#21 - Try 12 New Restaurants in Chicago

**1 - Summer House Santa Monica
1/7/19 with Nicole Garton

I managed to grab lunch with Nicole for Chicago Restaurant Week at Summer House, a gorgeous, space that I've always wanted to try but didn't want to spend the money. Well, thank you Restaurant Week because I learned that Summer House is really reasonable. While my $24 Restaurant Week lunch included an amazing butternut squash soup (I know, so basic, but I'm a sucker for soup), a great turkey burger with shoestring fries, and dessert, I could have gotten the soup and turkey burger for under $24, which means that an actual, one-course lunch only would have been around $15, with tip. Plus, the staff is cheerful, the space is bright and summery, and it just has a nice vibe. Can't wait to go back!

Goat dumplings
I LOVE DUMPLINGS

**2 - Duck Duck Goat
1/9/19 with Elizabeth Pearson and Michael Bigelow

As soon as I realized Restaurant Week was coming up, I found a list of the best places to try, and there I read, Duck Duck Goat was doing a $24 dim sum menu on the weekends. Um... WHAT. I LOVE Stephanie Izard and I LOVE dim sum. I made reservations immediately. I After amazing experiences at Girl and the Goat and Little Goat, plus my love of Asian flavors, I was SO stoked to try Duck Duck Goat. I was getting back from a conference the night before, so I could be sure to get plenty of sleep and then enjoy some dim sum with 3 other lucky people.

And then I checked my schedule. I was getting back from my conference THAT day. I panicked. I went to change my reservation. NO MORE AVAILABLE. Nooooooooooooooo!

Then, something happened. That something was the polar vortex. You didn't know a polar vortex could do good, did you? But it did. Due to the terrible cold in Chicago this year, Restaurant Week extended a week. And my delightful coworker, scratch that, REAL FRIEND, Stephanie Souvenir snapped up a reservation for me... but she made it for 1:30pm. And that day, I had the Whaddayaknow Trivia Tournament of Champions. At 1:00pm. I went to find another reservation. No luck. This was not meant to be.

And then, Stephanie said she looked again and there WERE earlier reservations. Once last try, and, SUCCESS! 11:00am! I texted my trivia team, and Elizabeth and Michael, were all like, HELL YES (or something like that).

So we went to brunch fully expecting to study over our delightful meal. But no. We could barely speak to each other the food was so good. And it felt like it wouldn't be enough, but then, somehow, it was. It was the perfect amount of tasty bites. We took our time, enjoyed our meal, and then quizzed each other on musicals on the Lyft ride to the tournament.

Delightful.

Possibly the best dessert I've ever had:
Seasame doughnuts with a seasame whipped cream

**3 - Dancen
1/9/19 with Ashley Russell and Chris Zann

So I did the Duck Duck Goat thing and then the Whaddayaknow Trivia of Champs thing and then some post-tourney celebrations and socializing, and then Ashley demanded food, and he wanted Korean food, and specifically Korean food at this spot he'd heard about. It was quite out of the way, but damn, thank you, Ashley!

We entered this weird little spot with a huge bar/grill and a few tables with a few people at them. Ashley and I both had eyes bigger than our stomachs and ordered food enough for five people, some of it too spicy for Zann, so it was like two people trying to eat four meals. It. Was. Good. All of it.

I went home with plenty of leftovers and was curious if it had been the drinks in my system that made the food so good. I warmed them up the next day for lunch, and nope, even leftover, everything was awesome. I will definitely be going back.

*4 - Two Lights Seafood & Oyster
4/11/19 with Laura Masters

It's hard to give this place an honest rating because I had a frustrating day, and all of that was relieved by the company. I was so happy to spend some time with my friend after many months of only seeing each other in groups or not at all.

We had some nice, light cocktails and split a few different dishes: some octopus, a crab dip, and a lobster roll. All were nice.

The rest of my joy of this night was lots of time catching up with my dear friend!

