Choosing to stay home and limit contact with friends and loved ones can be incredibly difficult for anyone. The pandemic so far is the longest amount of time I’ve been away from my parents, with the exception of when I lived in Japan. While spending so much time apart from them has been terrible, I’ve been terrified of unknowingly passing the virus to them.
In worrying about the health and safety of my family, friends, and coworkers over the past five months, I have done a lot of research about epidemiology and best practices to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. As violent opposition to health-protective policies becomes a regular topic on the news, I wondered what contributes to such vehement resistance to scientific facts.
I did not want this series of posts to be just another white narrative in the time when we should be lifting minority voices. However, I do see the value in sharing my personal journey as a roadmap for others who aren’t sure where to start, as well as for holding myself accountable to anyone who is reading. This series is only a starting point.
I recognize I live a privileged life, and my current position has been supported by racial biases. However, the hesitance to discuss that privilege and personally-held biases presents a huge obstacle in breaking down structures that prevent progress toward social equity. This post is a public examination of the racial narratives I absorbed when I was young and how they have persisted throughout my life.
It’s a subject we’ve been taught not to talk about. But in avoiding conversations on race and the privilege that comes with it, we can’t examine or change any biases we hold. I don’t consider myself to be particularly progressive, but I am incredibly privileged. And for that reason I decided to join a discussion group on the subject of White Fragility.
This week’s post, part book review and part New Year’s resolution, is more self-serving and introspective than my usual topics because I am using it to examine an upcoming career change. I hope that there is something useful in here for you, be it a good book recommendation, an approach to setting intentions for big life changes, or even a frank discussion around impostor syndrome.
This month marks five years since I realized I was in an abusive relationship and decided to get out. My blog is about challenging beliefs, and I believed that it couldn’t happen to me. Abuse can happen to anyone, and I hope this post can serve to diminish some of the associated stigma, as well as provide resources for someone who may need them.
Our third night in the woods of Virginia met with some interesting effects on my brain in particular. How much of it was a legitimate effect versus my expectation of finding something unusual? I can’t answer that, but I can say that I did feel better (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) while camping and plan to make time for more of it in the future.
Our Memorial Day weekend adventure continues with day two of camping in the mountains of Virginia. Question: what happens when you get curious, introspective people out of their daily lives and into the forest? Apparently you get discussions around philosophy, psychology, anthropology, brain chemistry, culture, society, and unexplainable phenomena tied to the nature of reality. And s’mores. You get s’mores too.