, know, after we heard you speak, I started a checker club at my local coffee shop. And now we meet every Friday. And it's a thing. We've got like a checker competition.
Adam (20:53.325)
Yeah.
Adam (21:05.006)
That's awesome.
@mrdearybury (21:07.167)
And it seems so insignificant at the time, but as it grows, just, you I don't know, it's very, I don't know, it's really cool to be a part of this work. The world is so heavy. The world is so heavy. And I know because we live in it, we say right now it seems so heavy. It's always been heavy. It's always been heavy. It's just a matter of how we have each felt it at different times. And life is so heavy. I think anything that I can do to...
Adam (21:16.621)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (21:36.309)
help lighten that load a little bit for people has been a lot of my work. And I'm tickled that you were a part of the Playful Life, man. When you said you would read it and put your name on it, I was really honored.
Adam (21:48.728)
Well, I mean, listen, was my pleasure to be asked. And I feel like what I, what I said, and I don't remember exactly what I said in the review. I haven't gone back to read what I wrote, but I remember specifically thinking that what I liked about the book was the take on how it was actionable advice. And there are so many times where it's like you read books and listen, there's a time and a place for books that are talking at you or at a higher level. They're inspirational. They're aspirational. I totally get it. But I think especially with teachers, there's a
@mrdearybury (22:00.362)
Still have.
Right. Yeah.
@mrdearybury (22:07.287)
We ate every single.
Adam (22:17.112)
there's a thread of like, hey, I could implement this. I could do this with actual advice that I think is super relevant and important. And so that's where I remember taking away from that book is like, actually was something you can implement as opposed to something that you could kind of like, you'd have to interpret, which again, nothing wrong with that, but I love that that action ability.
@mrdearybury (22:24.671)
Yeah. Well, well, and I, like you said, I'm glad that you can see that that action is something taking place in my own life and it's not just something I'm out there talking about, you know, but I'm living it. Yeah, I'm living it. And so and I'll tell you, I can I can feel a difference in myself.
Adam (22:43.181)
Yeah.
So important. Yeah.
@mrdearybury (22:54.473)
I can feel a difference. can feel my, not my confidence growing, because I still have a lot of self doubt, but I'm not afraid of the self doubt anymore. I'm like, put it out there anyway, you know? Whereas before, feel like play helps you. We talk about this in the book. Play helps you to silence the inner critic. I mean, I don't think the inner critic ever is going to go away completely, but it definitely helps you put the inner critic on mute.
Adam (22:54.84)
That's awesome.
Adam (23:06.83)
I love that.
@mrdearybury (23:22.965)
Because when you're in the middle of it and all the endorphins are being released in your body, you're engaged with other people, or even in a moment by yourself, creating art or whatever, it just feels different. It just feels different. And honestly, that's why I think very early on I was attracted to your work because the whole, I remember when I got my first wooden box back in the day.
I couldn't wait to play with the kids and see if they could get this thing open, you know? It was a magical moment. And I think, you know, that's why we talk about Breakout EDU. Is that what you call it anymore? I feel like I just dated myself. Do you even call it Breakout EDU? I was like, I should have done my research beforehand. don't even know if that's what you call it. But man, your work embodies playfulness, you know?
Adam (23:53.698)
That's awesome.
Adam (24:04.812)
No, you're good. Yes, don't break any to you. That's the company. That's what we call it. You're good.
No, no, no, you're good.
@mrdearybury (24:18.495)
I was talking to somebody this morning, my friend Nikki, lives in Salt Lake City. She was up early to go to the airport out there. I was telling her about my day ahead and trying to explain to her, you know, who you were and what you do. And I said, honestly, I feel like he was making breakout rooms playful before anybody even knew what a breakout room was. You know, like I felt like you happened before break. Now every corner of every city, there's a breakout room, you know.
Adam (24:48.174)
Well, we definitely, we got the idea 100 % from those rooms. So yeah.
@mrdearybury (24:48.607)
it
Well, but where I live, I'd never heard of those rooms. You introduced me to the whole concept. Yeah, yeah.
Adam (24:55.33)
Yeah, well, it was definitely early. It was definitely early. And, you know, I will tell you, I didn't know what the concept was when it was brought up to me. was like, you know, like everyone else panic room. What are you talking about? So it definitely, Exactly, exactly. That was our joke for years was, you can't lock kids in rooms, but you can, you know, no, I love that. But you touched on something I think was really interesting getting back to like kind of, you know.