5 - Labriola
7/17/19 with Stephanie Punda, Sarah Hardin, Shaun Cooley, Danielle Arens, Maureen McGonagle, John Washo, Scott Vandermoon, Sabrina Wilson, Leanne Surmin, Stephanie Souvenir, and Gale Stewart

Another lovely staff retreat with DePaul! This time Stephanie Punda made a reservation to have us try the real "best deep dish in Chicago." Turns out, I think I really  just don't like deep dish. I like Lou's the best because it's the least deep dishy. Gimme dat Detroit style, New York style, or woodfired any day. But enough with the deep dish. It's heavy. It's bready. It's not that flavorful.

I said what I said.

Other than that, the salads were tasty and the ambiance was much nicer than most of the deep dish chains in the city. It was fine.

*6 - Francois Frankie
8/1/19 with Laura Masters

Laura made us another fun reservation prior to a show (Come From Away--HIGHLY recommend) at a very new restaurant in town, Francois Frankie. It's a playful French restaurant with a carousel bar, which rotates incredibly slowly, making a full revolution every 88 minutes.

I had some great wine and Laura and I both tried the French onion soup and then shared a few smaller plates. The French onion soup was soooo good. The broth was flavorful and soaked into the croutons perfectly. The melted cheese on top was toasted just enough and was the most creamy cheese I've ever had on a soup. Then, we shared the hummus platter, which was presented like a seafood tower and actually had more crisp veggies than we needed. The garlic shrimp was quite a delight, arriving in a hot skillet and brimming with crispy garlic goodness.

Everything was great and just in soup and sharing two other small plates, were were stuffed.

We did, however, come back after the show for more drinks and were lucky enough to meet the owner. It was fun to be able to rave about our whole experience, including the servers by name.

I will totally come back.

*7 - Cochon Volant
8/19/19 with Chris Zann

We'll, I'm free now. I work wherever, whenever, so that also means I can go whenever, wherever, which means I can lunch wherever, whenever, with whomever, so I had my first remote working lunch with my best of buddies, Zann. We classed it up and went to Cochon in the Loop. I had a fantastic BLT and ice tea. Zann had a Cuban. It was the perfect lunch to set the tone for my new, free life. He even pointed me to a cool spot to work for the afternoon: Revival Food Hall. I'm pretty stoked to connect with friends and explore new places in this very delightful city of ours.

*8 - Chicago Q
8/21/19 with Clint Ruch

Yep, two lunch dates with two good buddies in one week! This time I met up with Clint at a nice barbeque spot on the near north side. I had a delightful pulled pork sandwich and coleslaw, snacked on the homemade chips, and pickles, and had yet another delightful iced tea. I certainly shouldn't make it a habit to have my lunches at such nice places, but goodness, was it ever nice to splurge on good food and good company in the middle of a work day twice in one week.

*9 - Cafe Kanela
11/7/19 with Nicole Garton

As Nicole has a new work space in Old Town, we tried out a new lunch spot in Old Town. Cafe Kanela is rumored to be the best breakfast in Chicago. I can't vouch for that (Tweet is pretty spectacular), but I did have a fantastic lox-bagel breakfast, and Nicole loved her food too. Plus, it was pretty laid back for a late lunch on a weekday. Definitely worth going back!

#26 - Visit 52 New Buildings in Chicago (Fail)

(For the tags)

#24 - Try 12 New Restaurants in Chicago (Fail)

1 - Nookies Edgewater

1/13/18
I rarely go out for breakfast, but I like that I started this item in January with a start-of-the-day meal. I was at Northside Toyota getting my oil change, and it was going to be a bit, so I went down the street to grab some food. I've been to the one of the other locations, Nookies Too, mostly after many drinks in my 20's. This Nookies location is a bit more like a restaurant than the others. I had the corned beef hash and some ice tea. Both were enjoyable but nothing to go back for. I did like the option of tomatoes as a side. Still, a nice treat to have a meal out!

