Some of you know that Adriana is a reserved and very private person. So you can imagine her reaction when I asked her if I could share some recent huge news about well-deserved recognition of her community leadership and commitment to human rights. I convinced her to let me post this, so before she changes her mind, here is the big announcement:
Adriana was awarded the 2020 Oak Human Rights Fellowship at Colby College!
The fellowship includes a generous stipend and involves teaching and conducting research for a semester at the College (remotely because of COVID). This is an international award, and Adriana is the first recipient of the Fellowship based in the US. Out of hundreds of candidates from around the world, the committee selected Adriana and a person from Greece to be their 2020 Fellows. In other words, esta mujer is a big deal…
Indeed, these are crazy times… fascism is hammering our communities with increasing ferocity, a global pandemic has forced us into lockdown since March and is still taking lives, the entire West Coast is on fire, and we are weeks away from an electoral contest that (regardless the results) will inevitably involve political violence on the streets.
Meanwhile, in addition to our ongoing community-defense work and family responsibilities, on any given day Adriana is in our bedroom (her new home office) zoom-teaching for Colby College in Maine, Luz Victoria is in the next room attending zoom-classes at Princeton in New Jersey, and I am in another room zoom-teaching for Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. Lol, I’m sooo proud of my family and love them sooo much, but this is f-ing nuts. On the bright side, at least the three of us remain together in San Diego. I suppose someday these will be the inspirational stories we share when we think about the trumpian apocalypse. Hopefully, sooner than later.