This is my office in an already underfunded department, in an old building that only got an elevator 3 years ago. We share this place with the always underfunded Chicano and Native Studies departments that call the basement of Scott Hall home. This is a public university on stolen Dakota land. Many of our students make it through school with extra jobs, loans, and financial aid. I have made it to doctoral candidacy here because of these things. This office is my solace in a space that already erases my presence as a mixed, indigenous woman of color. This office is my solace against academic politics that devalue the work I do as grad student and as a graduate instructor. My work. Today is not so very different than any other I've spent on campus in the last 4 years. It is also incredibly different. And today this office is my solace, my space, in a county and a world that, following centuries of the same, is rapidly becoming a dangerous place for myself and those I love. Please, remember to take time to care for yourselves today and every day for the foreseeable future. Please remember the spaces you occupy are shaped by those in them. Please don't give up. #nodapl #standwithstandingrock #indigenousresistance #solidarity #defendthesacred #academics #gradschool #notmyamerica #notmypresident #dayone #expectresistance #minneapolis #minnestagram #homelands #selfcare