2 - Table, Donkey, Stick
1/30/18 with Drea Stoit
One of the best events in Chicago is Restaurant Week. People who have never lived here often do not know how flipping phenomenal the food is in this city. I mean, it's consistently rated as one of the very best foodie cities in the world. We even have Alinea, which I will never be able to afford to go to. Hell, I can't afford many of the top-notch restaurants in Chicago... except during Restaurant Week. I've had some very memorable meals. This year, Drea and I went to Table, Donkey, Stick. I liked it fine. But I also did a bad job making choices.

For my first course, I had the duck liver mousse. That was fantastic. Really smooth and flavorful.

For my second course, I had some kind of chic pea salad kind of thing. I didn't really get it, but it was fresh and filling.

For my third course, I ordered the pork shoulder. That was my mistake and completely my fault. When Drea was deciding what to order, she asked the server about the pork shoulder. The server said it was really good and described it as tasting more hammy than you might think. Well, I hate ham. Always have. So I asked her to clarify. Because I like prosciutto and many things ham-adjacent, but I do not like ham. She said she thought I'd probably still like it then. I didn't. It was so hammy. Like, not so hammy that I didn't eat it. I did. But the whole time I was thinking, yeah, this tastes a lot like ham. And I don't like ham. So that's my bad.

Their wine list was short but the server was super knowledgeable, so I was very happy with my wine. And when I'm happy with the wine and 2 of the 3 courses, hey, that's a good meal.

Plus, it was nice to catch up with Drea as we've only seen each other in busy groups since I've been back. It was a lovely choice for Restaurant Week!

I took no pictures of my food.

3 - Maggiano's
1/23/18 with Maureen McGonagle, Gale Stewart, John Washo, Scott Vandermoon, Nicole Garton, Leanne Surmin, Stephanie Punda, Sabrina Wilson, Shaun Cooley

I've been hearing about Maggiano's for over a year now. Apparently it's Moe's favorite restaurant and we lunch there regularly during work retreats. But I'd never been.

It was definitely much fancier than I was expecting. I had the chicken piccate. Um... yum. I probably could have done the lower-cal version of something as it was quite buttery, but for the bites where I could forget about the guilt.... delicious.

Plus, we spent the whole meal talking about cats and I didn't have to drop a dime. Delightful.

4 - Hei Yen
4/19/18

Thanks to a promotion with Heartful Editor, I was able to quit my regular gig hosting trivia with Whaddayaknow. Honestly, I flippin love hosting trivia and working for Whaddayaknow, and the only reason I stepped down was because the hours are just too rough on me. Since gigs don't start until 7/7:30pm and I finish my full-time job around 5:00pm, I just always felt like I was wasting those in-between hours and those extra 2 hours felt more like 4-5 hours, which makes for a very, very long day. However, if I can ever swap my schedule around, I will totally pick back up with trivia again (if Dan will have me).

Because I finally had my Thursday evenings free, I was able to check out Third Thursdays on Argyle. I'm not really sure if this is an ongoing thing or was just a trial run. It's supposed to be several businesses that have deals on the 3rd Thursday of every month. I decided to check out Hei Yen. I had some pho. It was good. I still like a few other places down the street better, but I will totally go back there to try other things, particularly as I heard a woman at another table raving about some dish they have that she can't find wherever she's from, so she comes back every time she's in town. I'm not sure I got the discount, but hey, new place, yay!

5 - Beatnik's
4/22/18 with Laura Masters, Alan Lee, Missy Liebs, Scott Jensen, Megan Daly, Megan Voss, etc.

Masters was back at it again with the organizing of fun events. She got us a reservation at Beatnik's, and there must have been 25 of us there. Yes, we were one of those annoying giant brunch groups. And we had nothing to celebrate except brunch together.

Masters and I split a bottle for mimosas and I had the smoked salmon toast. I tasted a few other things. The food was very good, but the portions were very small, so for the price, there are better brunch spots. But the ambiance, whoa. This place is gorgeous. So overdone to the point that it's perfection. I really, really enjoyed the space. And the company.

