a long overdue update :>

To my 6 beloved readers, I apologize for falling off the face of the earth for the entirety of my first semester! I have some jumbled thoughts, they are still quite jumbled, and perhaps over the upcoming weeks of winter break I will reorganize them… for now, I’ll just share them as they are, along with some recent pictures. This won’t be everything, but it will be something, so read on as you wish!

This semester, I have stretched and been stretched. In reflection, I would say my main focuses have been school and building community, and admittedly sometimes I feel that I’m not doing great at either, but then I remind myself that these things, like most good things in the world, must be built over a long time of consistent showing up.

I’ll start with some school reflections. The work is a lot, but it has really begun to change the way that I think about the world. I now have words to describe a lot of phenomena that I’ve noticed before but couldn’t quite put a name to. The assignments I am most proud of include examining the complex factors leading to achievement gaps in the SFUSD education system (including attending a local petition rally and hearing from educators and students’ firsthand accounts of on-ground inequities), characterizing the problem of, and proposing micro- and meso-level actions to increase food security in the local community, and a data analysis to find potential impacts of AI in education on student-professor relationships. I also wrote an essay on American national identity as a transracial adoptee, which was just as insightful as it was emotional (perhaps, this will be a post for another day!).

Rapid speed, notable things I’ve taken away from my first semester in each course:

• Complex Systems: As much as we are influenced by our surroundings, we also have the power to influence. Next time conforming doesn’t feel like the right thing to do, don’t underestimate the power of going against the grain.
• Multimodal Communications: The most powerful communicators say less, speak slowly, and let silence do the heavy lifting. Making a point is not a race.
• Empirical Analyses: Breaking down and characterizing a problem should take just as much, if not more time and effort than finding a solution. If you don’t find the right problem, you’ll never find the right solution.
• Formal Analyses: Logical fallacies are everywhere, and the more you can notice them, the more peace you’ll have the next time something, or someone, spews an illogical accusation your way. Many words dressed as arguments are not even arguments at all.

Outside of the classroom, we joke about the unglamorous communal kitchen with dirty sinks, but on a serious (and seriously grateful) note, I have found so much joy in my friends, classmates, and larger communities in SF. With the absence of a campus and many physical spaces, I’ve started to see the intentionality that must go into building and maintaining relationships. In the day-to-day, most of my community time comes from sharing meals in the basement kitchen (special shoutout to my vegetarian cook group). On a larger scale, here’s a list of the things that have left an imprint and emphasized over and over again the importance of showing up for those around me:

• Volunteering — I volunteered at a handful of local organizations, including Safe Passage (keeping Tenderloin streets safe for children after school), GLIDE Memorial Church (providing meals), Compass Family Services (bringing resources to homeless families), and 826 Valencia (tutoring for under-resourced students). I’ve gained a much deeper appreciation for the need for, and impact of, community showing up for each other.
• 10:01s — This is a school tradition where we get together to learn about and celebrate a particular country’s culture. So far this semester, I’ve enjoyed presentations about Brazil, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
• Friendsgiving — An annual Minerva tradition. This year, I headed the Decor Crew, including the gratitude activity, and hand-decorated over 150 personalized gratitude booklets for each Minervan living in SF with my team. At the end of the night, every person went home with a personalized book full of gratitude notes from their classmates, and this was a special reminder that putting in the work to grow a community is hardly ever convenient but almost always worth it.
• Civic Project with Books Not Bans — As part of my Civic Project for first year, I am working with local nonprofit Books Not Bans to increase access to queer and banned literature across the country. Through this partnership, I’ve been inspired by the large impact that such a small non-profit can make with a whole lot of grit and determination.
• Poetry open mics! — I’ve been attending and challenging myself to perform at an open mic near Ocean Beach once a month since September, and after my first time going and feeling like a stranger in a sea of many strangers, I debated whether or not to make the effort to go out again. But the poems were too good and so I had to go back, and now (after four months) I am beginning to create connections there, too. It’s become a place for my monthly inspiration, and another reminder that building community takes time and consistency.

Whew! It’s hard to believe a semester has flown, and I am so grateful for my time here so far. It has not been easy, but day by day I feel my footing becoming more even (or perhaps, I’m getting better at walking on all the bumps). I have a lot more to say, but for now, I will leave off with the ending of a silly (but I think relevant) poem my dear friend Asta and I wrote and performed for Friendsgiving…

“…Remember community is not a given so,
Let’s show up when others fall

And find our differences unite us;
We are more the alike than some might think
Who knows how far we’ll go,
Four years turned into one long blink…

So now then, careful! Don’t dismiss it;
We’ll go together
And grow together
Because one day, we know we’ll miss it.”

I hope for my posts to be more frequent moving into the future, but if you don’t hear from me, assume I’m out and about making sure my second semester update will be just as full. ;D