Current Mood: Home x Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
Last night, a friend and I were discussing mating rituals, our types, and all that. I related a story about an experience I had that helped me understand my sexuality. Strand bookstore in NYC had some recommendations I paid attention to during a random visit. First there were shirts that read:
“If you go home with someone and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them.”
Another section had a table set up with books to read with dates or lovers and asked readers to consider finding soul mates based on the books we spotted them reading in public transportation on our daily commutes.
One of my favorite parts of living in NYC as an adult was seeing people reading everywhere. Soy la hija de Lider!! If someone reads an author I (not pop culture) respect, that is sometimes enough for me to be attracted to them, sometimes amorously, based on the author and my level of affinity to them. It always brought me great joy when someone applauded a book I read in public – it often led to great conversations between strangers. On more than one occasion, I wished for an esoteric book I knew, or one of my childhood favorites, becoming the starting point of imaginary romances. At some point in my 20s I even decided to provoke serendipity by being mindful of what I read in public. I did not want to be inauthentic, just wouldn’t be caught reading just curriculum or my students’ writing…
I’m a simple kind of gal…
I’m a redneck woman;
I ain’t no high class broad…
When I am in the company of someone I respect I have zero desire to fight for power. In fact, I prefer them to make most, if not all, decisions between us. All I need is space to do me – my art, my writing, my music, my sports, my travel, without interruption or disrespect (you’re always welcome to join me)…
About 2 years ago I was asked in a doctoral course during Day 1 intros:
Tell us about your celebrity or academic crush.
Mine are the same person.
On July 30 I Facebook messaged my academic and celebrity crush, who is also an old comrade who I literally fought alongside. Side by side we sang “This little school of mine” as we projected the lyrics of the community-created song onto a public school building in Brooklyn that was meant to be relocated to accommodate a charter school. Next to him, marching from Zuccotti park, we screamed, “Mic check!” then echoed the speeches of our concerned fellow teachers, students and education activists. I was also there for the opening ceremony that celebrated a critical documentary which featured his great voice as narrator.
He received his PhD last year and I reached out to him looking for recommendations for the job market. He is one of few PhDs I know that did not go into “the academy.” I presume for the same reasons as me: I cannot stand the dirty politics – the filthy, rotten system – of universities and like institutions.
I saw that he saw my message and I wondered about all the reasons possible for his silence. Since I trust him almost entirely, I just let it be.
2 Days ago he posted a motherfuckin DREAM job opportunity, visible to 4k+ people and 31 shares. I quickly did the math. Only one other person on the thread of 11 people actually stated they would apply.
I better move fast.
Confidently, I applied yesterday after only 1/4 friends I asked had looked over my cover letter. I am confident enough in my qualifications and my overlapping relationships (education/activist groups) that confirm I AM THE BEST CANDIDATE (I only wrote “uniquely qualified” and I was a bit ashamed for a few minutes that anyone with the same values as me may have to read me write like that…. #truestory).
Getting paid to do archival research to create Black, African, African American and African Diasporan-centered curriculum for 6-12 grades has been a dream job for me for the past decade. In many ways, I do this for free already.
A lady bug just landed on me.
I’m supposed to be working on my Comps (a 7k-word mess rn).
If you are reading this, BRIAN, please make this happen
and Thanks a million!!
I know that there are many perfect candidates and I’m grateful that I even know what to call my dream job now. I will begin seeking out jobs with the specifications all over now, especially the ones that pay me my worth.
Want my elevator speech?
Hello, I’m Alba Isabel. I am a bilingüe Español Black Lives Matter at School curriculum writer for grades PK-12 with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature – Linguistics, a Master of Science in Bilingual Education and 4 years of PhD coursework in Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education with a Chicanx Latinx Studies focus and nearly 15 years of experience teaching birth through college-aged students in Florida, NYC, Shanghai, China and Michigan. I am worth at least $85,000 for 180 days, 8-10 hours/day of labor. Looking for meaningful work in radically left museums, schools and such organizations. Thanks for your time.
