2015 retrospective

You know how sometimes you look at a period of time and think "how did I make it through that?" ..that's how I feel about a lot of 2015. To say that this year has been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. It's been more like a ride on a tornado - alternating between exhilarating freedom and having flying objects violently smashed into my head.

To recap: Being bullied, lied to and gaslighted at work. Quitting my job, and as a result leaving my chosen field - possibly forever. A six month writing sabbatical. Unexplained infertility. Wildly successful April A-Z (click to read the novella I wrote that month!). Meeting the incredible ladies in my writing group - the Charming Characters. The entire month of June was pure bliss. And then there was the #AMEshooting. I ran my first half marathon, went on backpacking trips at Lumpy Ridge, and Mt. Zirkel, and Maroon Bells, and Lawn Lake. Six months later, still having post-traumatic stress symptoms from the old job BS. Had an editor request a full manuscript of one of my novels! Got a cool new job. Figuring out how to be awesome at new job, but also dealing with feeling like I abandoned my writing dreams for a steady paycheck.

I've never really liked the New Year Resolutions thing. I make a lot of resolutions throughout the year. Why limit myself to what I can imagine for the year at the beginning of it? If I did that I wouldn't have run my half marathon :) I much prefer the retrospective, introspective approach of looking at what I've learned and/or realized:

Solace in movement. Strength of my marriage. Joy in writing. Appreciation of learning opportunities, teachers, incredibly supportive friends and family. So many reminders of resilience - that I have it, and how to use it. Patience while breathing. Patience while waiting. Patience with emotions, doctors, medications, my body, my writing. Patience with myself for not being patient enough. Creativity. And a teensy weensy little bit of learning how to let it all go.

This year I've spent a lot of time (and running and hiking miles) trying to figure out who I am and where I belong in this world. There have been some nasty surprises and failures, but also some successes. I'll settle for 2016 being a rollercoaster. Or, ya know, a chill year would be really great. Regardless, here's to a year of more miles, mountains, and making up stories.

And more of this. Definitely more of this. Mt. Zirkel, CO. July 2015.

Happy 2015 Theme Reveal Day!

Phew. Y'all. It's been a crazy couple weeks. Long story short, I was passed over for a promotion at work, into a job that I created for myself to be promoted into, so I quit my job. Can't stay in a place that doesn't reward hard work and vision. My last day was Friday. While it has been disappointing and frustrating, this change has also given me an opportunity to try something I've always wanted to do. I'm going to dive headlong into being a full-time writer! Eeek! It's a very exciting and also terrifying time and I'm extremely thankful that my family has the means for me to be able to take this dive.

One of the fun things about this is that I'm feeling much more confident about my ability to be successful with my A-Z theme this year! (and I will have a LOT more time to dedicate to the Challenge overall. Yay!) And so on this Theme Reveal Day I present to you....

An interactive fiction adventure from A to Z!
The concept is simple: We are going to follow a character through an adventure and my visitors every day will vote in the comments section about what direction they want to see the character go. Options will have to do with the appropriate letter of the day. So on A day, you'll receive choices that have to do with the letter B, on B day you'll find out about what happened with your choice and vote on what happens for C, etc.

I'll be writing the post for the next day every evening before bed, once the tally is in. I have absolutely no idea where this is going to go, as it depends upon what my blog visitors tell me to write about. It's going to be SO fun! Also, I have a minor surgery partway through April, so my awesome co-author Dan is going to write for you for a couple days while I am recovering, and that's going to be great too :)

Happy Theme Reveal Day! Can't wait to see what you all are doing...

Six Word Saturday!

Battened down hatches just weren't enough.

Sometimes no matter how you prepare, there's no way to control the chaos. This was one of those weeks - we did so much prep but there were just too many moving parts. Some didn't want to move in the same direction, so we ended up scrambling to fix things. Turned out well enough in the end, but boy am I exhausted! Glad to have today to rest and play in my garden - tomorrow is our biggest check-in day of the summer.

I decided to join Write Club, which I'll do a longer post about later. But, if you're a writer and want to throw 500 words into the ring, I encourage you to check it out!

