What is necessary evil?
Necessary evil is the pain in the gap between what you practice and what you preach. It's the set of challenging, arduous steps you have to take to make praxis out of your values, the discomfort of confronting what you don't yet know, and the uneasiness of asking for help to make a change.
When we train our bodies, we can be humbled and demoralized by the necessary evil of hard work to make changes and grow, and to strengthen ourselves physically amidst the narratives of toxic supremacy cultures.
When we train our minds, we experience the necessary evils of fear and guilt in order to take accountability for how we show up for our communities, and the anxiety of assessing whether our actions align with our values and serve our goals.
The pain of knowing there is distance to travel between who you are and who you want to be is a necessary evil to contend with, but in time, one you can learn to embody. You can be the type of person who is stronger than the ease of the status quo, and learn to live in the discomfort of opposition to the prevalent norms in our political and social world. By recommitting to your values and investing in yourself and a community to hold you accountable, you can be the necessary evil that others confront to catalyze social and political change.
About Sirus Bouchat
I am a researcher, community organizer, acrobat, educator, and trainer who values justice, critical engagement, and moving from felt sense to action. I deeply believe that working toward social and political change cannot happen without integrating our minds and bodies, and bringing our whole selves in alignment with our values.
Training philosophy
My physical training philosophy centers the idea that all bodies are good and worthy of relationship, and my training modalities are informed by my personal experience in weight training, handbalance, and partner acrobatics, as well as extensive experience with injury recovery.
My mental training philosophy emphasizes a felt sense of curiosity and enlivenment, and connecting lived experience to thematic narratives.
Educaton + experience
In more than a decade of experience in academic and policy research, I have conducted rigorous data-driven analyses and built computational models exploring political phenomena, helped students at all levels of their education shape research agendas and answer burning intellectual questions, and collaborated with leadership in nonprofit and advocacy groups to develop informed strategies for change.
I have worked with both individuals and groups in a variety of settings — from academic to physical — to facilitate challenging conversations on political and social topics, mediate among competing interests and manage deep grievances, and educate in subject matter and frameworks with a critical lens.
I have a PhD in Political Science, a Master's in Agricultural & Applied Economics, and a Master's in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I have a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelors in International Studies with an emphasis in Human Rights from the University of Chicago. I am a NASM certified personal trainer and an AcroRevolution (now AcroLove) certified partner acrobatics instructor.