the summer vibes are here: a whole lot of homework and rain
soy la misma newsletter
Since May, I’ve been unsuccessful in writing a newsletter — turns out Buttondown does not love interacting with my Mac’s Internet Explorer! But we’re back and on Google Chrome!
On May 30th, I wrapped up the end of the 2023-2024 school year! It was the first end of the school year that did not feel so fatigued. While I do need this summer break, I walked out of classroom excited to be back in the fall. I have grown to love the work that I do and how to power through the pains. I’ve learned to be incredibly patient and accepting to my LC students. And my graduate teaching program is doing wonders for me in the curriculum and classroom management area. There’s nothing better then being able to say, “Oh, now I get it,” or “I know what I’m going to do better.” I think I’m eager as well because I’ll be working with the University of Minnesota on two programs, one is specific to mentorship for teachers of color and the other one is on the teacher writing discipline. I’ll expand more on these opportunities as they happen, and share out my learnings as well.
It is now late June, and I’ve already had a whirlwind of a summer time. My summer classes started, as did my planned events. I spent a few short days in Fergus Falls, MN, which is one of the neatest little places. I emerged myself in new arts, such as printmaking! I also had a great time connecting and reconnecting with wonderful rural arts people.
Then a few days later, I traveled to Duluth, Minn., to attend my mandatory, in-person, summer Graduate Teaching Licensure (GTL) classes— I had two presentations to give. Both went well, and I hope my professor gives me 100%! Thankfully, Roque came with me and we planned out a few visits to state parks near the area, which we always enjoy and wish we had more time to explore.
And now, I’m back home! Time to catch up on some homework! But most importantly, I’m so excited to dive into storytelling work this summer again! I’ll be providing summer workshops on oral histories and documenting more first and second-gen stories in southwest Mn. This project is in partnership with the UMN Extension Southwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership: Community-University partnerships for sustainability, serving Southwest Minnesota. Their financial and on-the-ground support is enormous to this work. If you’re in the surrounding area, please, please, please (as Sabrina Carpenter exclaims) share this opportunity with people of all ages!
These newsletters have now turned into “andrea updates”, so I hope you’re all okay with that! If I have time, I’ll do a more detailed rundown of future happenings.
what I’m reading
A Little Book on Form by Robert Hass
Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain by Zaretta Hammond
Freedom Soup by Tami Charles
what I’m watching
Instagram reels…
finished Queenie (on Hulu) in a day — TOOO GOOD.
what I’m listening to
please, please, please by sabrina carpenter
a lot of cumbia (mostly the oldies stuff)
I’ve started listening to podcasts again — currently on NPR’s investigative stories and “how-to’s”
biden’s immigration announcement, which is a big deal!!!!!
And to end the newsletter, here is my poem recommendation to you! Today as I send my newsletter, it is Solstice day. The pome-a-day selected Solstice Re-pot by Shailja Patel (Shailja Patel is a queer Kenyan poet and the author of Migritude (Kaya Press, 2010), which was short-listed for the 2009 Camaiore Literary Prize.)