This post is part of the Six Word Saturday blog hop. Stop by showmyface.com to join the fun!

Six Word Saturday

The prep before the storm. Eek.

Our first large conferences arrive on campus starting Monday. This past week has been an exercise in simultaneously battening the hatches and opening our doors. Every day I find myself a little amazed that I am out of time. It seems like there should still be a couple weeks before everything starts. But thar she blows! Hold on tight - it's going to be quite a ride!

This post is part of the Six Word Saturday blog hop. Stop by showmyface.com to join the fun!

Summertime...

And the livin' is BUSY! (someday I'm going to learn all the words to that one. I love it and it's so fun to sing sultry songs!) 

Summer is officially here. Summer, my busiest time for work. So many people coming to and departing from campus. A staff of nine to train, and six buildings to overhaul between academic year students and our conference groups. Thus far things are fun, but not very smooth. We re-keyed two of the buildings at the end of the school year and it appears that the students never actually USED their new keys. So my staff had the pleasure of discovering all sorts of issues as we were moving people into apartments. Excellent timing. The staff handled it well though, and hopefully tomorrow we can get everything sorted out.

We decided to have one last hurrah before life really gets crazy, and had a bunch of folks over for a bbq yesterday. It was our first really big gathering in the new house and it was great fun. We had bacon-wrapped dates au flambe (oops!) and quite a few cornhole games. Made some connections between friends we'd been wanting to introduce to one another, and ate SO MUCH good food. Overall a really fun, relaxing success. Bonus: we'll have leftovers for days!

Am quite grateful for the long weekend as the next couple weeks will be intensely busy. We'll see how the summer blogging schedule shakes out. I might be able to swing by only a couple times a week. I'll try not to let 2 weeks go by again though, I promise. :P

Happy Memorial Day! I hope it is filled with love and celebrations of all the freedoms we enjoy in these United States.

So many characters!

Man oh man.. What to say? I've been slacking! Well, sortof. Only on the Naturally Sweet front, not on the every-other-aspect-of-life front. May was crazy busy, and a lot of that was in preparation for the crazy busy of June. Some of it wasn't, though!

One thing.. Remember how I said I seem to have started writing a book? Yeah, well.. I didn't touch it at all in the month of May. Sorry, characters! I've been busy working with other characters. Namely, my student staff for the summer. The last two weeks have brought me an Intern (ohh the post I will write about loving having an Intern!) and eight amazing student staff members, who have all needed to be trained, while still attempting to get everything else done. Translation: several 11 hour days and working on weekends. Yikes.

Thankfully that all started right after the last weekend of choir concerts and finishing the first write-through of a (super-amazing omg I can't wait till it's in a state to be shared!!) project with a friend. I said I was writing a book and accidentally got side-tracked into writing a different book than the one I mentioned before. Awesome. :)

Add onto that a fair bit of exercise and continuing our Colorado wanderings in hopes of managing to climb a 14'er by the end of the year, and you have a very busy but very happy me.

The first couple weeks of June promise to be even busier with work stuff so I can't say I'll be posting much, though if we make it hiking I will try to toss out some pictures. Until then, here's a picture of the pretty flowers in our front yard!

S is for Swearing Students

Dear Students,

Let's talk for a moment about Facebook and social media. Do you remember when I was your teacher, or your SGA Advisor, or your boss? And do you remember that conversation we had at the beginning of the school year or semester about how I will be an amazing reference for you so long as I see you being respectful of me, the college, and the people around you? And do you remember me saying that swearing, while a valid mode of self-expression, shows a lack in creativity and is frankly a rude thing to do around people that you expect to speak well of you? Because I do.

And here's the thing - that carries over into this wonderful place we call the Internet. And while I understand that you may find something to be "So f*cking funny!!!!!!!!zomg!!" wouldn't it be a better use of your college education to say that something is "So frightfully funny" or that you appreciated the juxtaposition of the cat's glower against the ridiculous clown wig? And rather than telling the internet that the school you plan to call your Alma Mater should go screw itself (which, in and of itself is a statement that defies physics and logic...), wouldn't it be a better use of breath to attempt to find/ask for resources to solve the problem you are having?

