Just keep moving

This probably comes from my background a teacher. For a decade I spent the days (and nights, and weekends and…) spending time to ensure that all of my students — especially students of color, young girls and other kids traditionally locked out of educational opportunities — got what what they deserved. Late nights planning lessons? Check. Late days meeting with parents? Check. Summers “off” spent re-writing lessons to make sure I reached the kids I failed to reach last time? Check. Challenging my principals to ensure that all of this kept going after they left my classroom? Double check that.

Maybe it’s from the time I spent home raising my daughter for two years after she was born. Each day is something new. And nothing is ever boring. Have you ever thought about how you learned how to drink from a bottle? Well now I have. And what about the sheer amount of unpaid work that women are expected to do while I was patted on the back for “being such a great dad” for doing the same thing millions of women are just expected to do.

Perhaps there’s a part of this that comes from learning how to build houses with my father and then taking those skills to guide volunteers at Habitat for Humanity. You’ll rarely do the same thing twice building a house unless you’re lucky enough to build several. Directly creating affordable housing for families — mostly 1st generation immigrants and newcomers — kept me learning new things each day. Including when it is acceptable to decline Vietnamese coffee in the morning. Tip: it is never acceptable.

Or maybe that stint as a part-time farmer in a collective re-opening the Alemany Farm in San Francisco was part of it? I learned how to gather input from community members and get kids in the dirt. The first part is difficult to find your groove but the second part just involves and invitation — very few kids are afraid of the dirt if it’s offered. Navigating what it takes to build consensus hones your ability to take in new information and other people’s opinions without judgement but with analysis.

Regardless of where it comes from — learning and growing is a part of me. It’s brought me to Data Science and will keep me moving along this path I’m making up as I go along.

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