Week 66
View from the houseboats
It’s the new federal holiday of Juneteenth, which is both significant and yet insufficient for ensuring the safety, wellbeing, and equal opportunity of Black people in the United States. UCSF sent a message encouraging us to honor the day by reflecting on the full significance of the holiday, which isn’t clear about whether everyone should take the day off and what I should tell my team. I’m trying to be careful about figuring out what is and isn’t reasonable labor for me – so I limited my energies to thinking about the people I’m supporting directly. I decided to encourage the summer interns to take time off from work with me, shared the UCSF message, as well as the UCSF Race and Racism in Medicine series. That being said…I wish I felt like I could take my own advice.
After a few days of intense heat (and little sleep thanks to no AC and a neighbor’s dog) and all-day meetings, all I’d like to do is whine. Ok, really, I’d like to find AC, exercise, and nap. I’ll focus instead on some of the good things, hoping to filter them to the top of my consciousness. My brother and his girlfriend both graduated from their PhD programs in mechanical engineering this weekend and we had a lovely visit with them. Last night was early pickup at school, so we took Theo to the Joinery in Sausalito for our first family outdoor meal in a year and a half (and non-wilted French fries!).
At work, I’ve been onboarding two high school CURE interns, as well as continuing to support the MSTAR (medical students training in aging research) and clinical fellow working with me this summer. To do this, I’ve been holding daily team meetings in the hopes it will ultimately lead to more efficiencies of teaching – and indeed, it’s led to opportunities for team members to teach each other, with me refining and suggesting readings. Sometime last week I asked the MSTAR students and Research Coordinator working with me to take turns facilitating – it’s been such a revelation. They do a great job (in some cases better than I would do because they’re closer to thinking about what the CURE interns need) and it frees me up to do more thinking in how best to respond. We also implemented twice a week check-ins about how to improve the meeting flow and utility, which has already made some great changes. We even recorded part of the meeting yesterday for someone who couldn’t attend, which mean now we have a recording of some ad hoc methods discussions.
In the pandemic, the work-life integration of our colleagues and mentors became somewhat more transparent, as we lived at work (or worked from home). Today, I offer this image for you: I started this missive sitting on my deck at 7:30 am typing this while pretending to be a dive tender for Theo (now 4.5), who woke up with a plan and implemented it. He brought his foldable bathtub out to the deck, and filled it up with water from the outdoor hose (I guess cold water is ok in a heat wave), put on his wetsuit (thrift store purchase a month or so ago), and yarn flippers and scuba helmet knit by my brother’s very crafty girlfriend, and was pretending to be giving a dive show at Cal Academy about sea snakes.
A few things to read
(tabs open in my browser based on recommendations by my colleagues and friends):
Academics for Black Survival and Wellness: bookmark now for next year’s trainings
The concept of emotional footprints
Advice for running a good hybrid in-person & virtual meeting
A post sent by a friend as related to my last week’s letter re: research advising and vulnerability
Here’s hoping you and yours are well.
Krista