6 - City Winery
6/29/18 with Robin Heggum


7 - Lobo Rey
6/23/18 with Jerry Munk and Nicole Garton

Nicole, Jerry, and I headed down to the South Loop for a food truck fest and to meet Masters and the gang. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the fest was at capacity and not letting anyone else in. But... we were also pretty far into our Sunday Funday, so we really needed some food. We met the gang at Lobo Rey and had some Mexican food that was decent but the service took forever. I'd consider going back and giving it another shot as the space was really cool and Masters and Alan rave about it, but I wasn't super impressed.

8 - Beatrix
7/22/18 with Tara Edberg

Tara was in town and we were able to grab dinner. Since she was staying downtown, I did a little Yelp search for something reasonably priced by high rated near Michigan Ave... yes, those places to exist! I found Beatrix, which had more ratings for brunch but also looked good for dinner. The vibe had more of a brunch/lunch spot because there's a coffee/pastry shop in the the entry way, but the seating area was nice and trendy.

I had some wine and the cheese ravioli. It wasn't as much food as I was hoping for, but everything was really good. And it's not that the portions were unreasonable, but without any decent side options, it was a weirdly small amount in just getting one dish, and it would have been weird to get two. There were some apps, but we weren't really in the mood for those.

So overall, it was fine.

9 - Momotaro
9/1/18 with Laura Masters, Alan Lee, Missy Liebs, Scott Jansen, and Megan Daly

We hit up Momotaro for Masters' birthday. The drinks and service were excellence. The big shocker for me is that the best thing I think we had was the friend rice. The sushi, salads, and soup were good, but the fried rice was a game changer.

10 - Roanoke
11/15/18 with Laura Masters and Beth Jager

Masters made us reservations for dinner before I went off to see Miss Saigon with work buddies. They had a prix fix menu for theater goers, so we jumped on that. I had a beet salad, huge, tasty steak with potatoes, and panna cotta ice cream. Super good.

11 - Pueblo
12/6/18 with Laura Masters, Missy Liebs, Megan Morrison, and Carrie Kalita

Pueblo is tucked in a mall that is tucked into a huge building on State Street. I had no idea there was even a mall there. None of us had ever been, so we went for dinner before going to see The Play That Goes Wrong. The service was slow and the food was overpriced--though in a touristy area, so that makes sense--but everything was tasty. I likely won't go back, but I wasn't disappointed.

#7 - Read 36 Books (Fail)

Well, I know there's still time left, so this list might get slightly longer, but there's no way I'm reading 24 more books in the next 2 weeks, so here it is. (To be fair, I should probably get credit for at least 20 books for making it through War and Peace.)

I mean, dang, I took on some serious stuff this year. Maybe a little lighter next year!

1 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
1/5/18

*2 - The Tales of Beetle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
1/7/18, gifted to me by Rebeca Matus

*3 - The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien
I'm not sure

4 - The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo
4/14/18, gifted to me by Kevin Robitaille

5 - Little Fires Everywhere
4/29/18 (audiobook)

6 - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
5/30/18 (audiobook)

7 - War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
6/9/18, recommended by Maureen McGonagle and read with me by Alicia De La Pena

8 - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
6/9/18

***9 - Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
7/1/18, gifted to me by Casey Jordan

10 - Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
7/28/18, given to me at the DePaul Campus Rec Elf Ceremony

11 - Babbit by Sinclair Lewis
10/30/18

*12 - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
12/9/18, read for the second time

*Recommend

#5 - Complete the 2018 Book Riot Reading Challenge (Fail)

Each year, Book Riot releases a challenge to read books that fit the description of 24 different tasks. I've seen my reader friends post about this year after year, and I decided to add it to my list this year. I didn't make it very far, and in fact, only met 3 of the challenges (listed below). In one of the challenges, I read 3 books that fit that description, but of course, I only got to cross one task off the list. I'm going to guess my biggest obstacle here was that I decided to read War and Peace, which did fit one of the tasks, but I surely could have read 24 complete books in the time it took me to get through that one :)

5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countires (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa): War and Peace, Midnight's Children, and Love in the Time of Cholera
6/9/18, read with me by Alicia De La Pena and recommended by Maureen McGonagle; 6/9/18, and 7/28/18

9. A book of colonial or post-colonial literature: Midnight's Children
6/9/18

15. A one-sitting book: The Tales of Beetle the Bard 
1/7/18, gifted to me by Rebeca Matus

#4 - Read War and Peace

Woof.