Because here's the thing. I don't meant to be a Puritan or a killjoy, but this stuff will follow you - and me! - around! Employers are looking at FB profiles (even asking for passwords). As a reference, I am putting my reputation out there to stand for you and say, "this is a quality person." And I don't really want my reputation to be associated with someone who can't think of anything better to say than a string of curse words.

So for some of you, just know that unless you start to clean up your online presence, the next time you ask me for a reference I just might have to tell you, "F*ck no."

Love,
~AJ

Q is for Questions

Something people have told me for a long time is that they appreciate coming to me for advice. And I mean.. Wow, I've been asked some interesting things. But it's something that I love. I really appreciate that people trust me enough and value my opinion such that they'd ask my advice for things.

So far as the pushing myself to write differently thing goes, something I've considered is writing an advice column. So tell me, if I were to start writing segments where you could ask me questions or advice, would you be interested in reading it?



I promise I won't be mean like this :)

P is for Perspective

Returning to visit a place that was once home is tricky. On the one hand, you have an insider's perspective due to previous intimate knowledge of the people and places. On the other hand, having not been around for awhile you also are an outsider and can no longer understand the entire story due to temporal and physical distance. Also, having stepped out of the story of that place, it is no longer your role to try to impact events, merely to note the changes in both that place and your self and to learn from it.

I have made a habit of returning to places I have lived as a "final accounting" (in the words of Maisie Dobbs). I go partly to make sure the people and projects I have cared about are doing OK, but also to make sure I really allow myself to be OK with being apart from them. That is turning out to be a bit more difficult with this visit to Miami than it was with other places.

This was the first time I have returned to find my people and projects suffering and I am having to cope with the knowledge that there is not much I can do to fix it.

I am by nature a creator, a do'er, a fixer. There were lots of jokes during my visit about me staying to fix things, and part of me truly wished I could. But my home, my life, my family, are in Colorado now and I know this is where I need to be. There were things about Miami that were unhealthy for me. Those things will have to be folded up and put away, with care, so I can learn, grow, and recover from them.

I know I had to leave in order to be successful and happy. But the relationships I have with people are also part of what allows me to be well and I will fold up the love and connections I have with people and keep those close to my heart.

Thank you for the wonderful and intense visit.

G is for Guest Posting

I am excited to share that I have a guest post up at Student Affairs First Years. This is a great blog for and about being a first year professional in the Student Affairs field. They have an all-star cast of writers contributing every week, so if you're interested in Student Affairs it's a great site to check out.

Me and my girls, after a crazy weekend
of job searching!

My submission is about interviewing for positions coming right out of grad school - something a lot of new professionals are doing right now. My experiences interviewing out of grad school were.. not so great. So my post is about surviving those rough months and some of the things I learned about myself and our field.

Hop on over and check it out!

Life happens..

Sorry posts have been a little sparse lately! I've been preparing for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge (More on that on April 1, but click on the link to the right if you are curious!) as well as doing some writing for other things. And then, ya know.. life.. happens..

Around here we are gearing up for the end of the semester (Graduation!) and the transition into summer (my busiest time! eek!) so my days have been pretty packed. Ever get that feeling like you are going from meeting to event to other thing, without stopping to breathe in between? That's been me the last couple days. This morning I literally made piles on my desk of what I needed to bring to each meeting so that I could just walk in and  exchange what I was carrying around without having to think about it.

My list of things "To Do" is growing unconscionably long and every time I get an actual spare moment to look at my email it just gets longer. One of the things we've had going on is interviews for a position on campus. I thought it was interesting that a couple candidates have mentioned the "24 hour rule" for responding to emails and tasks.  I thought that was a nice concept, if a bit optimistic. I have always tried to respond to things as soon as I can but have never put a time limit on responses. I find myself wondering if that would cause more stress or decrease it by making the list of things set within a more definite timeframe.

Interesting to ponder though I don't think it is a change I will be making right now.

How is the Spring wrapping up for y'all? Everyone keeping their heads above water?

Happy International Women's Day!

