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Side Bar: the wind down
Last we spoke, I discussed wanting to shift some of the content here and then went silent. Sorry about that. Work, as always, became really hectic at the end of the year and into January. Then last month was the election in Chicago. Unfortunately, that means the administration I work for is coming to an end in May. What does that mean? I’m not sure—there are lots of moving pieces and lots of opportunities to consider. The good news is that at the beginning of the year my loans were finally forgiven. I did ten years deep of public service so all of it was wiped away. This means I’m…
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Side Bar: We Outside
June was filled with nonstop activity. Though it started with me catching Covid so the first week I was quarantining at home. Thankfully, because I’m vaxxed and boosted, the symptoms were pretty mild. The worst of it was the first few days (an intense cough, shortness of breath, sinus pressure) but after it was mostly just a cough. I’m really glad because it could have been way worse (esp those with long-term symptoms). Wear a mask, ppl! I got a little too relaxed I’m certain that’s why I caught it. Aside from Covid, the month was filled with events. I was healthy enough to walk the Puerto Rican Parade, which…
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Side Bar: A cultural smorgasbord
May was super busy, super fun, and boy did it cost me. More on that later! This month was sort of the calm before the storm because summer kicks off some serious and important engagement events. It also marks the first month since December where we did have multiple huge community events (just one, so not so bad!). I leaned into it by attending a ton of cultural events that always makes me so proud to call this city home. First, with a Cinco de Mayo celebration hosted by the Mexican consulate—who confirmed this is not a holiday celebrated in Mexico but that it exists in the imagination of Americans…
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Sidebar: Rest and Relaxation
April owes me nothing! It was a great month full of rest. Much needed. It started with a big professional accomplishment—I facilitated my first city-wide town hall meeting by myself. How grown up lol Basically the city often puts on open meetings to discuss important issues and receive feedback from community. And of course depending on the topic, things can go south. Thankfully, my years of experience training other attorneys, facilitating discussions, and camera work all prepared me to take this on. I was really nervous for lots of reasons but not only did it not go terrible, people enjoyed my approach so it was nice to be able to…
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Sidebar: Surviving a Chicago Winter
Happy new year (a month and two weeks late)! It’s so funny because in the fall, I wrote about how things felt a little more normal and then of course the next wave came and put everything back on pause. How much longer is this going to take? Very frustrating. But easing into the year wasn’t a bad thing, it let me really plan out my time and focus on my health a little more. And that was really the theme in January–getting more in tune with how I feel/making healthier decisions. So, I think I mentioned that at my annual the Dr realized I had extremely low vitamin D.…
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Sidebar: Things just keep on moving
Goodbye 2021! And lets hope it’s not 2020 part II—seriously, I’d like to live in precedented times for a bit—us Millennials have had enough of “once in a generation” experiences, thank you very much. But whatever 2022 has in store, I guess I’m ready lol And thankfully this past year was not as tumultuous as the one before. It felt like things were stabilizing or at least felt more manageable. I returned to the office five days a week; was triple vaccinated; finally saw my mom!; celebrated my 12 anniversary in Tampa (the Paris of the US); had a lot of great moments with this community; and had a lot…
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Sidebar: Grateful
This month felt a lot more like the “before times” than ever before and that is a good and bad thing. So the good, because of the booster, we felt comfortable enough visiting my in-laws, which I haven’t seen in a long time. This meant an overnight trip the farm! I haven’t been there in forever and while some things were a little different (no more cows), everything else was like nothing had changed. Good food, E got to play IT expert to make sure his parents stay connected to the internet and it was really nice to get away. It’s hard to describe how calm and quiet it is.…
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Side Bar: What a year
I don’t even know where to start. This year was just beyond and I know I’m not sharing any huge revelation here because we’ve all been through it, but I do want to take a moment to just acknowledge what occurred. At the beginning of 2020, I was six months into my new job in local govt and to put it plainly—I was ex-haust-ed! The pace of the work was a huge jolt to my system. And while I felt like I finally was getting it, I was still barely home and barely sleeping. Additionally, there were constant threats that ICE could descend at a moment’s notice—remember when they threatened…
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Side Bar: One Year
I haven’t done a side bar in a while. Things are just so routine, working from home, and also tumultuous, that it’s hard to keep track! But I did want to take a moment to acknowledge this milestone. I survived one year in city hall! And holy wow–what a year. I can’t even get into the nitty gritty of it, but just the growth (along with the growing pains) has been tremendous. Early on, a colleague who has been there for a really long time told me the work would flow between the ridiculous and the sublime and I think that captures exactly what it is like to be in…
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Side Bar: What is even going on?
Ok like how is it only barely March and we’ve experienced being on the brink of war and now a pandemic, like 2020 are you ok?! I mean it is my bday month, so I guess things have to start looking up, but the darkest timeline is going haywire. Anyway, I’m sure everyone is as confused/concerned about everything as I am. One of the silver linings is that I have gotten real serious about reducing waste. I’ve started experimenting with a lot of plant based recipes (though I don’t think I’ll ever get on soy/tofu train because the texture seems yuck to me), but that has been fun and while…