Well, this took forever.

And I'm not sure why I did it.

Well, I have had a hard time focusing on reading anything lately. For some reason, my brain just zooms around and cannot focus on the words on the page. I've had to make myself sit still to even watch TV lately because I feel this constant guilt that I'm not doing enough. So, maybe a bad time to try War and Peace.

I did find the epilogue interesting, thinking about free will and the inevitability of world events.

But hey, onto other books now.

#9 - Participate in a Protest

My favorite sign.  Everyone agrees.

Damn.  What a week.

 I've been meaning to post this sooner because I'm so thrilled my first list item of the year supports my growing commitment to acting for justice.  While I've always believed in justice and equity, actually developing the daily habits and making actual time and energy commitments is something that takes real effort.  It also reinforces itself.  The more I learn, the more compelled I feel to take action.

Growing up, I was taught to value diversity and humanity.  My parents intentionally sent me to an intentionally diverse preschool and struggled with the decision to move into the Saline school district: better schools, less diversity.  We still lived close enough to Ann Arbor to go there regularly, but my daily school life was not very diverse.

My alma mater, the University of Michigan, constantly touts the importance it places on diversity and publicly fought to maintain its "point system" for admission, which the institution claims supported admitting a more diverse student population.  The undergraduate admissions system was deemed illegal, but the law school's admission process, which relied on essays rather than points assigned for categories, was deemed legal.  I remember being proud of my school for being proactive in recruiting a diverse student body.

It wasn't until later that I realized 1) it's not as diverse as I thought it was, and 2) diversity for diversity's sake only benefits students with privileged identities... like me.  If the purpose is to create inclusive admissions practices that dismantle systems of oppression that have historically kept some populations from higher education and to broaden perspectives in academia, great.  If the purpose is for minoritized people to exist to educate people like me who have grown up in homogeneous communities, not great at all.  I believe Michigan truly wants to be the former but likely does a lot of the latter.

"A woman's place is in the resistance"

While I saw myself as an ally, someone who believes in equality, I didn't have any understanding of my own privilege and roles in systems of injustice.  It's not an excuse, but I didn't know what I didn't know... until I worked at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) in Chicago for 8 years.  Then I finally knew I didn't know.  NEIU has been named the most ethnically diverse university in the Midwest.  Due to its nontraditional structure, it is also incredibily diverse in terms of race, class, age, veteran status, immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, and so much more.  While I gave a lot of myself to that campus, I learned more than I could ever give.  While NEIU has a lot of issues, the one thing it does not lack is a large percentage of students who speak up about social issues.  Students called me out in one-on-one meetings about the "white girl" things I would say and assumptions I would make, which I had no idea were limited views.  Students called out faculty and staff in professional development events about how the diversity of the students was not reflected in the faculty and staff, that we needed to do better in recruiting and hiring employees who better understand the student population.  When those of us who needed to do better leaned into this feedback instead of behaving defensively, the students were kind, inviting, and called us in to do the work we needed to do.

My first committed action for equity and change in service took the shape of volunteering at 826Chi.  I regularly gave my time, energy, and knowledge to students from around Chicago with 826Chi's tutoring program, writing workshops, and fundraising events.  While I strongly believe in the mission of this organization and the good they do, this was also an easy first step into regular community service because 826Chi is full of energetic, creative, hilarious staff and kids.  It was always a feel-good experience, and I can't wait to attend my re-orientation session in a few weeks.