Women's issues are something I have always been passionate about. My mom was a single mother for much of my childhood so I have seen firsthand how important resources in our communities can be for women. I have also, unfortunately, seen some ways that our society still makes it difficult or even makes it seem shameful for single women trying to take care of their families. Thankfully there are a lot of community and world-wide organizations working to help our women and their families be successful and healthy. 

I donate money, items, and when I can, time to support organizations that do good work and encourage you all to do what you can to do the same.

Here are links to a few of my favorites:

- The V-Day Project/Vagina Monologues - Last year I had the honor to work with a group of women at MDC to produce the Vagina Monologues (and they are doing it again this year! So proud!). It was an incredible journey and I totally support what V-Day does for women around the world.

- Strong Women, Strong Girls - Uniting girls who live in the city with college and community mentors. This program is exceptional.  

- Planned Parenthood - I know they are a controversial group, but I do stand with Planned Parenthood. They provide thousands of women with affordable healthcare every year. When I was coming out of grad school and had no insurance for a couple months I got sick and was able to go to Planned Parenthood for meds. They were kind and provided me with medication I may not have been able to otherwise afford. And that's what they do for thousands of women, every day.

- The Women's Center in Waukesha - Small but oh so mighty!


- Kiva - Provide loans to men and women around the world, to help make their lives better. You can help with as little as $25!

There are so very many more.. Who do you support in your neighborhood? 

Being an Introvert

It's funny how sometimes concepts and themes can follow us around. I've heard that we are always surrounded by recurring themes, it's just that once in a while one jumps out at us on one day and then we start to notice it elsewhere. Whatever the cause, the theme that has been prevalent for me lately is introversion.

Turns out I'm a pretty introverted person. I know quite a few people don't think I am. Particularly those I work with have a tendency to think I'm an extrovert because I turn on such energy most of the time while working. What they don't see is the crash that happens most nights. The thing about introversion vs extroversion is that it means our energy comes from within, rather than from the people around us. So an introvert can be social all day, but then probably needs to 'recharge' at night. On the Myers-Briggs I am an INFJ, one of the rarest types. Though not quite as reserved as that article might suggest, I definitely need my recharging time.

One of the ways that I recharge is by reading. Constantly. I fly through books. So one of the things we decided about the new house was that I should have a spot for my reading. We decided on a couple of wingback chairs in the living room, to allow me to be social and near people, but also be my spot. I picked fabric for my chairs tonight, and will definitely post pictures as soon as we get them :)

And then there is this article. They interviewed the author on NPR today and I thought her perspective about needing to leave room for introverts in the workplace was really interesting. She said that a lot of our most creative work happens when we are alone, rather than when working with a group, because we get influenced by the reactions and inactions of the people around us. Fascinating, and if you think about it, totally true.

When was the last time you had a truly productive brainstorming session? How many times do people say 'oh man, another meeting.' or 'ugghh I hate group projects! Meeting with the group is always such a pain!?' Very common. Not that it's bad to want to work with groups, I just think there are a lot of people out there who would rather do some of the work on their own. There's a reason everyone listens to music in their offices - we need to create our own space to do our best thinking.

Anyway. Those are my recent thoughts on introversion. Chris is out of town this week, so I will have plenty of time to spend by my quiet self, doing my quiet things, until my (ok ok maybe not so) quiet husband comes home to keep me company.

_____________________________
2/1 update: I found this interesting article, "An Introvert's Guide to Networking," which pretty much describes my philosophy about how to handle networking. I would add to this that when you bring together a group of people who don't know each other at all, it can be great for the introverts if everyone stands up and says their names and what they do. That way we can seek out the people for whom we might have an actual purpose to converse, rather than having to just start random conversations.

Dr. Harding, cont'd

Yesterday I talked about two things I learned from Dr. Vincent Harding. Here is the third thing that he said that really made me think:

 Dr. Harding had a brief aside about our names. He asked each person who spoke to tell their full name, the name of their mother's mother and where they were from. And he said that so much of the beautiful diversity within this country is represented by the names we carry. Why are we afraid to ask one another how to pronounce our names? In learning how to say someone's name we are actualizing part of their humanity, and sharing part of our own. In shortening or mispronouncing someone's name, we are discrediting part of that person's being.

