Day 12: Tracking Workload (Im)balance

Plain text for personal life.  BOLD for teaching (which also includes advising and class prep).  ITALICS for scholarship.  UNDERLINE for service.  STRIKE THROUGH for university-afiliated things.

Charged the Swivl (which I had so much trouble setting up the night before); Woke up way too early; dressed; headed down for breakfast; had a lovely conversation about publishing and poetry workshops with Norma (who is 92 and has been coming to Asilomar for most of its history); went up to the room (Embers) to prep for the workshop; decided to show a clip on Resistance as the New Normal by Melina Abdullah as an intro to the session (though I didn't count on the vacuum cleaner that would require me shifting around my workshop plans); taught the workshop; had some hard moments around Black Lives Matter/All Lives Matter (ended up giving resources on intersectionality, double consciousness as a state, Iris Young's "5 Faces of Oppression, and others) and later after the session was done, an attempt by another workshop leader to connect with me around Western Pennsylvania who spoke to his story of acceptance in a Black family and the integration of a community around mining, and while acceptance and connection within Black communities rang true and connected with my experience, his story of integration in Western PA and mining did not connect with what I knew (we all have different stories to tell and hearing them leads to complex understandings of reality); left the conference more heavy than light, though I believe those who attended my session had a really positive experience and I did find connection with a number of the folk within the workshop, which is wonderful.  I set up a Google Drive for the group so it can persist in sharing resources and insights.  

Left the conference and learned that two friends had a terrible car breakdown in Tahoe.  Luckily, they were at a light when the timing belt went out, but they had to have their car towed all the way from Tahoe to Mountain View.  They were supposed to be joining us for dinner, so I drove from Pacific Grove to Mountain View to pick them up on my way to Berkeley.  Matteo's long time friends from his HP days:  Ana and Anna and Ana Cecilia and Filippo.  Saw Fénix and got some kisses and hugs from the dog.   I went to rest for a few hours while Matteo showed his friends the house and the garden.  We watched the debate and had pasta with mushrooms (so good the other Italian didn't notice that the pasta was gluten free); roasted squash with berbere seasoning; and oranges for dessert.  Never saw someone so nervous as one of our friends, literally pacing the floors while watching the debate.  In the end, we talked about it, though of the 6 of us, I was the only one who can vote here.