When I started at the University of San Diego, I was slightly concerned about being at a conservative university.  I attended the first Safe Space Allies workshop available and learned that I could apply to be a facilitator with the Rainbow Educator program.  I am so thankful I was accepted as the experience was invaluable for my own development.  Training and meeting with the other students, faculty, staff, and alumni who volunteered with this group was generally a feel-good experience as well, but occasionally, we dived deep into our own experiences and perspectives to examine how we perpetuate social injustice even when we don't intend to.  That was hard.  While there were moments when I was paralyzed by guilt and shame, those moments were few and far between because while they are real, they aren't helpful.  What is helpful is recognizing strategies for change.  In addition, I was able to facilitate workshops that centered equity and inclusion in a variety of settings on campus.  This experience taught me to "call in" individuals who were struggling with the concepts we were discussing.

Since that experience, I've come to feel strongly that while "calling in" is an important strategy for educational settings, such as formally facilitating a workshop on inclusion, it is not enough in the larger social justice context.  With the very disturbing presidential election cycle in 2016, I vowed to call out injustice every single time I felt safe doing so.  I defined "safe" in this context as direct physical and professional safety.  As a single woman who spends a lot of time alone without anyone knowing where I am, I'm often not willing to jeopardize my own physical safety to call out language or behaviors I find oppressive.  (I wonder if this will change if I ever encounter a situation where someone else's physical safety is at risk.)  For example, in terms of physical safety, I would call out a friend for making a comment about my body, but I wouldn't call out a man on the street for making the same comment if I were walking alone.  In terms of professional safety, during the election, I had just started working my first full-time job after completing my Ph.D.  The lack of appropriate higher ed positions pushed me to take a job where I would need to live paycheck to paycheck.... again.  There was an opportunity for advancement and my workplace did not attend to issues of social justice.  I needed my financial situation to change, so I just didn't feel comfortable calling out my coworkers.  (Hello, intersectionality.)  (Retrospectively, I wish I would because I was not considered for the position and soon left that institution altogether.)

I'm so relieved now to be in a workplace I consider feminist.  Coworkers at all levels are vocal about social justice issues.  I no longer feel my social justice-lens is a professional liability.  I'm so thankful. I don't forsee the need to call out any of my coworkers, so I hope to use the opportunities I'm granted to speak at conferences to "call in" colleagues in educational settings.

All of that brings me to a very powerful Saturday, January 21, 2017.  I participated in the Women's March in Chicago.  I had a few friends attending but chose to attend with a few of my coworkers, mostly because I am so thankful to work in an environment where those who are interested in being activists for feminism openly support each other.  I'm so thrilled to work with you, John, Sarah, and Moe.

Moe, me, & Sarah

Well, I intended to attend with them.  I was moving too slow in the morning and did not anticipate the public transit delays.  While I could have seen the delays as an inconvenience, they instead brought me to tears. The trains were so packed with marchers, there wasn't room to board many of the cars as I waited at Fullerton.  When I did board, people were excited and kind.

John told me where my group was located for the rally.  It was quite a bit of work to get there.  When I hit the clog of bodies, I realized a few things.  1) This was beautiful.  I couldn't get to my people because the downtown area was flooded with my people.  The mood was determined and creative.  The signs were beautiful and inspiring.  2) Part of the reason the area I was in was clogged was because marchers were asked not to stand on the grass... so they didn't.  We were all standing, rallying, and trying to move only on the sidewalks out of respect to the beauty of our city.  3) I could move slowly towards where my people were and have a moving experience being in community with so many people who stood together to support a cause I truly believe in.

I eventually found Moe and Sarah.  John and his wife had to leave before I finally found them.  At that point we were told there were too many people, the march was cancelled, and we would rally in place.  We listened to the inspiring local speakers: grassroots activists and politicians with messages diverse in perspective but consistent on the message of caring for all humanity.  The signs were compelling and hilarious.  I was struck by the skill of the speakers to call out and call in almost in the same breath.  They challenged us to name a Native American who has been killed by police this year when they are the group most killed by police... and then told us we aren't "supposed" to know.  We were educated on the grassroots movements that have been working so hard for so long without us... and have been waiting for us to finally show up.  I appreciated the reminder that this work isn't new, there is history, but it needs all of us.  Now is always the best time to fight injustice, even if we never have before.  We need to move beyond guilt, beyond the savior complex, and join the those who have been immersed in the work for so long.

