Spirituality and the 87th Legislative Session
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” ― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
View Article“Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise.”
While training for my internship at the Texas Capitol, I often heard that regardless of how extensively I prepared, it would not equip me for what was ahead. After two months, I still consistently come...
View ArticleTaking Up Space
I am a born and raised Austinite, a rare breed nowadays. Due to proximity, I have been roaming around the Texas Capitol building since before I could properly walk. Drinking Slurpees on the front...
View ArticleThe George Floyd Act: Texans’ Stories of Police Brutality
On March 25, the George Floyd Act (House Bill 88) was heard in the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety. The legislation is authored by Chairwoman Senfronia Thompson, Chairman...
View Article“If you see something, say something.”
One Friday night in early March, after a long work week during the lege, I received a text message from a white friend. The noting of my friend’s “whiteness” is an essential part of understanding the...
View ArticleThe George Floyd Act: Texans’ Stories of Police Brutality
On March 25, the George Floyd Act (House Bill 88) was heard in the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety. The legislation is authored by Chairwoman Senfronia Thompson, Chairman...
View ArticleOn Integrity
I have been thinking a lot about integrity lately. It is my favorite of social work’s six core values, perhaps because it is the most all-encompassing. The word can represent honesty, competence,...
View ArticleDo Our Voices Matter?
In the beginning of the 87th Texas Legislative Session, I felt hopeful. Hopeful for what I would learn, the ways I would grow, the people I would meet, the friends I would make, things I would learn...
View ArticleA Never Ending Fight
Someone recently asked me, “so how do you like session so far?” Being a first-year staffer, I have been asked this question more times than I can count. However, the longer I’m in the Texas Capitol,...
View ArticleWhen Social Work & Politics Collide
As the end of my internship at the Texas State Capitol hurdles towards me, I am taking time to sit back and reflect on my experience. With only a couple of weeks left, I have caught myself wondering...
View ArticleHoney Badger
I was supposed to write this post weeks ago, way back during budget week in April. Or was that in March? Lege time feels very different from usual work time. You never know when your boss is going to...
View ArticleDisillusion: Reality Settles In, but the Fight is Not Over
In my first blog post, I talked about how representation matters. As the session continues, it is more apparent that representation matters especially when it comes down to bills. Bills that will...
View ArticleA Bootless Man
“When white Americans tell the Negro to lift himself by his own bootstraps, they don’t look over the legacy of slavery and segregation. Now I believe we ought to do all we can and seek to lift...
View ArticleInvictus
I’ve always been one to say exactly how I feel, and honesty is one of my most important values. Yet, writing this blog post has been next to impossible for me in the last few weeks. In addition to...
View ArticleRedefining Wins
LIVED EXPERIENCE As a professional Sickle Cell advocate, there is nothing that supersedes the lived experience. Living with a chronic illness every day gives a perspective that can never be acquired by...
View ArticlePersonal Growth in an Emotionally Stifling Environment
It has been said over and over again in the media and in the halls of the Texas Capitol that the 87th Texas Legislative Session was the most aggressive in not only pushing but passing very conservative...
View ArticleHigh Crimes, Conspiracies, and Cults
Let me tell you about the time Texas tried to codify how to overturn an election in the middle of the night. It all started decades ago when reports about climate change started to gain traction. That...
View ArticleThe Art of Starting Over
How am I doing? This blog post is over two-weeks late and this is the fifth time I have attempted to sit down and write. What started as an eloquent condensed comparison of problematic occurrences in...
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