2021, in conclusion/memoriam

We're all just ignoring any and all goals we set during the pandemic, right? Right.

After the nightmare that was 2020, 2021 wasn't so bad. I submitted my first first-author publication that uncovered a long-standing misconception about airborne transmission of disease, and it got me featured in WIRED magazine. I successfully defended and submitted my dissertation about volunteer health communication in US refugee resettlement. (Those two projects sound very unrelated, but medical rhetoric is the key there :) :)) 

After 2 years of doctoral coursework and 3 (soul-sucking) years of dissertating, I graduated with a PhD in Rhetoric and Writing from Virginia Tech. My mental health immediately improved.

While I was finishing my dissertation, we sold our townhouse in Blacksburg and moved to a 1910s-era bungalow in coastal North Carolina. My daughter started 1st grade (!) in a Spanish immersion program. We all got vaccinated. I was on set as an extra in a Simu Liu/Phillipa Soo movie (though never made it into a scene). We took a bunch of COVID tests throughout the year that all came back negative. After delaying the trip twice, we finally made it to Costa Rica to visit family. 

In August, I accepted a job as a Visiting Lecturer of Technical Communication at UCF, then in November I moved into a position with Church World Service in the APA (Afghan Placement and Assistance) Community Sponsor program, building on my dissertation work with community resettlement volunteers.

A new list is coming soon, maybe--if I can somehow muster up the energy to have any hopes or goals for 2022 that extend beyond "be a functional person." Pandemics: 0/10, would not recommend.