@mrdearybury (25:04.087)
Yeah. And we're gonna do this with, and we're gonna do this with children. Yeah, can't lock them in the room.
Adam (25:23.404)
Not everything, it's a heavy time right now. And I think that I always try to look at challenges as opportunities. And sometimes that's super hard to do and it's easier to say, but what's a challenge that you kind of overcame in this journey? You can pick anything, whether it's the teaching years, whether it's something in like your phases since then, like something that you were able to tackle.
@mrdearybury (25:24.091)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (25:38.067)
@mrdearybury (25:41.675)
You know, I have a lot of those. I I won't go into my whole story in detail, but I grew up in an abusive home. The first few years of my life, my father was abusive in all the ways that one could be abusive. And then that abuse, even though my mom left him early on, that abuse continued well on into my adulthood even.
in some form or fashion. And that led to a lot of what I call spiritual abuse. I mentioned a little bit of my history as as that goes. In the middle of all that, I was also a young gay man here in the South who was fighting all of those things. I was fighting the abuse of my dad, the abuse of the church, the mental abuse that I was going through my own self of trying not to be.
gay, you know, because that's how it was down here. And so when I think about the obstacles, you know, all of those, you know, are obstacles, but somehow I'm here and I've made it through those things. I go to therapy, I talk about it a lot. I go to therapy every other week and I will probably go every other week for the rest of my life because I need that. And I think honestly, we could all use it, but...
Adam (26:42.904)
Mm
@mrdearybury (27:07.959)
The biggest obstacle that I think I overcame was that finding my true self in the midst of a world that didn't want me to. Down here where I live in the South, they want conformity in a lot of ways. Fall in line, go to church, be a good American, don't break the norms in any way.
Adam (27:20.269)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (27:36.553)
I was like, that's not me. I'm going to have to break some of these norms, you know? I played the game for a while because I felt like I had to. But the playful life is what really brought me out of that. It brought me out of that even more and more. Now, I wrote the book well after I came out and found my true self. when I look back over, play history is so important to me. As we talk about it in the book, I mentioned it here.
Because I think if I had grown up in a family that did not value play, I don't think I would have made it, if I'm being honest. I just don't think I would have made it. Because in the hardest moments of my life, I would find laughter, I would find art, I would find a book, I would find a game, would find, for 10 years I was a runner. I ran marathons. I don't look like it right now, but I used to run. I used to be a really big runner.
Adam (28:15.724)
Yeah.
Adam (28:32.59)
That's awesome.
@mrdearybury (28:35.857)
I ran seven full marathons and so that's what helped me overcome those obstacles. All of those things, the playfulness is what helped. And I think that's why I'm so passionate about the work that I'm doing with the books. It's very personal to me. It's not just something I wrote about. And when I think about the playful classroom, that I wanted to make sure that the spaces I created educationally were also that.
Adam (28:52.236)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (29:03.061)
because I never knew where any of the kids were coming from and they needed those moments in that little brief time they were with me to see the value of play in learning and in life. And so, it was nothing for me to sit down at the piano in my classroom or to put on a costume just because, not because we had to learn something to connect to it. I just wanted to be silly and play with my kids. So, yeah.
Adam (29:12.376)
Yeah.
Adam (29:24.867)
Yeah.
I love that. I love that. And I think it's such a testament to you to not only think through those challenges and finding yourself and embracing who you are, know, living through all of that, but then being able to not only, not only survive, not only thrive, but then take what you've learned and flip it into a power that you present to others, you know, teaching other people that, you know, may not have had anywhere near that experience that you have, but letting them embrace
@mrdearybury (29:33.302)
Thanks.
@mrdearybury (29:41.032)
So
Adam (29:57.122)
what's so important to you and that play and that joy is remarkable.
@mrdearybury (30:00.977)
Well, I thank you for saying that and I you know, don't use you said it's a power and and I I like hearing that I don't think of that as a power but it is a power I guess and Anything that we can do to help others be more empathetic. I think we should be doing
Adam (30:18.477)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (30:18.517)
because you cannot hate when you are full of empathy. You cannot do it. You you can't hate anybody who's different. you can't, it's hard play also allows that empathy to build because it lessens the barriers. I tell the story, I mentioned Africa. I tell a story in one of my keynotes about when I was there. I'd been there for two weeks. We were barely learning the language. You know, two weeks in a country where you don't know the language.
