SCENE: Commuter bus to Logan Airport, Sunday 7:48 a.m., a couple dozen passengers and one Jovial Driver. He is an older gent, looks like Einstein with a crew cut. He’s been complaining entertainingly since we boarded. Massachusetts drivers! This bizarrely warm autumn! Unspecified politicians! His one-man show gradually turns into a two-hander with Tough Cookie, […]
Recently, a friend asked me to put on my consultant hat and talk with her team of grantwriters about how to get better at centering equity in their writing. As part of preparing for this conversation-style training, I started jotting down a few ideas about how to introduce myself and my background, and it… sort […]
I figure: if we do land acknowledgments to start something as small as a meeting, shouldn’t I incorporate one into my new life here in the home I just moved into? I found this secondhand mirror that speaks to me of my name for this place, wrote this message and hung it by the front […]
Hi, my name is Andie and I am learning in real-time! Remember a couple of days ago I did a long post tying one of my past organizational experiences to Tema Okun’s classic “White Supremacy Culture” article? Grateful to a couple of friends who pointed me towards the re-appraisal of that article which is currently […]
Once upon a time, not too long ago, I was a new member on the DEI Committee for a nonprofit I still love. It was a beautiful early-June day, and we — the almost all-white staff and volunteer committee members — were debating how the organization should honor Juneteenth for the first time. We talked […]
The other day I walked here in my father’s footsteps, in one of his favorite places. I hadn’t specifically meant to; I was there for my own reasons, because it’s a treasured part of my life, too. I watched the rowing teams slide along the glassy surface, and thought of him. Nurn, our weird and […]
Look, y’all. There’s a lot I want to say about Juneteenth; I’ll be honoring the day on Monday by taking time to write up a memory that’s on my heart. But as I’m seeing more posts and news stories in the run-up, I just cannot keep quiet about this: Saying it’s “the day enslaved people […]
I’m still resonating with the messages of unconquerable strength, love, power, and pride that surrounded me at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture last week. It’s not for me as a white woman to define what “the Black experience” is or what it means. That said, it *is* my work to try and […]
My friends. Today my heart is so full. But not in the way I expected. I spent the day at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. From the 10am opening to 3:30pm when I had to run for my plane. It still wasn’t enough time. I only finished perhaps half of the incredible […]
This morning’s coffeewalk. Eleven degrees and snow flurries and beautiful. Warmed by thick winter layers, my travel mug of coffee, and memories of my father. Gone fourteen years today. Dan Kalikow, 3/2/43-2/26/09. We called him Nurn, because it was silly and he adored silliness. If you know me even a little, then you know him […]