Wonderemployment

I haven't written in a few months, but not for lack of desire. There's been so much I've wanted to say about my experience in grad school so far, and there are even some pieces of writing I've done for class that I've considered sharing. But for the past 16 weeks, the stream of work has been unrelenting, and writing for pleasure and reflection has taken a back burner. Now that I can come up for air, I find myself struggling to string together thoughts. To start with the good, we did it!! We made it through the first semester of grad school. It's just one out of five, but I've been told it's the hardest since it has the biggest course load, and requires the biggest adjustment back into student life. But as of yesterday, here we are on the other side. I say "we" because this was truly a family affair. I am so proud of Curtis' hard work, and Holly's resilience. Some other time, I will write more about the logistics of how we've ma...

Last weekend I had to give a training in the city. I'm not sure that I've explicitly shared online that I am back at my former organization in Chinatown, leading a project to provide consultation and training to health and social service providers on culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Many times this consists of training staff on cultural competence/responsiveness/humility... whatever term you prefer. We call it "widening your personal lens". Over the years I have led some version of this training probably 50+ times. I've facilitated many other types of training too, with audiences of all sizes and types. I don't usually experience much anxiety anymore. I might feel a little nervous, or unsure how a new activity or piece of content will go, but that gut level of fear is gone.  But on my way to the training on Saturday, I was in knots. At one point on my drive there, I had to shove down the urge to cry. It genuinely surprised me, a...

It's been a busy summer around here to say the least. We finally moved into our house, I left my job and started a new one, and I also started grad school. We're navigating new schedules, new commutes, and new responsibilities. Through it all, our anniversary hasn't been anywhere near the forefront of our minds and currently we have nothing planned to celebrate it. This is pretty representative of where we are in our marriage. It's a well-oiled machine humming along in the background, not demanding much attention or thought. I appreciate this, because with so much in flux externally, it's nice to have refuge at home, or as much refuge as possible with a toddler in the mix. I try not to get complacent though, because things don't just "work" on their own and the last thing I want to do is ruin the best thing I have by assuming it will always stay that way. We have talked a lot this summer about how our roles and responsibilities will change with s...

Well big news... I applied to grad school! It was a pretty spontaneous decision within the last couple weeks, so if you're surprised, believe me, I am too. I've applied for the Master of Public Health program at SF State. I've always had it in my head that I would go back to school, but years went by and it never seemed like the right time. I continued to stumble upon good work opportunities, I was embracing a more relaxed pace of life, and of course most recently, I was focused on starting my new role as a mom. There were many times when I was close to applying. I took the GRE in 2011 while living in DC, and began to look into programs. I researched my options again in 2015, but once I found out I was pregnant I put those plans aside. GRE scores are only valid for five years, so I figured the window for grad school had closed for now, and that I'd revisit the prospect later down the road. I'm not sure why, but I was looking at the ETS website and clear ...