It’s Thursday and the weekly exhaustion has kicked in.
I’m looking at my wife who is a full-time dentist leading a new office and a nursing mother (not at this moment), and it’s the end of the day. Even at night though, it still feels like there is still so much left to do ( as I wash bottles and random pump device parts). I know that around 12 am baby boy will be up for another round.
Some nights I just wait on it. Most nights, I abide by my bedtime at 11 pm and “act surprised” when I hear that soft whine through the baby monitor.
Tis life.
We are in the thick of it—raising babies that is. I’m in the thick of it raising money at work (shout out to the $15,000 gift we received today from a new corporate member of the museum) and presenting the campaign case for support to our board chair and development committee. Alex is in the thick of it onboarding two new doctors at her office and breaking monthly revenue records, per usual. I’m so proud of her.
And we are nearing the true halfway mark of this doctoral program—like I said, the thick of it.
Tonight, I was able to complete my personal top 16 stakeholder project. I’m proud of myself. As tired as I am, I did not do any work on advancing my applied research project yesterday. It’s like dieting or at least keeping a balanced diet—try not to have two bad meals in a row. I couldn’t go two days in a row without pushing the project forward.
In addition to completing my initial stakeholder contact list, I saved two new articles into Zotero, my digital research library, straight from the Google Chrome add-on. If you are considering doing any substantive research work, download Zotero and save your sanity. LOL.
It’s really interesting that as relevant as my research is, many of the major players involved in the work done through the Maryland HBCU Equity case are retired or have moved on (elevated truly) in their professional capacities. I’m noticing how much of a landmark case this was through their professional bios and stages of growth (or bowing out) post-win.
That realization bodes well for my thought process and decision-making around taking on HBCU equity as a research topic. The precedence set through the Maryland HBCU case will have some variations I will need to consider as I use it as a proof of concept for Tennessee, and reading through those two new articles today gave me more clarity on how to approach this. I must also be prepared for the timeline that I view in those articles. The Maryland case spanned from let’s call it 2006 through 2021. If you want to go back further, we can—but truly the Coalition of students, alumni, and supporters that led this work gave defined meaning within the court systems in ’06.
For my project, I’ve got time. I don’t necessarily want my kids to be 15 and 18 when my research and implementation plan bear positive results, but if that’s what it takes—I’ll be here.
You’ve got to have that kind of commitment to the cause whether it’s in the doc program or in the game of life. All or nothing, truly.
Glad progress is on my side.
