ABOUT
ORIGIN STORY
It’s funny. I started 20something&growing in the summer of 2017, the summer before my senior year of college, a summer when two moments converged to inspire the birth of this blog.
CTRL by SZA had just been released and tracks from the album defined key moments of my summer. Moments blasting Go Gina, riding down Lake Shore Drive. Moments listening to Supermodel, sitting by the lake with friends, feet dancing in the cool lake water. Moments alone in my bed at night, listening to 20 something, terrified of what was to come of the rest of my 20s. Moments biking to work, Broken Clocks drowning out the sound of loud honks & impatient drivers.
This blog was born out of CTRL, and out of the job I had at the time, a summer I spent working at a non-profit urban farm in Chicago. There, I fell in love with the idea that Black people’s relationship with the Earth and land was not defined by slavery. That growing food was powerful… and healing… and hard.
Both of those moments were influences for this blog. (Thus, 20something (SZA!) and growing (growing food, thus all the food pics!)
And while CTRL and summer internships on urban farms are a thing of the past, my days are occupied by new moments, memories, visions… and music. Of growing Sunrise and the Movement for a Green New Deal. Of winning federal climate legislation to create a livable future for my nephews, my friends' babies, and someday, my own children. Of the trials and tribulations of being a late 20-something finding her rooting in this world, finding love within myself, and in other people, places, and things. Oh. And of course, of listening to SZA’s new album, SOS.
I started the blog at a time when I felt unafraid to be honest, unafraid to share my ideas, and unafraid to be vulnerable. Over the years, I have lost a bit of that; at present, I want more of that back.
And so my hope is to create a place for me to dream and scheme about movement building, organizing, socialism and the Green New Deal. A place to reflect on my life as a 20-something year old Black woman, organizer, and Chicago-native living in Brooklyn. A place to share honest and vulnerable stories, in hopes that some resonate a bit with you.
On this blog, you’ll see three core pages:
Climate & Organizing: Place to reflect, theorize, and strategize about the work organizing & movement building to stop the climate crisis & win a Green New Deal
Personal Musings: Place to dump my own personal thoughts & reflections about life
Books & Readings: Place for half baked thoughts and reflections on books I’m reading
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I hope you find a little bit of inspiration and love in the words to come.
