Protect Your Peace

Given the recent sad events, colleagues, friends, and family, have asked me to share my newsletter column on peace today, so here it is: Reprint from the UC Davis DEI Newsletter: https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/newsletter-v4-issue-8 , Jan. 12, 2023.

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Dear Friends,

With this message, I wish you all a warm, safe, and internally calm start to the new year, despite the storms and residuals of the weather. A new year generally brings reflections and resolutions, and perhaps in the way of cliché, I will share one of mine for 2023: Protect your Peace. This is a tough one given this line of work, because a personal and professional full-time commitment to DEI includes the fight for social justice, and battles against long-standing systems of oppression – both recognized and unacknowledged.

This thought: Protect your Peace, has been, and is being nurtured by members of our DEI team here at UC Davis, and I realized that my past teams and students over the years had the same wish for me. They have shared kind words, given me mugs with encouraging words and journals to outline passions, and lifted my spirits with books and beautiful gifts to promote wellbeing and hobbies. I even have a hammock hanging in my office from Puerto Rico, a gift from a parent of one of my students who passed away, as a reminder to remember to seek peace (you can read more about my tribute to the late Jessica Soto-Pérez in “The Jessica Effect: Valuing Cultural and Familial Connections to Broaden Success in Academe.” )

My office is filled with light, and items from around the world that burst with color and bring me joy – replicas of small drums from Africa and the Yupik people of Alaska, small tapestries from the Philippines, Indonesia, and India; gifts from China and art from South America. I have items from every continent except Antarctica, representing my own travels and the travels of others who have shared a piece of a journey. Looking at these items and appreciating the people behind them, coupled with seeing our DEI team members in the office and their daily dedication to the cause, I continue to reflect on my own leadership and how I can make things better for my teams, as we all seek to serve the campus and communities.

In the last 40 days, I’ve been to South Africa, South Korea, and Indonesia. The pause, patience needed during travel delays, warmth of people from different cultures despite temperature extremes (single digits in Seoul!), has made me want to find the “easy button” to facilitate getting things done. Granted, there are things that are difficult, and the way forward may be long-suffering, but there are some things that are easy to advance without getting in the way of a good thing. An example is sharing a mission and vision and giving team members levels of trust to exercise and utilize their expertise. This process makes it easier to readily support their creative implementation of projects, which brings peace. Another example is the reminder that not all disagreements need to be escalated to anger, even in the fight for social justice. I am very consciously looking for the “easy button” this year – not an easy way out – but easier ways to bring plans to fruition and to more easily facilitate solutions, while protecting my peace and the peace of others.

I leave you with this photo. My husband Damon (who also works at UC Davis) and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary at the end of December 2022. We got married while we were in school, so our wedding was on December 26, during the campus’ winter break back in the ‘90’s. During our anniversary trip this year, we went to the beach, and he took this photo of me while I was walking and enjoying the water and sand after a storm. Each time I look at this photo, it reminds me of my commitment to protect my peace, so I share it with you to encourage consideration of thoughts of peace – even in the midst of tumultuous work, and ways to preserve a sense of calm in the coming year.