Given that I go by my initials and I also went through a name change this year, that concept of our names being a reflection of our humanity really struck home. My name is a combination of one that was given and one that I chose. I go by my initials not only because it is what my Mom decided I should be called but also because it is frustrating to hear people mispronounce my full name, and Angelina Jolie jokes can be demeaning. I always had some discomfort with my last name, and the transition to my new last name has been remarkably easy - it has been 6 months and it is already very rare for me to think of myself with my maiden name. My married last name feels more home-like than my maiden name. (Also I have always loved writing cursive capital L's :) ) It made me wonder if I have ever caused distress by not giving someone's name the respect it deserved.

Similar to the reminder about listening, the aside about our names has given me renewed impetus to make sure that my actions honor those around me. I have always followed a combination motto of 'do no harm' and 'make the world a better place' but I think I need to add to that something about respecting the humanity of all I meet.

Dr. Harding did create in me a 'wonderful disturbance' and I am enjoying processing my interactions with him.

Meeting Dr. Harding

On Thursday I had the honor of meeting Dr. Vincent Harding, a man who was good friends with and a speechwriter for Martin Luther King, Jr. He came to CSM to speak as part of our diversity week events. It was an honor not only because of the company he kept or the incredible things he has done, but just to have the opportunity to be in the presence of someone who so fully radiates peace and who, in just a couple of sentences, gave my brain a lot to chew on.

I spoke to him briefly while pinning on his lavalier mic and in that moment he helped me calm out of what had been a very hectic day. He did nothing remarkable. All he did was listen when I told him how I was doing. Really listen. I think we forget the value of listening to one another. So often conversation is spent thinking of the next thing to say, rather than truly paying attention to one another. That reminder of the value of listening to one another was the first thing I learned from Dr. Harding.

During his talk he touched on two things more that struck me. The first is the concept of "who are you waiting for?" He said that he often gets asked when he thinks we'll get another leader like Martin Luther King, Jr. and he always wants to ask people what is preventing them from becoming that leader. He said we need to free ourselves and realize that every one of us can be the leader to make positive change in this world. He challenged everyone to find the thing we are passionate about and to seek to make change on that issue within our part of the world. 

I've realized for me it is not only to act on the things about which I have a passion, but it is also to encourage my students to do the same. Through conversation and modeling I wish to create what Dr. Harding called a "wonderful disturbance" in my students. A wonderful disturbance makes something stir inside of you, making you assess yourself and calling you to action. 

This post is long, so soon I will write about the third thing I learned from Dr. Harding. But until then readers please tell me:

What things have caused a wonderful disturbance in you, and how are you acting upon them?

Resolutions

I am not a big fan of New Year Resolutions. Not because I am a make 'em and break 'em kind of girl, but rather because I find it more helpful to set goals for myself as they seem appropriate. Also because as I've seen a few times, where I am at the beginning of the year could be completely different than where I am in February, much less the end of those 12 months.

Of course I have long-term goals - getting a doctorate, having kids - but those aren't necessarily helped by New Year Resolution kind of thinking. I prefer to make my goals as I encounter natural changes in the flow of life, or as I realize that there is something I want to accomplish. For example, when we moved to CO we decided that we'd do a few things to be more productive and feel more satisfied with our lives. To that end we have been exercising at least a couple times a week (optimally with one or more of those being outdoors), we only have 'basic' cable to help avoid the temptation to channel surf, and we bought a house so we could have our own space that really fits our lifestyle. We also decided to get back into some activities that we each love - juggling, singing, video gaming, hiking, biking.. writing in my blog.

Since I was a small girl I always considered myself 'a writer.' I used to keep extensive diaries and would mark on the front cover for every day that I missed. I kept notebooks filled with poetry and short stories. I was very proud of them, though would probably have been mortified if anyone had read them. In college I started this blog - it actually just turned 10 years old! I put my musings here (many of them much more melodramatic than what I'd post now. and no, you can't see them). But as college got more intense I rather lost track of the creative side of my writing habits and in the last couple years I've realized that I miss the firing of those particular synapses.

