Voltaire once wrote "Common sense is not so common." When I first heard this in high school, I laughed because of the play on words. Common sense seems to refer to the simple things. Simple things are not simple. As one begins to critically think about "simple things" and the privilege that permits one to perform what is considered as simple, one realizes that simple is relational. If simple is relational, coming from one’s lived experiences and homemade theories, then common sense is relational too. Who makes common sense, common?

To this question, I recall Levinson: "Concepts of hegemony enable us to appreciate how dominant groups manipulate symbols and images to construct "common sense"" (65). Thus, common sense is not only common but is also constructed in a dominant and uncommon way as well as marketed as common. "The pot calling the kettle black" persists as the label of "common sense" is packaged and poured out of the black pot. This sense is accepted by institutions, people, and knowledges, while simultaneously aligning with dominant forms of being. A question arises, especially for us in this discussion, who attend university during pandemic: where is the academic, the intellectual in all of this?

Levinson continues: "In exchange for benefits, intellectual provide tacit support for the dominant groups and help legitimate its beliefs and its perspective, serving ultimately to shape common sense and encourage consent" (73). Education is the tool of domination as intellectuals become the stone upon which the tool is sharpened. I wonder about the alternative ways of being to listen to education as the instrument of liberation. In what ways can we continue to live and engage critically combining theory and practice within our daily lives?