I am finding it very difficult to write tonight and, honestly, focus all day, and I am not 100% sure why, but I believe it may be because the week has been so great, jam-packed with activities, the sun high in the sky, a combination of everything…I have to say life is pretty good right now, and I just feel giddy. I am going to share a few fun life details/updates before I actually respond to the prompt. First, I loved my time in San Diego and my research presentation (at SPSSI: https://www.spssi.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=2418), alongside my mentor, Dr. Gordon Palmer, went well. I felt honored to present with him, Dr. Janelle Goodwill, Dr. Kayla Fike, and Dr. Haley Sparks, and represent ELATED Lab. Second and lastly, I immensely enjoy my time spent with all of you. Seeing the Detroit Fireworks Show for the first time, eating at Alley Taco, going swimming at Belle Isle, and just talking for hours fills up my days, and I would not want it any other way. Now, I am going to actually respond to the prompt.

Where to start in describing the culture of my community site? This proves to be a difficult task, as I mainly have two co-workers, Carson and Jassmine, and my boss, Jillian, floats in and out throughout the weeks. We also do not have our own office space, so we work in the semi-casual, communal environment at TechTown. Overall, I would say the work culture at LearnEarly & Arts Resurget is built on respect, trust, commitment, honesty, teamwork, and communication (I believe descriptions of any workspace’s culture could go on and on, but I am not going to do that). I do think working in a space solely made up of women really heightens these descriptors for me, personally. As I wrote in earlier blog posts, I feel comfortable being honest and vulnerable in the space; I can express my opinions, worries, etc. openly without fear of any backlash. Jassmine, Carson, and I have had many sociopolitical conversations, growing together through our talks and shared commitment to the work we do every day in support of early learning in Detroit. I am grateful for the experience so far and all that I have learned in just four weeks. Though I often come home exhausted and not every day at work is perfect, I do genuinely enjoy what I do and love the DCBRP. To end this, I was going to attach the video I took of the fireworks, but the file size is too big, so here’s a picture of the bug I made at work, when we were testing out early learning workshop ideas using recyclable materials and combining subject matter. If you have any name suggestions, please let me know.

Josie