In the spirit of making resolutions that will make me more satisfied with how my life is going and in the spirit of helping my friends do the same, yesterday I challenged a friend to a duel. Not a duel in the traditional sense wherein one or both of us ends up dead (hopefully!) but a duel of wits. Of creativity. Of encouraging one other to write creatively EVERY DAY. So starting on Saturday and going through February 14th, we will have our "Blogging for Soup" challenge. One can't be brilliant or interesting every day, so I won't be posting every word here but I am hoping to have an increase in regularity of my posts. Our punishments for missing a day involve a bit of public humiliation, so you might get to see that too.

Here's to resolutions! Whether you make them at the New Year or when you sense a need for change, whether you keep them close to your chest or shout them from the rooftops, I hope you are successful with your endeavors this year.

2011 Recap

Yeah so this is a little late, but better late than never, right? My letter to 2011.

Dear 2011;
HOLY CRAP a lot happened this year! Let's take a couple moments to recap.

To be honest, I don't remember much of January. I know we worked out a fair bit and I know the Spring Hello, Hialeah! happened, but that's about all I've got. We assigned each other resolutions, and the one I was given was to 'get sick less and not take it so hard when a certain mean person was mean to me.' Easier said than done on both counts..

By February I broke the first half of my resolution - in an infamous weekend, me and half the students on a trip got food poisoning (or a simultaneous flu?) and that Sunday my foot mysteriously started to hurt. Chris was in DC and that Friday was the first mention of possibly moving to Boulder.

That pain in my foot turned out to be a somewhat serious thing and led to 2 months of physical therapy starting in March, which is also the month that Chris proposed. So it wasn't so bad that I couldn't do anything active since there was suddenly a LOT to do to get ready for the wedding, which we decided would be in July. March was also the month of the Vagina Monologues. Look at a picture of our beautiful cast!

March turned into April and the insanity of planning for Commencement (and multiple failures at the second half of my resolution. eesh). Between the intensity of work and planning for the wedding, with a couple PT appointments each week there wasn't time for much more!

In May Grandpa Stenger passed away.

In June Chris went to Kansas City for work, which was a great mini-vacation for him. I don't remember much of June, so I guess I was just doing wedding stuff?

July, of course, was the wedding! What with the foot injury, here's a picture of the only day (after February) in 2011 that I wore high heels:

End of July brought a massive fail at the second half of the resolution, followed by our super-amazing and super-needed honeymoon in Belize! Also, the confirmation that Chris got the job in Boulder and that we'd be moving.

August and September were taken up with negotiating the move and preparing to leave our jobs. We had some great times (and tears..) with friends and coworkers as we said goodbye. By the 27th we were packed up and on our way. We drove from FL to CO and took our little bug to places like Georgia and Tennessee, and spent a couple days getting through Kansas.

October brought our arrival in CO, the start of new jobs and a whole lot of house hunting and exploring the area.

And of course in November we moved into the new house! Just before Thanksgiving, which gave us enough time to dig our pots and pans out from the pile and cook a beautiful meal to celebrate how thankful we have been for everything 2011 brought.

We wrapped up the year in a very different place than we started. New state, jobs, marriage, home... December allowed us time to finally breathe. After all the transition and movement, it was sure nice to have a whole month of being in one place!

Thank you, 2011, for the adventure, growth and opportunity. You certainly helped us appreciate the things we have and the family and friends that we love. We will always look back on you as 'that year we did all that crazy stuff' and it was awesome.

Here's to a great, though hopefully a little calmer, 2012!

Christmas Cheer

I recently put in a proposal to do a presentation about conflict resolution at the upcoming Leadership Summit at CSM. While working on the proposal, I decided that if it got accepted I would learn how to use Prezi - an alternative to Powerpoint (I hate ppt) and use it for my presentation at the end of January.

As a way to practice, I wanted to share a little Christmas "cheer" with everyone.
Click the arrow to go through the presentation.
Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy the holiday break :)

How to Love Hialeah

Today marked the last event that I had planned for the campus at my old job. It was a position that I dearly loved. While it had its challenges, my time in Hialeah will always hold a very special place in my heart. I am so thankful to have been a part of that community. This is something I've been writing off and on since before I left. Today seemed the right day to finally finish and share it.

