working - be the future (Page 7)

a picture of Big Tex at night. Big Tex, the giant statue of a white guy in hideous clothing, used to welcome visitors to the

personal

writing my name in lower case started with y’all

Whenever I can help it, I write my name using only lowercase letters. I’ve done this since college at least. I’ve always signed my emails that way. “Proper” nouns in general feel snooty. Sentence case is fine. I guess. I remember starting to use y’all around the

a photo of hills and trees in Washington wine country at sunset. the sky is light blue with gorgeous peach-colored clouds. a

working

coronavirus update

It’s been an unbelievably long seven weeks working the COVID-19 response. I’ve spent a lot of time working with my part of an interconnected network of partners across the state. Our response changes at least once or twice each week. We make plans, we communicate those plans, and

a photo of a forest in the Pacific Northwest. scrub trees and ferns litter the ground. hints of cloudy sky peek out from behi

working

how do workers grow?

I see professional advancement as the incremental development of skills. I identify a task or role, then compare it to my existing accomplishments. The more I learn, the more I can apply to the next challenge. I approach employee advancement the same way. I give guidance on new challenges and

a photo of a palm tree, a trunk, and a bird in flight.

working

why would we write policies based on extremes?

I recently listened to an episode of a podcast called Activist Class, where they interviewed one of my heroes, Nikkita Oliver. Nikkita talks about the new youth jail in Seattle. They point out that “it was designed to be the nicest public building that kids of color might access.” What

photo of a metal statue of a bear outside a building in Reykjavík.

working

questions about effective management

I was recently interviewed by a student taking a class on effective management. Here’s a reprint of our interview. Please describe a typical day at work. What do you do all day? I’m in a lot of meetings! I am one of three directors in my department, and

a photo of a white lighthouse with a red roof sits against a deep blue sky with streaks of clouds.

working

centering people when collecting information

I have a stable job that pays me well. I live in a nice apartment with my husband. We can afford to buy the things we need. My job pays me to provide social services to others, but it’s not likely that I will ever need those services myself.

a photo of a flock of birds flies above the camera on a backdrop of a sunny blue sky with scattered clouds. trees and a build

working

race and ethnicity questions

I’ve filled out a lot of questionnaires in my life. The question I hate the most is the one asking me my race or ethnicity. Nobody standardizes these questions. Sometimes I have to choose one; sometimes I can “check all that apply.” Sometimes questions about race and ethnicity combine

a small passenger plane with propellers readies to take off.

working

why you should move on

Two to three years is the ideal amount of time for working in the same job. This is mostly true, for most industries. Some exceptions for if you’re in an executive level position or work at an extremely small company. It’s rare nowadays for someone to work at

working

race-based affinity groups

Besides climate change, racism is the single-biggest threat to humanity that we face. People use many methods in the work to end racism. This is one of them. why do we caucus? “The work we do is hard, but we do it anyway.” Race-based caucusing is sometimes known as affinity

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