After the rally, Sarah and I took "the scenic route" back to the train.  Really, we ended up marching with thousands of other Chicagoans.  The official march was cancelled, but the marchers filled the streets of Chicago uncontested.  We chanted, appreciated each other, took photos, laughed, and walked through the streets.  Cars stuck in traffic because of us honked in support (for real, they waved and took pictures).  Police waited calmly and responded "you're welcome" to every "thank you."



While I'm so proud to be a part of the second-largest Women's March and part of the larger movement that saw marches all over the world with very consistent messages, I'm overwhelmed by the work that still needs to be done.  I have made an effort to stay away from facebook and news outlets for periods of time only to return to see I've missed so much.  I expected bad, but I cannot believe this first week of Trump's presidency has been so immensely heartbreaking.  Women around the world have lost access to healthcare in the name of life.  A wall is to be built, spending billions in taxpayer money on a problem that isn't actually a major problem.  Millions may lose health care and we may all lose transportable benefits.  Refugees have been banned from seven countries have been banned under false pretenses.

Today I'm inspired by the ACLU who has contested the refugee ban and won an injunction to halt the ban.  Personally, I have done a lot of reflecting on what is legal versus what is right.  I remember learning about the holocaust (yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day) and thinking, of course I would break the law to do what's right.  Well, now may be the time to learn from our history.

#31 - Get a Full-time Job

I really missed city living, so as I was finishing my Ph.D., I focused my job search on Chicago, New York, DC, Boston, Philly, and San Francisco.  Working in higher education, the further advanced in the career path, the fewer positions there are at each university and thus in each city.  So while it might seem like searching in these six large cities would give me a big enough net, I think I only applied to three positions in those six cities.  I (begrudingly) applied to 20+ positions outside of those cities.

(Quick pause: Yes, I understand San Diego is technically a big city.  But it doesn't have the big city
feel.  It's not quite "urban."  Even downtown is flooded with tourists who have heard how cool the Gaslamp District is.  It's not that cool.  San Diego is great.  It is.  I get to surf, play beach volleyball, sail, and wakeboard year round.  I cannot tell you the last time I checked the weather before deciding what to wear.  It's all kinds of beautiful.  The beach.  The mountains.  The desert. The sunsets.  I mean... damn.  But I miss public transit and walking between neighborhoods and world class museums, art, performance and music.)

Alan and Jesse met me for pre-interview dinner.
Yay friendship!

During the application process, I rested my hopes of moving back to an urban area on two faculty positions and one collegiate recreation position.  While the faculty positions seemed great, throughout my search process, my heart has stayed in collegiate recreation, specifically student development.  I'm still a little in awe of that the perfect position for me actually worked out.  I'm the new Assistant Director of Training and Development at Northeastern University in Boston.  (Not to be confused with Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, which was my previous full-time employer.  Just like University of San Diego, my doctoral institution, is not to be confused with San Diego State University, my part-time employer while I finished my Ph.D.  Maybe good things come in confusingly named pairs for me.)  In the position I get to supervise the student facility staff, which will be a great complement to my programming experience, as well as collaborate with all staff, professional and student, for a department-wide student development plan.  I literally get to take all of the leadership and organizational theories I studied in my doctoral program, collaborate with colleagues and students, and work in collegiate recreation to promote learning and community.  I am so excited for this next step.

#17 - Apply to a PhD program

I did it.

Not just one, but I applied to 3. And I plan to apply to 2 more next month.

I applied to the University of San Diego, University of Michigan, and Loyola University of Chicago. Next month I plan to apply to University of Texas - Austin, Vanderbilt University (Nashville), and Oakland University (Detroit).

If I get into any of the schools, I'll visit them and then decide. Well, I've visiting UM. That one was easy. Loyola would be a quick visit too. But the rest... if you live there, expect a weekend housing request!

Thanks to Rebecca Low and Nader Elmasri for this one. Rebecca has actually gone through all of this... including the whole dissertation and all of the stuff I can't even imagine right now! Impressive, girl! Nader is applying to his own program, so we did some chatting and I didn't write his essay.