Adam (30:24.045)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (30:47.807)
You don't know the culture. You know, we learned a little bit before we got there, but it's different when your boots on the ground, right? And I felt very isolated and alone. And then one day these two teenage boys started kicking a soccer ball. And I mentioned I wasn't athletic, but I was like, you know what? I can kick a soccer ball. So I went up there and I didn't know how to say, can I play soccer? I looked at them and I made a motion like, you know, can I play? And they went, yeah, like, come on. And so next thing you know, I'm out there playing soccer.
with these two teenage boys. And within minutes, I don't know how they did it because we lived in a village. There was no water. There was no power. There were no cell phones. There was no nothing. But within minutes, every kid in that village was out there watching the white guy play soccer. So it was hysterical. But what happened in that moment is play built a connection. It built the acceptance of one another. It didn't matter that
Adam (31:17.88)
I love that.
Adam (31:34.892)
I love that.
@mrdearybury (31:47.115)
they were African, I was American. It didn't matter that they were of a different faith. didn't matter that, know, any, none of those differences mattered in that moment. And play helps, helps that, helps nurture that. So, yeah.
Adam (32:00.396)
I love that. I love that. that's so awesome. So I think I might know the answer to this next question, but thinking about, no, you're good.
@mrdearybury (32:08.055)
Julius, baby.
Sorry, I got distracted. It's good to see y 'all. I'm at the coffee shop, so you know there's public out here, so I had to talk to them. Yeah, that was, well, it's actually, that's so cool that I saw her. That is the mother of, didn't, the whole time I've been doing Talking to You, I thought she's been sitting right here behind me, and I was like, I know this lady. And her daughter, Julia, is married to one of my best friends, Josh, and I officiated their wedding.
Adam (32:18.414)
I get it, I get it, of course. It's your fan base, it's understood.
Adam (32:32.536)
haha
@mrdearybury (32:41.973)
years ago and that's why I knew her. I've only met her at the wedding but I recognized her. Yeah so sorry sorry for the disruption. It's real life. It's a playful life.
Adam (32:42.516)
that's so cool.
Adam (32:46.456)
That's really funny. I love it. Don't be sorry. That's right. know, it's a, hey, it's you're out in the wild as a celebrity. I get it. It's fine. Thinking about like, you know, and as I said, I might know the answer to this just based on the way you've been talking about that the stuff you're working on now, but you know, what's something that you're passionate about learning or teaching right now? Is it art or is there some other stuff that you're just like super interested in as well?
@mrdearybury (32:55.165)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (33:03.233)
Hmm.
@mrdearybury (33:13.109)
Well, art is going to always be a part of whatever I'm teaching because the way that I teach it is usually always through the arts. Something that I have that I'm honestly trying to grow my understanding of is marketing and how to share, how to market the message so that I can broaden my platform of where to share, how to share. know, that's coming from an educational background.
Adam (33:30.989)
Mm -hmm.
@mrdearybury (33:42.389)
Yes, we know how to sell learning to students, but I don't know how to sell it in this online space. I don't know how to sell it to the masses. I'm still figuring that out. I believe in this work and I need to better understand how to get the message out there. And so that's something I've been, you know, trying to dig into and learn, learn a little bit more. I've reached out to a couple of my friends who work in marketing and we've had some calls and, you know, things like that, that I'm trying to grow that side of my brain.
That is not my size. I don't know that it's anywhere in my brain. I'm having to put it in there, you So I've been learning about that. But specifically, you mentioned the art. Last week, I went through this book about digital drawing by a lady named Lisa Bardo. She knows everything there is to know about Procreate. And I worked through every page of that book. She's got these little prompts and projects that you're supposed to do to help you learn what she's doing. And I did every single one of them.
And I shared those illustrations out in the world and gosh, one of them is horrible. Like I drew this cityscape and all the buildings are like leaning to the side a little bit, but I shared it anyway. I just like to learn. I don't care what it is. I love to read articles that people send me online. I'm a really big book nerd as of the last few years. Well, I few years. I'd say 10 years or so.
Adam (34:40.226)
That's awesome.
Adam (34:50.552)
Ha!
@mrdearybury (35:10.199)
I've been sharing the books that I read on my Instagram. I use the hashtag JedReads. And I've built a little book following of people that follow me just so they can see what I'm reading next, and that's kind of fun. So, I mean, learning is just all around me. It's something that I want to learn. This is something I want to learn, and I need to look up where there's a class. I want to learn how to make my own lattes. I love a coffee shop. I'm obsessed with a coffee shop.
