2021 Yearly Review

thorns

• neighbors’s kids scream a lot in the cul-de-sac and I struggle with the sound and the neighbors
• winterpocalypse in Austin and feeling abandoned by state leaders
• Marc super ill with vertigo after winter storm passed
• ongoing pandemic
• cancelling several rounds of travel plans made when things started to look better during pandemic
• felt disappointed and left out when a group remounted a theter show I had been involved with the original version of
• felt like Marc and I have become super intimate and secure during pandemic at the expense of some mystery, desire, and eroticism and want to work to rekindle passion
• I really struggle with zoom (maybe from some of what I learned about myself with autism)
• struggles with SOCIAL ANXIETY
• Lunchbox the hedgehog died in a horrific way (cancer)
• Marc’s ex-wife won’t have conversations about consent and safety during a pandemic with us and it’s deeply upsetting and frustrating to not to get to see Pai or for her to make decisions for us without us
• missing performing but not liking performing on zoom or feeling safe doing live theater
• struggling to find helpful routines but avoid ruts
• learned I think I don’t love live concerts as much as I used to
• did talk therapy again for my anxiety (but frustrated about my performance of wellness through words and quit to explore more somatic methods)

roses

• privilege of working from home during pandemic, stable job
• received two gigantic fellowships
• Graduate Student Continuing Fellowship
• PEO Scholar International
• got my website up and running (thanks Marc!)
• ran 5 python courses for Transmitting Science (virtually) (very lovely cohorts and teaching with Jo is a joy)
• gave an Instagram Live Art Bytes for Hive Arts Collective
• finished my classes for my Ph.D.
• finished my comp exams for my Ph.D.
• played RPGs with Peter, Heath, and Marc weekly
• sensual movement practice with Minx + Muse
• rest practices prioritized as much as urgent shit (walks, naps, sabbaticals)
• teaching dramaturgy to Singapore improv with Lindsey (got to reconnect with Lindsey and remember that I love improv and geeking out about theater)
• performed in Masks livestream for 819 Entertainment
• gave a webinar for Alan Alda Center + Kavli (and rocked it)
• invited talk at SciPEP: Why do scientists engage the public in Science?
• invited talk at AGU
• taught science communication class at UT for grad students
• performed in an online improv show (Asher and the Skyward Staircase)
• got my COVID vaccination and booster
• weekly hangouts with Diane
• interviewed STEM graduate students about science communication and belonging
• finished three papers on science communication fellowship interviews (one almost ready to submit, one submitted, and another in last rounds of editing)
• wrote my first peer review
• planting seeds and watching things grow inside and in the garden
• got chickens, raised them from chicks
• learning to make new foods I love
• did a lot more visual art
• learned to play piano
• Marc surprised me with Jurassic Quest trip
• in-person youth participatory action research project with Austin Youth River Watch on environmental justice in the summer
• growing in my ability to listen to my body and my intuition (through movement work)
• received the Roderick P. Hart Student Achievement Award from UT
• stepped away from BIPAC admin and from council to focus on work but came back to the council after comps done
• bought a pole for home dancing
• regular hangouts with Tosin, X, and Q
• camping in Colorado Bend with Marc
• trip to Marfa with Marc
• invited by Guerilla Science to create a climate change art installation on Governer’s Island
• went to first live concert since pandemic (The Mountain Goats)
• regular walks with Evelyn and her family, collaborations with Reclaiming STEM
• tried drinking again and learned it’s just something I don’t want to fuck with
• went to first in-person party outdoors (Q’s birthday) since pandemic
• went to first theater performance since pandemic (Quest)
• performed in first live theater in person since pandemic (Maestro)
• taught a part-time remote Data Science course with General Assembly
• hikes with Johanna
• virtual tea with Lindsey
• went to tea garden with Pai and Marc
• went to McKinney falls with Pai and Marc
• taught a storytelling course to UT Performance Training for Instructors course
• tried out sensory deprivation tank for first time
• started getting monthly massages
• learned tarot (and other witchy shit) for reflection and self care
• making space by quitting side jobs (teaching coding)
• making friend with a raccoon (Fortunato) and seeing him almost daily
• walks in nature daily
• getting to go deep on my dissertation stuff during comprehensive exams and getting more clear about how my project weaves in my different areas of expertise (theater, social justice, communication)
• bike rides with Jo and Chris
• took online dramatic narrative improv classes with Improv College
• asked to be on a search committee for a new hire at UT for a computational communication
• BGG con on my own terms
• Christmas at Shannon and Gus’s house
• submitted a proposal to ATHE (my first theater conference)
• buds
• deepening friendships with Danielle and Scarlett
• getting excited about improv theater again by talking with people that want o explore unexplored territory with me
• Autism self-diagnosis reframing SO MUCH
• joining leadership team with Undoing White Supremacy Austin
• working to see people with complexity rather than my judgements
• inner child work!
• SLOWING DOWN
• body liberation work and unlearning fatphobia
• starting a nonprofit to help scientists step into their full humanity with Mohini
• in-person improv classes for new year (directing, diagnostics with Asaf)
• going deeper on my pole dance journey and getting stronger!
• hired by UT to do STEMprov again