Content Warning: Readers should be aware that this blog includes references to the topic of sex trafficking. Alternately, you can review Alyssa Scott’s earlier YNPN-TC blog on responsible storytelling or the resources listed at the end of this blog.

Communicators have the honor to interview and share the stories of people around us—both those who have lives like our own and, when appropriate, those with experiences that are far different. When sharing stories based on the words and life experiences of another person, we should feel two responsibilities. 

I look up from my laptop screen to see my mom taking a photo of me. “MOM!” I scream at her.

“What honey? It’s funny that you are working on homework in the ER, and this really needs to be documented.”

That was not the first and not the last moment I asked myself, “What am I doing here?” Well, okay, I knew why I was in the emergency room. I had tripped over a pothole while going for a run and got a hematoma (essentially internal bleeding) on my leg that needed to get checked out. During the long wait at the hospital, I found myself laying on a hospital bed with a leg injury and needing to prep for a graduate school group project meeting I had later that night. So, essentially, I knew why I was in the ER, but I found myself questioning yet again why I decided to go back to graduate school. Why was I putting myself through the mental and, apparently, sometimes physical, stress of pursuing a second degree? 

While I don’t consider myself a writer, I highly respect those who write for a living or for pleasure. I wasn’t sure where to start, so I looked to someone I’ve always admired: Oprah Winfrey. I admire Oprah as a black woman and as a millennial who grew up watching her become an influential and powerful voice for women. Her book “What I Know for Sure” came to mind when I started brainstorming how to start writing. The book is a straightforward account of her biggest adversities in life and how overcoming her greatest challenges allowed her to learn the important lessons i.e. what she knows for sure in her life. So here it goes. 

For the podcast Sugar Calling, Cheryl Strayed interviews authors during quarantine. In a recent episode, Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the United States, read and recited poetry. Collins is a poet who reminds me that I like poetry. In the podcast, he quoted Irish poet Eavan Boland, “Poetry begins where language starts: in the shadows and accidents of one person’s life.”

If ever there was a time that felt like a shadowy accident, it’s now. Thus, I can’t write anything resembling advice. Dozens of COVID-19 think pieces exist or will soon, and I can’t do that to you or to myself. Also, I have no sourdough tips.

So instead of a blog, I’ve written a poem, followed by some poems I enjoy.

I have a friend that within the last few years made a career shift. They went directly from being a pharmacist to being the Executive Director of a non-profit center addressing women’s health in a rural area of my home state. No in-between job. No experience with non-profits. Did I mention that this friend is a cis-gendered, white man?? Look, I am not upset at my friend. I am tired and irritated with our sector. 

I’d be willing to bet you’re reading this from home. As you should be! It’s a strange and uncertain time for all of us right now, and although we’ve all had routine changes and things that have flipped our day-to-day inside out, we still have to work. 

We are prioritizing the health and safety of our community

As the late, great Paul Wellstone said - we all do better when we all do better. Whether you agree with his political beliefs or not, you can’t disagree with this statement. 

Wealth has accumulated to the top 1% of the population at a rate never witnessed in American history, and the beneficiaries have used this wealth to accrue more influence. They have shaped our democratic institutions as their protectors by resisting taxation in all its forms, arguing against “handouts” to the undeserving masses.

What kind of person do you picture when you hear the words board of directors? Take a few seconds and think about it. Now, take out the old white guy you’re imagining, and put yourself in.

Yes, you. Millennials are vastly underrepresented on boards of directors in the nonprofit world—only 17% of nonprofit board members are under the age of 40 (meanwhile, more than half are over 50). While a typical board recruit might be someone with decades of job experience, young professionals have more to offer as board members than one might think.