Hi friends,

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it! I hope this newsletter finds you all doing well. Happy February! Believe it or not, I’m past the halfway point for this quarter. It’s seriously flying. I’ve personally found it challenging juggling my different responsibilities — from taking classes that push me technically and creatively, to TAing a class that demands my full attention, all the while finding the time and space to be a supportive friend, partner, son, and brother. Mourning my friend Will still feels so raw, and I’m navigating this process.

It’s not all bad, though! Find a quick recap of my involvements:

Rose Bud Thorn 🌹🌷🌵

🌹 In my Shaping the Future of the Bay Area class, I exercise my creativity and urban systems skills to help make better-informed decisions. Through a collaborative spirit and constant equity and justice-based epistemological refinement, I have written the following reports: first on Land Use and the second on Mobility. These were class assignments, but I want to practice producing these kinds of documents myself. Let me know your thoughts.

🌷 Johns Hopkins is finally hosting an in-person ceremony for the Class of 2020 during our Young Alumni Weekend. While I’m trying not to get my hopes too high if it’s canceled, I am incredibly excited. I’ve thought that “it’s a moot point” almost two years in, but whenever I think about how abrupt COVID shifted my experience — especially in closing that chapter in my life, I feel emotional. I want to go back and be on campus with my friends. I want to walk across the stage.

🌵 My “Sustainable Energy for 9 Billion” class is kicking my ass, and I mostly love it. It feels great to dig into climate and energy modeling as we think about our planet’s future. The hardest part has been swallowing my pride and asking for help instead of spending umpteen hours figuring it out myself. But, I think I’m getting there, and I hope that it stays relatively enjoyable despite my complaining.

Book Talk📚

As part of Black History Month, I’m reading books by black authors, starting with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer. I’m about a quarter of the way through, and I’m enjoying it. The only thing I want to point out is that he uses the term “tasking” when referring to enslaved people working, whether out on farms or inside homes. I never heard that term, and it caught me off guard.

Last week, I read probably the worst book I’ve ever read — probably on par with this atrocity. If you want to read my review, you can find it on Goodreads.

Jams🎶

January was an excellent month for new music and new artist, and you can find all the songs I jammed to here:

Thanks for reading and reflecting this week! I  tried to keep this short – I didn't even get to talk about my newest and most favorite productivity tool or how I'm not keeping up with my "tweet more" goal for the year. Next time :)

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Best,
Awoe ✌🏾