Adam (35:21.838)
That's awesome.
Adam (35:36.642)
Okay.
@mrdearybury (35:39.727)
One of my favorite things to do when I'm traveling for work is to Google the local coffee shop near the hotel. I will not go to a Starbucks. I'm not anti -Starbucks. Sometimes I have to get one in the airport. But I would much rather go to a local coffee shop where the vibe is, you know, the daily grind of that area. But I don't understand how lattes are made. I watch them. I watch them do it. It doesn't make sense to me. I need to get behind the counter.
Adam (35:59.308)
Love it.
@mrdearybury (36:07.723)
I need to take a class. I need to learn to make a latte. Matt bought me a little latte maker for Christmas. It wasn't the really expensive one because I told him, I was like, we don't need to invest in this until I know what I'm doing. But now that I think about it, I'm not going to know what I'm doing until I have the machine like they have at the coffee shop.
Adam (36:09.997)
Okay.
Adam (36:27.55)
That is true. Well, the coffee shop machine, I don't know, but we have one that I got years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. One that's affordable. But I will tell you, it's not too hard to do, but it's definitely a time -consuming cleaning operation. It is a process. Well, some of them, I mean, like they auto clean, but like anything with the milk frother, like anyway. I... Yeah, you don't want milk sitting around. But I love the fact that you...
@mrdearybury (36:31.223)
I mean, somewhere in between. Yeah. Yes.
@mrdearybury (36:42.815)
It's a process. is it? Is it? Okay. See, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. yeah, you don't want to get the... Yeah.
Adam (36:56.472)
go to the local scene, I usually, I'll be honest, most of the time, just for time's sake, I'm like whatever's closest. So if it's a Starbucks, it's a Starbucks. But I do love, and I appreciate it, especially in Manhattan or wherever I'm around, it's like, yeah, let's go somewhere where it's not the cookie cutter standard place. So I love that.
@mrdearybury (36:58.532)
all the time.
@mrdearybury (37:02.699)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
@mrdearybury (37:13.751)
Yeah, yeah. Well, here's the thing. Here's what I love about that is that I always it's 99 % of the time I meet someone who is doing something cool. Not that they're not not that they're not doing that at Starbucks, but you just meet really cool people at a local coffee shop. You know, you meet the artists, you meet the book people, you meet the the eclectic vibe that I like at a coffee shop. And I don't know. I just one day I kind of low key want to work at one.
Just maybe like one day a week. Just one day a week. But none of them want to hire you for one day a week. If they do, it's Saturday morning. They want to hire you for Saturday morning from 7 to 2. Who wants to work Saturday from 7 to 2?
Adam (37:44.696)
That's awesome.
Adam (37:55.928)
Hey, I think you could pitch it to them where you'll not only make the lattes, but you'll also doodle a quick doodle on each of their cups. And then that's Saturday morning or one day a week or Tuesday or whatever. don't know. Anyway, just you pitch to them. I think you could sell it.
@mrdearybury (37:59.489)
You
Doodle. Yeah, see that I could do
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I low key have this dream of like opening my own place with books and beer and art and coffee. know, I would love to own my own place one day. Maybe when I retire. I don't think that's much of a retirement if you start your own business.
Adam (38:24.077)
I'm in.
Adam (38:28.034)
I love that. That's very cool.
Adam (38:33.384)
Eh, you know, it could be a lifestyle business. I like that.
@mrdearybury (38:34.871)
I think it would be fun. think it would be fun.
Adam (38:39.554)
That's awesome. Well, you've given us so much great stuff here, Jed. I just want to ask, like, you one of the questions that I like to ask just because I feel like I learned so much more about, you know, we've heard so much about your journey and about all the awesome stuff you're doing. What's a piece of advice, especially with being back to school, with all these new teachers going back, with all the teachers headed back to the classroom? What's like the best piece of advice or piece of advice that you'd want to share with our listeners?
