Life Update, February 2021

 You might be wondering, with good reason, what I’m doing with my life these days. I became unemployed in the beginning of 2021, since Saint Paul College, along with many other community colleges, experienced a huge drop in enrollment. My department in particular (English for Academic Purposes) lost a huge amount of students, and so most of the adjunct teachers were left without classes. I had anticipated this going into winter break, and I’d already started thinking about how to make the next semester a meaningful time. 

I’m having a pretty hard time gauging how busy I actually am, but I do think that I’ve found a lot of meaningful ways to fill my time. I seem to be adding more things by the week(!), so I’m also trying to practice sensing what is enough (and my own ‘enoughness’). 

My friend Unny recently published a "Life Update" on his website. You can see it here. He inspired me to create a similar list as we are both currently unemployed and trying to keep track of the various projects in our life.

Justice/Organizing

• Resource Generation MN: I am an active member of the RG chapter. I’m co-leading the base building team, point-person for a local reparations project called Stolen Wealth Returns, and part of an indigenous solidarity and internal praxis team. 

• The Movement to Stop Line 3

• Lead of the active popular education team in the Pipeline Resistance Team at MN350

• Co-lead bi-weekly call-to-action hours 

• Part of two affinity groups that take part in direct action in the twin cities and northern minnesota 

• Weekly Sustainable Activism Pod: I meet with a small group weekly to nurture support, accountability, and joy around activism. We have been meeting since the uprising. 

• Co-leading a local meditation retreat for activists 

• Intermittently volunteering for the Minnesota Freedom Fund

• Bail support

• Paying immigrant bonds at ICE

• Formal/informal learnings about our court system & political repression

• Biweekly anti-racist teaching praxis 

• Inter-sangha Buddhist Organizing, off-and-on since the election

Learning/Creativity

• Giving Project (February-July 2021): I’m part of the newest cohort of the Giving Project, which is a multi-class and multi-racial 6-month cohort that focuses on moving money to BIPOC-led grass-roots orgs. I may be reaching out to you in the next 6 months to see if you’d like to support the fundraising efforts:) 

• Graduate English classes at Mankato State: I’m slowly working towards an MA in English so that I can eventually expand beyond ELL to teach composition and literature as well. I am taking Literary Theory and World lit this semester. 

• Co-counseling: I’ve started learning about and practicing co-counseling

• Intermittent drum lessons! Hoping to do this more regularly.

• Free Association Writing Group: I attend this weekly writing meet-up whenever I can!  

• Buddhist Book club: Love & Rage

Wellness

• Frequent, scheduled walks/runs/phone calls with friends

• Practicing digital minimalism as best as I can (I’m sorry if I don’t respond to your messages right away!)

• Daily meditation practice and frequent attendee of Commonground Meditation Center’s programs

• Half day, day, or multiple day meditation retreats (alone and with others)

• Journaling and writing daily (Morning pages) 

• Yoga, alone, and with friends

• Weekly Sabbaths: On Fridays, I try to take a break from work, busyness, and technology

• Cooking a lot!

• Mediocre covers with my roommate band "TreeTree"

All in all, a few themes come up for me at this time. I’m really trying to focus on:

1. Centering relationships

2. How I do things rather than how many things (or what) I do

Also, always trying to find value in myself and others outside of any notions of productivity.