A Letter for 2023

Every year brings growth and change, but some years bring change that could not have been imagined. 2023 has been, by any measure, an extraordinary year.

My long-term job with EDGI finished as a Civic Science Fellowship in March: several years of working on data to support environmental justice communities closing out in a week where I was already trying a next thing, learning and writing about maple syrup tapping on a friend's Minnesota farm. I had a couple more contracts in the same vein, helping NASA understand the challenges EJ communities face in accessing data, and building mapping tools for New Jersey university students to learn about water quality, but the major role was done.

Thematically, I pursued rest. I tried — exhaustingly, expensively — to conceive a baby using purchased sperm for over a year. This involves not just the thing itself but various types of daily self-measuring, and emotional turmoil towards the close of each cycle. It didn’t work. Pausing this process was almost as hard as continuing: it’s not known for getting easier as you get older. But I wasn’t okay, and that doesn’t work either.

Activism has been a main theme of my life since early 2016. I've been through the full cycle a few times: nerves, learning, leadership, frustration with everyone who doesn't participate, acceptance, guilt in diminished volunteering, pride and power…