@mrdearybury (39:01.815)
So I'm gonna bring this full circle back to Peter Reynolds. You know, we talked about the dot, make your mark. One of his books that I give to every college student, the last, I don't know, 10 years that I teach, I give them a copy of his book, Be You. And I give them this book for several reasons. One, I don't want them to walk away from my class thinking that they have to be like me. You know, I am trying to teach you how to be.
yourself as a teacher, not be me. Because if you try to be me as a teacher, you're going to fail at it. Because you are you and you should be you, right? And what I love about that book is every page it focuses on that, be yourself, be yourself. But at the end, that's out of the book, Peter has a little message at the end and he writes the words, be more you. Don't just be you, but be more of you. And I love that whole mindset of
Be more you. Figure out who you are, then lean into it so much and just put it out there more. More and more and more. Every one of us have a dream, an idea, a creation, something inside of us that we hold back for whatever reason. And at the end of that book, Peter encourages us to be more you. And I just love that message. know, of course I want everybody to be themselves, but when you find yourself, be more of that.
Adam (40:24.108)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (40:30.591)
Because odds are you held back for so long. And so, you know, we mentioned my tattoo, my make a mark. Next time I see him, I'm going to get him to write and be more you. And I'm going to add it under there. So it's the two book kind of that I use. Every semester, I start with the dot and I close with be you. And so I just think I love that message of being more you. just, it's beautiful to me.
Adam (40:30.69)
Yeah, I love that.
Adam (40:44.152)
That's awesome.
Adam (40:58.284)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (40:58.935)
And I always preface this, it's not saying that being you isn't enough. Don't hear that. Being you is more than enough. But being more of you, being more of you is a gift not only to the world, but it's a gift to yourself. If you can be more of yourself, it's you giving yourself the ultimate gift. Because nobody else can give that. Nobody else can give that but you. So that's my parting wisdom, I guess you'd say.
Adam (41:25.846)
No, I love that. I love that. And I think it's obviously it's so important and it's hard, I think it's such an easy thing to understand and it's such a hard thing necessarily to put into practice because people are fighting whatever the inner critic is or however you phrased it earlier. think that's a battle always, but.
@mrdearybury (41:28.822)
you
@mrdearybury (41:35.382)
Mm
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Have you read the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert?
Adam (41:47.244)
Yes, which is incredible. Yeah.
@mrdearybury (41:49.011)
I'm obsessed with that book. It's required reading in my elementary art class because the number one thing all of us need to do is to get over our fears and we all have them and she lists them so beautifully in the beginning and I ask students to write down their own fears and reflect on their fears. I do that in my workshops. I'm doing a workshop in just a few weeks with the Santa Clara County Library System in San Jose, California and Santa Clara.
Adam (41:55.095)
I love that.
Adam (42:03.715)
Yeah.
@mrdearybury (42:18.611)
Santa Clara County Government Offices. And we're going to talk about the fear. We're going to, I'm going to have them list their fears. You know, what's holding them back in their work? Because they know those fears better than I do. I've never worked in county government. I don't know. But I guarantee you there's fears that are holding them back. And we're going to talk about that with these people. So I love her book. If anybody's looking for a good read, check it out. Big magic.
Adam (42:21.887)
cool.
Adam (42:33.571)
Yeah.
Adam (42:39.03)
I love that.
Adam (42:43.502)
it's a good one. That is definitely a good rec. Awesome. Well, I mean, I think we've covered so many topics here. I really appreciate you sharing both details about your personal arc and narrative and just the passion is so clear as to all the great stuff you're doing. And where can folks learn a little more about you or pick up some of your awesome artwork and stickers and such?
@mrdearybury (43:04.535)
So I have a website, have a website, mrdearybury.com. If you see on the screen, it says at Mr. Dearybury, that's my Instagram. Mr. Dearyburyy is everything that I'm connected to. So if you want to email me, it's mrdearybury at Gmail, mrdearybury at Hotmail. I probably have mrdearybury at Juno somewhere, if I can remember the password. But there's just lots of different ways to connect with me out there in the world.
Just if you Google Mr. Dearybury, you'll find me anywhere and everywhere on every platform. But start at the website. That way you can see kind of, you can see what I offer out in the world as far as like work goes. I'd love to come, you know, most of my work is with educators, but the last year or two since the Playful Life has come out, I've started to venture into new worlds beyond education because Playful Life is for everybody. It's not just a teacher book. So check that out.
Adam (43:38.827)
Easy.
@mrdearybury (44:01.207)
invite me to your space. I'd love to bring some playfulness to wherever you are.
Adam (44:05.196)
That's awesome. Well, Jed, thanks so much for joining us today. It was really, really great to chat. And until the next time, everybody, game on.