How to Love Hialeah

In the first month that I came to work at MDC Hialeah, we hosted author Jeanine Capo-Crucet to read from her book How to Leave Hialeah. It is a compilation of short stories that talk about cultural elements of Miami and Hialeah, from raucous families to Santeras and how to live out of South Florida while keeping one’s roots in the Agua, Fango, y Factoria. I was given the book and playfully told that it would give me a good introduction to the culture in my new community. As I began my Hialeah adventure, the book did help me understand a bit of what I had gotten myself into, but nothing can compare to the lessons I learned from the students, faculty and other staff members on our mighty little campus. When people asked me, with big eyes, what it was like to be a white woman working in Hialeah I always told them that I loved it, and here are a few of my top reasons why:

Hello, Hialeah! | Pastelitos | Is it sunny? Or raining? Or both? | Anything you need, you can find in Hialeah | I am… The other white girl on campus! | Collaboration between faculty, staff and students | Help me order from Publix, please! | No, I don’t drink coffee. Yes, I know that is sacrilegious here. | Who has my keys? | Parking. Ugh. | Events in 1119/1120 | Being serenaded by students sitting in Student Life | Cupcakes in the SGA Office | Quick! We need 30 students to attend an event at Wolfson tomorrow! | Welcome Back BBQ | Exactly how many people can we fit into the office? | “Go to quarto piso – catorce quince” | PAN CON BISTEC | It’s raining – Corrinne is stuck in my office, again. Aw darn. | There are HOW MANY people sitting in the front building?! | The amazing cast of The Vagina Monologues | Meet me at ___PM AT&T time | Does anyone need a ginger pill? | Hey favorite professors! I have this neat thing I want to do on campus. Want to bring your class? | Café Cultura | Hialeah Arts Week | Doing travel paperwork with Calderin | Yes, ok, I will send my staff back to IDs | Christine, you didn’t just hear that. | Watching members of SGA graduate | Campus Campout for Haiti | the Graduation Party | Getting stalked by Public Safety on the cameras | Hearing ‘my kids’ sing at the concerts on campus | The students, faculty and staff I worked with every day.

For whatever reason, people seem to look down on Hialeah as both a city and campus. And unfortunately sometimes that seeps a bit into the culture within the town itself, I think. I heard too many times: "Oh, it's 'just Hialeah,' don't worry about it!" But I have never known such loving, passionate, tenacious people. I took to thinking of this 'diminishment' as a cloaking device that protects the community by keeping out people who don't deserve to see how excellent it is. I am so happy to have accidentally landed in Hialeah, and to have been welcomed so fully into a place that would give me so many great memories. 

For me, How to Leave Hialeah was with a full heart, appreciating the last couple years at a truly unique place, and looking to the future with a smile.

Learning Golden

Another busy week in CO!
Last weekend we spent Saturday in Golden, attending a football game and the annual Chili Cook-off and Beer tasting. And then on Sunday we went for a 'little' hike to help burn off all that chili and beer. YES. Great way to spend a weekend!

Here is our awesome marching band, promoting the Chili Cookoff, at halftime. Yup, their outfits are just a pair of dark jeans and red flannel shirts, with hard hats..

This is me with our mascot - Marvin the Miner :D

This is a view of the crowded Chili event.

Every year students hike up to the M on this mountain, carrying a 10 pound rock. When they arrive, they whitewash the M and leave their rock. When students graduate, they are encouraged to hike back up to the M and take a rock with them. New faculty and staff are encouraged to participate as well, so next fall I will get to make my trek.

 On Sunday we went for a hike to the Royal Arch, from Chautauqua Park. This is the view as we started our hike. The park is a 5 minute drive from our hotel. We didn't doctor anything in this picture - it really looked that amazing!

And then a view from up at the Arch, 1,500 feet up from where we started at the car. The first is a view of one of the flatirons, through the Arch, and the second is a view of the University of Colorado from up above.

This week we also had snow, and I flew to IL to stand up in my good friends Ari & CJ's wedding. That will have to be another post. For now it is time for dinner!