Hi friends,

It's currently the end of week six for my summer internship (crazy, I know), and time is flying by! I'm back in Palo Alto after spending the week visiting Seattle — one of the small perks of virtual working is that it can happen anywhere, and I've taken SO much advantage of that!

Also, I am trying to launch a semi-regular newsletter where I'll be sharing updates so subscribe if you're interested! Content will mainly be about my life, infrastructure, equity, climate, and justice!

Highs and Lows 📈📉

📈 one high of this week was working out consistently through my summer lifting plan. I haven't lifted in years, and I felt a bit anxious about returning to the gym, but this summer has been a solid return, and I'm enjoying it — even if I have to wake up at 6:30 to go.

📉 not quite a low but just a progress update: I am in the middle of preparing for the start of my career once I finish grad school. This type of active thinking about the future is always a bit scary, but I've found it helpful to break down the process into steps I have control over and feel like I'm making progress. This week, I spoke with one person at a company I'm interested in working with and attended a workshop hosted by another company I'm interested in working with.

• Pro tip: don't be afraid to reach out to people on LinkedIn, whether they're alumni from your school, ex-coworkers, or even strangers. People usually like talking about themselves, so they'd happily set some time to chat — just make sure you show up somewhat prepared. Also, if there's any interest in how to prepare for virtual coffees, let me know!
• Pro tip: attending the workshop hosted by the company I am interested in was helpful not to show interest but to show me what the culture might be like should I reach the stage where I need to make a choice. It helps build context and see the type of people I'll be working with.

Books and Learning📚

This week, I've been reading two new books: Dune by Frank Herbert and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. I don't think I'm gonna finish Dune; at least I'll pick it up again later because I'm finding some difficulty following what's happening. The book I'm more excited to talk and think about is Caste! Since reading The Color of Law, this has been highly recommended, and I totally understand why. Here are a couple of snippets I've taken away from it:

• slavery wasn't a chapter in US history, rather the basis of its economic and social order — no wonder we can't just say "it happened a long time ago."
• there are no black people in Africa: we are Yoruba, Igbo, Ewe, Akan
• the comparisons be Hitler and Trump: Never holding office and taking advantage of established democracy to destroy it; seeing himself as the sole savior
• Nazi Germany used segregation in the US as inspiration for legalizing their anti-Semitism eventually leading to the Holocaust.

Intentional Content Consumption🍴

This week, a couple of pieces that stood out to me:

1. Podcasts – Keynotes Ep. 1: Why Music Gives You Skin Orgasms

• Keynotes is a new podcast from the creator of Dissect on Spotify (one of my favorite podcasts) trying to change how we listen to music. This episode was on the science behind musical chills. I'm now trying to pay more attention to how I feel when listening to music, especially when I get chills. I actually got chills watching Loki this week, and it's so cool to know that creating this feeling can be intentional from the artist!

2. Article – LA Times article on the electric car revolution

• When I think about climate change and our collective carbon footprint, my mind usually goes to our greenhouse gas emissions and how transportation (from cars) is one of our largest producers. This is one reason I choose not to buy a car (I can talk about that another time). Anyway, one popular response to this has been switching over to electric vehicles. While they can def have a less direct impact on the environment, they could have more upstream impacts that we aren't thinking about. This includes the impact of producing lithium batteries, the pressure on the electric grid from all the charging, and the potential erosion of tribal lands that would be used to get lithium. All interesting stuff, so it's worth the read or listens.

Jams🎶

I usually listen to less music during the summertime — I think this might be because I don't have any problem sets. My work this summer involves a ton of reading and writing, so if I'm listening to anything, it's usually classical music or movie soundtracks. This is in my Crescendo playlist, which you can find here:

I have explored some newer songs, though (including KSI's new album), and I've added them to my July '21 playlist, which you can find here:

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to listen to Snoh Alaegra's music at some point, and I think Isaiah Rashad is dropping soon.

Thanks for reflecting on this week with me, and I'll catch you all soon.

Warmly,
Awoe

Follow me on Twitter @up_up_nd_awoe!