It has been a very full quarter. I anticipated this fullness prior to the start of the quarter and took some time to recenter myself and remind myself who and whose I am. Then, I came back home and jumped into a quarter full of teaching, the major conference in my field (the Annual Meeting […]
Finding myself
It has been a hard academic year after a couple of years of significant transition. I have felt so incredibly far from myself. And so, I am even the more grateful to find myself at home, in Bordeaux, again. When I was 19 years old, I first came to Bordeaux, France, as an undergraduate student […]
What is Lost; What is Gained — A Reflection on Winter Quarter 2026
Well, I didn’t think that the first 10 weeks of 2026 was going to go quite the way it did. I started out the year on a way to a diagnosis of Graves Disease, clear that I felt unwell, but unsure why. As I enter my fourth week on medication, I am beginning to […]
Weight, Wait, Don’t Tell Me…
I have been carrying a lot of things for a long time. The weight of it all is exhausting. I rarely notice as more and more gets added, little by little, to the load. Often it is me adding things to the load as if it does not exist. The load feels indistinguishable from my […]
My Heart
It’s been a rough 6 weeks in the midst of a tough year. Mostly, rough on my heart. About 6 weeks ago, my resting heart rate, which has been relatively similar for the first 47 years of my life, jumped and kept jumping. It is still very high, and exercise prompts my heart rate to […]
Holding Space and Holding Still for Humanity
I am a runner. In my past, this was literal. I ran cross-country and track in high school and half marathons for several years as an adult before it became more harmful than helpful for my body. What I loved most about running that distance was that, after running for a while, I couldn’t think […]
Unwellness & Opportunities for Unlearning
I’ve been reading mimi khúc’s dear elia and thinking a lot about unwellness in this new year (by the western/ solar calendar). Many things have struck me from the book, but particularly the idea of systemic or structural unwellness which reproduces different forms of unwellness among us all, and diverse types of suffering. Systems (and societies) […]
When It Rains…Final Reflection Fall Quarter 2025
It’s rainy and windy in Seattle right now. I try to take the opportunity at the end of every academic term, particularly those during which I teach, to engage in reflection. When I was younger and stuck inside during occasional heavy rains, watching the rain fall on the world outside, I would also reflect. So, […]
Gratitude & Mourning
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the US, which is also, for many indigenous communities, a day of mourning. As someone who knows both grief and gratitude (especially in this time of the year) and who is working to better come alongside my indigenous siblings, as a migrant settler, I have spent the last few days holding […]
Heavenly Birthdays & Earthly Moments
Today is my mother’s 87th birthday. It’s been 31 years since we celebrated her birthday together, 30 years that she has been celebrating in heaven. Thirty birthdays (and nearly 31 years) that, I believe, she continues to watch over and guide me, standing behind me like she is in the picture above, through all of […]