Life Update: Boxes and Baggage and Books, Oh My!
packing my apartment
My blog has been a wasteland. I have been too frazzled and busy to do much reading and commenting, although I did get my weekly curation post for @teamgirlpowa posted on Sunday. The leadership team at TGP is on a break, as two of us are making big moves in the next couple of weeks.
I am up to my armpits in boxes and luggage, as I get ready to put the last miscellaneous stuff into storage and fly off to Illinois for the Summer Pre-doctoral Institute at University of Illinois. I am both very excited and very nervous—other than my semester in Ghana, I have never lived outside of the West Coast. I don’t know what to expect weather-wise, and a PhD is a big undertaking. This is the culmination of several years of work and dreams.
interview transcripts and microfilm
I got in a last couple of research sessions at the Oregon Historical Society. I’ve been donating clothes and books, picking up meds, buying packing supplies, and so on. Running my butt off!
out and about on my errands
I did take time for rest on Shabbat last week, and I stayed up until 2am reading Torah for Shavuot. (I tried to stay up later, but it wasn’t meant to be.) I have fit in time to say goodbye to friends and family, and I’ll be presenting my research at the Students of Color Symposium at Portland State Uni on Thursday.
I’m flying on Memorial Day, and by this time next week I’ll be starting the program! This is so exciting and intense, and I’m just silly over it. 😊
I’m not sure when my next post will be—probably longer than a week, unless I find time to do a freewrite or something—but I wanted to drop a post and let everyone know what’s going on in my life.
Love y’all, have a good week!
Pictures by me unless otherwise noted. Divider created by javehimself, and used with gratitude.
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Oh we will miss you!!!! but so proud of you for pursuing your career! soon... like @sgt-dan says.... we'll be saying "What's up , Doc!" hehehehehe
come back to us soon! ;)
Thanks! 💖 I’ll be back soon, I’m sure.
hehehehehe looking forward to it @tessaragabrielle
or as awaken says it.... tesssssarrrrragabrielllllaa! :)
You got this!! Way cleaner than my mess and i habe less 😂
Oh, this is the carefully curated version.
Outtakes:
exciting things coming in your future! What are you going to study in grad school? I might have missed it in a previous post? Only took me 7 years to finish (ha ha, only!) but then you can say "It's Dr. So and so" to douche bags so it was totally worth it! I never think to say that, but I could and knowing that gives me comfort... Safe travels! Keep us posted when you can!
I’m studying the interplay of race, class, and gender in labor history. My undergrad research was on Black women workers in the World War II shipyards of Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Not sure whether I’ll carry that particular work forward or shift to another topic—I’ve got a couple of years to figure it out, though. 😊
Thanks for the support and well wishes!
best of luck with the move, it can be very stressful, just remember to be gentle with yourself and look forward to hearing how it all went xxx
Thanks! I’m super grateful to have so much support on this next step in my life. 💖