Published in Age of Awareness·PinnedUnpacking White Privilege During a PandemicFriday, March 13th. I woke up nervous. I had scheduled the day off to take two exams, both necessary to be certified in Louisiana as a PreK — third grade teacher. Although my degrees are in social work and public health, I have been teaching early education for five years…Covid 1913 min read
Published in Human Parts·PinnedMy School Laid Me OffMy conscience wouldn’t let me quit. But then the choice was made for me. — Let me get this out of the way: I didn’t want to go back. I didn’t want to return to in-person school for a myriad of reasons, but the first few are what I consider “personal.” I have asthma and suffer from ear, nose, and throat allergies year-round. …This Is Us8 min read
Mar 23International Schools Need To Hire More Black and Brown FacultyIf you are an American educator, consider taking your talents abroad Last year my husband and I moved to Bangkok to work as international school teachers. We discovered, like many before us, a world where teachers are valued and respected much more than they are in the American public school…International Education11 min read
Feb 2Witnessing an Unnatural MotherWhat do you do when you see a moment of mistreatment? Me: Sitting in the lobby of the Bangkok Hyatt finishing my drink after attending a party at the bar. You: A beautiful young European woman, early 30’s, designer track suit. Your son: A stylish miniature, around 3 or 4…Children2 min read
Aug 28, 2021How Purity Culture Messed Up Most of the Men I KnowThe lies of purity culture aren’t just hurting women My husband and I recently moved to a new city in a new country and found ourselves in a particularly peculiar environment: teacher housing. This means we live in a compound with hundreds of people who work at the same school…Purity Culture7 min read
Aug 26, 2021Our Status Anxiety is Justified“Success” for most Millennials is still way out of reach Last month, as I read the prompts for the Medium Writer’s Challenge, my chest tightened at these words: “‘Work’ is a term that contains multitudes. Maybe your work is a key pillar of your identity…We want to know what “work”…Mwc Work10 min read
Jul 30, 2021We’re Spending 14 Days in a Thai Quarantine HotelAnd we’re not allowed to have alcohol delivered. The hotel room isn’t the problem. It’s a nice hotel room in a nice hotel. It has a desk and a television, a kidney-bean shaped couch, a lovely king-sized bed, a shower and a bathtub, an exercise bike (we paid extra for…Thailand6 min read
May 10, 2021Wedding AlbumOur tiny, pink, backyard New Orleans wedding (in photos) The wedding video by Josh Hailey. The wedding ceremony in case you missed it.New Orleans5 min read
Mar 30, 2021A Single Yellow LightbulbRain vignettes from Sierra Leone, Vietnam, and South Korea Freetown: A single yellow light bulb throws hot color over the room. The people in the house are sleeping. Their foreheads are beaded with sweat, the mosquitoes buzzing around the white mesh nets which loosely hang over their beds. I tossed…Short Story4 min read
Mar 16, 2021All the Ways Your Employer Will Try to Stop You from Forming a UnionAnd why you should do it anyway First and foremost, they will hire an anti-union law firm or consultant.Unions11 min read
