Hiya pals!
Sammy here and much in need of a summer newsletter. Composing this helps me process my life – so thanks for reading. Chapter-Where-I-Finish-My-Masters-At-Treehouse is just ending and a new chapter is beginning. Summer 2024 is here!
I have fun plans and exciting updates for you (I moved – again!). And as with every new chapter, I would love to create some routines with you. I’d love to share my summer goals with you (and if you wanted to share yours with me, I’d be honored- accountability buddies).
The wars are still ongoing and are dividing people, while elections get closer and closer. I wish we could move past old-school imperialism and unchecked capitalism and respect all life (plants, animals, and people). It’s time to evolve!
In this newsletter, I’ll talk about:
Love you lots and grateful for your support on this journey!
Life Updates
Masters in Secondary ELA Education ✅
I graduated from my Masters!! YAYY!!! Masters in Secondary English Language Arts Education.
For my action research project, my research question was: How effective was my curriculum using anti-racist writing strategies in teaching social emotional skills and narrative writing skills?
I am really passionate about learning how to create a truly inclusive, anti-racist curriculum and community that by the end of the year all students know how to communicate effectively using language to thrive in the 21st century. During my Masters, I have learned that I am really interested in the role of education in a functional city, specifically the responsibility of English Language Arts educators during k-12.
Los Angeles is a very diverse city in all the ways one can be diverse, and students need to learn to value all the different perspectives and communicate with them using the tools of the 21st century. This is excruciatingly challenging, one that even the adults that are supposed to teach them have not mastered.
Looking for dreamers and collaborators always. Grateful for those I already talk to about my work and have nourished me during this intense period of work.
Moved to Los Feliz
My cousin Wyatt (and Kimchi), my friend Hanna (and Tilly), and I have moved in to a lovely townhome in Los Feliz! I am so excited.
When I was 18, I wrote a novel where I imagined my dream life after college. I lived in Los Feliz – and now I did it! 12 years later. So far it’s wonderful, and I am excited to have the summer and all of next year to enjoy it with some great company.
The Next Chapter: GAHP YAH
My next chapter, I would like to call my GAHP YAH.
I’m tired man. Ever since I decided to change careers in 2018 – things have been hard. I have had to prioritize work over everything else, which is really against my values. People first! But when your work is helping people, the boundaries are confusing.
First I moved home and left all my friends in the UK. Then it was pre-requisites while working full time. Then the pandemic and my online credential. Then the chaos of four preps and being in classroom while still having to pass two more exams and do my induction program, and then it was working full time and my Masters for two years. It’s 2024! 6 years I’ve been prioritizing my career change.
I’m exhausted! I need a break. This chapter I am going to focus on self-care and having fun. I am going to focus on my personal goals, my relationships, and resting before my next big adventure. I’m going to focus on making LA my home. I’m going to focus on work-life balance and sustainability. The changes I want to see will take decades, and I gotta enjoy the journey!
I have already started envisioning my next challenge – but my grandma says I have to take a break before my next degree! And she’s right! I learned the hard way that before you do hard things, you need a support system in place. I built mine on the way- and while we are here and standing (thank you for your support!), I do not recommend it.
My biggest personal goal is finally finishing the novel I started in high school – Pretty Words! It’s evolved and adapted, and now I would say it’s autofiction or self-help or memoir? I’m not really sure, but I would like to finish it and share it with you.
This leads me to my Summer Goals
Summer 2024 Goals
- Complete the UCLA Extensions Memoir Course for teachers.
- Create a writer’s group and routine for writing and finishing my novel.
- Go to yoga twice a week and create a yoga routine.
- Start blogging about cultural events in Los Angeles like I used to in London and Scotland.
- Hang out with my friends and family
- Have fun and rest.
- Complete the planning I need to do before the school year starts so I can have better work-life balance during 2024-2025 school year.
- Get better at cooking plant-based meals and meal-prepping.
What are your summer goals?
Summer 2024 Travel Plans
I’ll be traveling a bit this summer and will be in London (July 5 to 11), Iceland (July 11 to 15), San Francisco, and Colorado for the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics Summer Writing Program (June 24-27).
Mostly I’m trying to be in LA and make routines!
Love you lots,
Sammy
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