"We are the ones we've been waiting for"
The above is the quote that I feel appropriately summarizes my first week back on campus (aka Week -1). But, before I break down what that means to me in specifics, let me explain why I'm not in Oakland right now.
This school year, I have the privilege of serving as one eighth of my campus' Women's Center's student intern team. I am one of two
Social Justice Peer Education (SJPE) Programming Interns. As part of our job training, we, along with all of the COM3 (Campus Community Centers [there are 3 c's]. My campus has a total of 7: the Black Resource Center (BRC), Raza Resource Centro (RRC), the Women's Center (WC), the LGBT Resource Center (LGBTRC), the Cross Cultural Center (the Cross), Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American (APIMEDA) & the Inter-Tribal Resource Center), interns were moved onto campus a week early to train from about 8:30am-4:30pm for one week. SO, my family flew down Thursday (9/8) night, I moved in Friday (9/9) afternoon, and we spent the weekend enjoying each other's company including a very pleasant trip to Belmont park and a lovely night of dinner and a movie.
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| My beautiful family @ Belmont Park! (after Jaden tried to kill me) |
Fast forward to now: it's Friday night (9/16). Week -1 is complete. And this evening I had one of the best times of my life. Bear with me as I zoom in briefly before zooming out to context and this week's quote! Training this week has been eventful: I nearly died on a high ropes course, wonderful co-workers saved me, and I won a game of jeopardy (with a team)! My co-workers and bosses are fabulous, intelligent, caring individuals with hearts as acrobatic as their minds are. To say I am excited for this year's work is an understatement, but more on that in a bit! Moving on to this evening. I was fortunate enough to join a beautiful trio of sistas at a wonderful open mic night held in Bonita, of all places. A sufficient summary of this evening can be encompassed in the phrase: good vibes. The melanin was poppin', the swag was on, the music was lit, and the talent was jaw-dropping. We heard rap, singing, spoken word and comedy that was powerful and memorable. We all had a wonderful time.
Let's zoom out, shall we? The above quote came from the COM3 joint training session this week. We meditated to the phrase with the immediate impact being that the work we do in these centers (work being a general term for social justice education and activism), is vital to creating the systemic change we desire and deserve; we cannot afford to wait for others to repair the broken system. And that message certainly resonates with me: I am not naive, hopeful, or faithful enough to believe that I will see all of the oppressive systems that rule our society demolished in my lifetime, but I am just naive enough to believe that my generation can perhaps put a dent in things and open a few more minds along the way so that my brothers' children may have a different experience than I had; not yet perfect, but hopefully different & better.
But that explanation is not what lead me to choose this quote to lead this post. That explanation is my surface-level analysis of the quote (though I'd be fascinated to hear any different or more nuanced explorations!). I chose this quote because it resonated in my head as the week progressed and my brain accommodated new understandings. Let's go back to my pleasure and excitement about working at the WC. The excitement and pleasure comes partially from my recent decision to continue education around a combination of operations management and political science (specifically local policy analysis); my work at the center is essentially my dream: programming and education that opens the hearts and minds of my local community. To have such wonderful people by my side is just a sweet bonus! Switching gears: thinking about the open mic event I attend tonight and how wonderful it was makes me really reflect on my experience with UCSD so far. My first two quarters were great: exciting and busy! But my spring quarter and what's happened so far this quarter have been perfect: I've finally created my circle: I've found, fostered relationships with & am comfortable with some wonderful, loving women. I've found my own community on campus; it's diverse and wonderful, and I'm constantly growing because of it. Bringing this all to being the one I've waited for: I feel like I've been waiting for myself to create a real life with real aspirations and community and support, and now I have. I'm no longer just getting by and occasionally enjoying the ride-I am now navigating the ride. Education that is relevant and interesting? Check. A career plan that's challenging, but worthwhile and exciting? Check. Friends who I love and who love me? Check. I finally accomplished the things I was waiting for myself to accomplish and it has made a world of difference in me. I am happy for the first time in a long time (I've got to say it's not the most comfortable feeling in the world. Also, I am having some seriously incredible thoughts now about content versus happiness within my heart and mind, but that's really a different post...maybe check my personal blog.)
Anyway, this has been incredibly truthful for me, and accordingly, extremely challenging. What this post was meant to impart was the idea that we have to create our reality, especially in the college setting, to be happy/content enough to healthily navigate higher education. And by create our reality, I mean foster the things that you need: do you need a supportive community? Do you need space to create music/write/paint, etc.? Do you need to exercise daily? Do you need to work and feel productive by holding a job? Do you need to have effective study groups? It's not easy, but read yourself and read your campus to best find out the tools and support you'll need to be happy and successful, however success looks to you.
Best of luck! As usual, reach out with questions, comments, or concerns. Much love!
XO
