Me ft. Last Few Months

I had the goal of writing a newsletter monthly to disseminate the work I’ve been doing and some of the updates in life in order to stay connected with folks I’m not able to stay in contact with frequently. With that said, I haven’t had much capacity to get any extra writing together while fighting the fatigue and exhaustion over the pandemic and doing a PhD online for over a year.

I’ll give a brief rundown of the last few months and how school/where it’s going at the moment.

dog park gems

At the last newsletter/update, I was coaching as our HS football season got pushed back to the late winter as a start date. We had one week of ‘pre-season’ and moved straight into games after a week which was a bit challenging. One thing that motivated to coach during this time was the reality that sports are a breather for many of us, and for our players, it served as a way to support their mental wellbeing. I think most of us recognize the importance of being social, being physical and engaging in an activity that you enjoy and how it contributes to your wellbeing. This was the case with our players all season. So much so, that there were regular opportunities and instances where the players opened up the things they had been working through during the pandemic. The bad, the good, the worse and the joy where they were able to have breakthroughs emotionally, all had a place on the field. This goes back to some of the previous newsletters highlighting the importance of specific places that foster belonging and make space for wellbeing and working through hardship. This also served as a place for myself to get off technology and be present in facilitating the joy and excitement that comes with sports, while also making space to discuss the current state of the world and learn about the issues they care about. With that said, thank the coaches, teachers, educators and other folks in your life, we doing this work making sure the youth are well with little to no pay. We also went 4-3 in the most competitive league in the state and I had two kids in my position group go on to college to play so I’m giving myself a virtual pat on the back.

slot canyon in j tree

Moreover, school has been a shit show! As you can imagine, online life isn’t the best. Without going into serious details, I didn’t quite finish my exams for a multitude of reasons outside my control, and it’s taught me the value of slowing down. Over the last 18 months, like many of us, it’s SUCKED. I think I tried to ignore it quite often because I rationalized that because I enjoy the work I do around supporting youth, mental wellbeing and racial justice, that I didn’t need to rest, and that I should just be fortunate I get to work doing stuff I love. Which I think a lot of us have these tensions and experiences regularly, and although I’m terrible at slowing down, it’s proved challenging and fruitful. I also didn’t make time to celebrate some of the accomplishments I had throughout this time so I’m gonna list them here to practice sharing accomplishments:

• linked 500 youth with devices for remote learning before the district could

• received a $50,000 grant for/with Estelita’s Library + I’m now on thee board (buy books from here!)

• have two journal articles getting prepped for publication

• published a wellbeing for life and learning handbook through my role at the Resilience Lab at UW

• received $21,000 in grants for my Black + Brown bike squad, NorthStar (if you’re in seattle come ride with me!)

• moved into my own apartment (first time living by myself)

• got 6 tattoos lol

• had two of the players I coach get all league, and watched one of my previous players play in his first college football game (!!!)

• built curriculum for The Nature Project to get kids of color outside in nature

• took a solo road trip with lennie (serious anxiety for me, traveling while Black is scary at times)

• got to be uncle to a number of kiddos and found lots of purpose there

• gave a number of talks and sat on panels advocating for Black liberation at UW and beyond

• met lots of lovely folks and built/found a community here in seattle

I share these to practice sharing accomplishments and celebrating the little moments. We are often wired to focus on what we aren’t doing, or places we need to prove, which that is warranted. In that same vein, we need to celebrate the little wins, the little moments that are stepping stones to our ultimate goals. I think that’s some of the main things that have come about for me in the last few months.