to a subtle 22 + bias
TWISTER, GAME NIGHT —
i turned 23 this past thursday, leaving a big, busy, harsh and nothing-less-than transformative year in the books.
22 sounded like no more small talk. and felt like surprising hidden growth.
it tasted like not enough chips. i didn’t need a raincoat after all, and opted for some deep uber pools.
so as you can read and as i have since wrote, 22 swept me up in some big waves. to set the record straight and maybe foreshadow a little bit for next year, my past year also had its fair share of quiet. a quiet that fueled lesson and learnings.
i’ll share those moments later, in an attempt to maybe inspire all 402 of you to transparently share the smallness of your big year, but first my words + reads:
my words: i wrote a piece about how a document in the immigration process is denying startups access to immigrant talent.
etc: barbara janczer, who says she was hired as the youngest female product manager in the history of splunk, was unable to secure a visa through the SF-based company’s lawyers due to the lottery system. so she hired her own immigration lawyers, paid over $10,000 out of pocket, and hoped for the best as she tried for a second H-1B visa.
learning lesson: this story, like so many of my proudest stories, stems from personal investment in the topic. while journalism school taught me to strip bias from my work, i’ve slowly added to an asterick to that lesson. we should always strive to be balanced, but our backgrounds give us the unique opportunity to give light (and empathy) to otherwise silenced voices and angles. so write with love, and write steady. (more in the podcast)
unorganized tab time:
a list for your next tech-friendly book club
why your postmates order is delayed
a startup fighting young, junk science in the fertility world
anyways
i think the power of reflecting on the not so big is mostly because that’s where the not so obvious lessons live. growth comes from places other than a plane ticket and a broken heart. so, pulled from my journal and notes and friends, here are some of those moments:
when i realized there’s a guy that came to the coffee shop i worked at once a day, picked up a tray of coffee, and then stopped by in the evening just before close to return the tray…..so he could reuse it tomorrow.
a trivia night where me, my brother, his friend, my roommate since freshman year, her brother, and two of my finally in a relationship bestfriends, all had bad nachos, impossible questions, and inside jokes by the end.
entering my best friend’s home in nj without knocking, even though i haven’t seen her for longer than a week at a time in the past few years.
meeting that best friends’s new friends, and them knowing my nickname(s), past 3 internships, and favorite food, before i even introduce myself.
waking up to my mom organizing the spices in my spice drawer.
scooting around with my editor and former colleague, and realizing i shouldn’t scoot ever
a goodbye to a temporary roommate celebrated with debates, tandoori pasta, and way too much cheese.
making a tortilla stew with work leftovers on a weeknight
my previous, and most influential, professor telling me that now we’re colleagues, and i should call him by his first name
warming up processed daal and rice in a camping ground in yosemite with my brother, and then dining like it was fresh and from home.
setting up my 401k with my dad next to me
coming back to my eyebrow lady in san francisco after almost a year, and she recognizing me and telling me “i knew you’d be back”
meeting a reporter i’ve admired for years for 20 minutes and finding a similarity in our insecurities
joining a book club and then finishing a book
giving advice to an aspiring journalist
getting a jar of walnuts with memories from every person i’m close to individually packaged within
finding a sandwich that tastes good every time no matter what
learning that a lot of first generation indian kids have the same exact feelings about the song nache baliye.
driving from sf to la with no music the whole time
coming home to old friends sitting side by side with new friends watching desperate housewives
having a bbq with friends but timing it horribly with the sunset so cooking/eating only via iphone light
deciding to choose change by walking down beacon st. in brookline
to 23 more of these,
N
P.S. my sf gf gave me a birthday card in the form of a “too wordy” newsletter, showing off below:
