I time travel to find peace.
When I’m stressed about the state of the world, I hold my great-great-grandma Catarina’s rosary and think about her being born in 1882 on a Native American reservation before she had a right to vote. She lived through the Spanish Flu and Great Depression, won a court battle to own property on the white side of town before segregation was illegal, and lived to see the Civil Rights Movement.
I travel to the future and think about how my unborn child will be 80 years old in 2100 and what world I want to create for them. Pregnancy has made me more optimistic about humanity because my DNA will carry on my unfinished business. Just like I’m still fighting the battles of segregation that my great-great-grandma Catarina fought.
Time-traveling allows me to see my lineage and history on a scale that makes me and my problems feel small.
I am applying my 2020 theme of radical imagination and radical hope to this pandemic. Instead of the news, I’m turning to Sci-Fi writer Octavia Butler for inspiration and lessons on hope, resiliency, and reimagining a new world where nobody is left behind.
Butler is the mother of Afrofuturism, a niche of Sci-Fi like Black Panther, where black people are the heroes. There is so much to learn from Octavia Butler, where her characters are navigating slavery, pandemics, and post-climate apocalyptic life.
Her characters never give up hope. They don’t resist change but are adaptable and pragmatic. They embrace diversity and find creative solutions to global problems. They cultivate decentralized leadership, where no one person is the hero.
These lessons directly apply to how we approach COVID. I explore these themes in my latest blog post God is Change: Octavia Butler on Post-Apocalyptic Life.
Public Health PR
In other news, I recently moved back to Southern California and started a new job as the Equity Impact Storyteller for the Public Health Alliance of Southern California. This organization is a coalition that advocates on behalf of the local public health departments.
After a year of soul searching and exploration, I discovered that I need a job focused on creation, where I can make my art. I’m responsible for developing the communications infrastructure for the organization and communicating the complexities of public health to a variety of audiences.
As you can imagine, the public health field has some significant PR challenges right now. There is a delicate art between factual information and motivating storytelling, without inciting fear. There is also a balance between promoting the public good and personal freedom. It’s a fascinating challenge that I’ll be sharing more about during this journey.
I’d love to hear how you are navigating these times. Please respond with what is bringing you hope and making you feel resilient.
Stay Tuned,
Lauren
P.S. I recently was on the podcast Latinos Who Tech. I discuss my identity struggles being a 3rd generation Latina and moving to Mexico. I also share pretty openly about how my husband and I have learned to communicate effectively to run a business together and quarantine together.
Lauren, I want to congratulate you on your pregnancy. Rather it's now or futuristic. You ROCK! You are so brilliant and humble with tons of compassion, patience, and energy. Your daughter is going to be so inquisitive by nature and she's an explorer. You may need some roller skates to keep up with this little dynamo.. She's quite a pistol..LOL Auntie Sharon lives her ALREADY.