To a wonderful summer, my final year of law school, and then back to New Orleans!

This summer was incredible in so many ways. Time and again I felt so deeply engaged in what I was doing – seemingly falling in love with new sets of experiences time and time again. I end my summer inspired by the people I met and energy I encountered working to build social justice movements across the country. I also end it incredibly excited for my final year of school and to start my career – in New Orleans with the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice!

It feels like a turning point in a very long- and sometimes frustrating – journey of discovery. It's privileged of me to have any of these types of critiques, but sometimes, being surrounded by high achievers in elite academic institutions meant that trying to craft my own path and be involved in work I really believed in could be very difficult. This isn’t a critique of the people I’ve met along the way – because I truly believe that my friends and family are some of the most committed, intelligent, caring, wonderful people and I am inspired by them and so lucky to be supported by them every day. Instead, it's a critique of the institutions I’ve spent a lot of time in, institutions that uphold status and wealth as markers of success and happiness.

Last summer, I realized that I couldn’t let my work and the institutions I was in frustrate me. I thought seriously about the work I wanted to be involved in, the people I wanted to be surrounded by, and the day to day experiences I wanted to be engaged with. Thankfully – I found that the work that makes me happiest is also work which I really believe has transformative potential. It is what made me certain I wanted to work with organized communities and wanted to figure out how lawyers could help build and support social justice movements.

So I went into this summer with a very clear idea of what made me happy and the way I wanted to work. My mission was just to find places and people that thought similarly. I also went into this summer in a much better place personally. But still, in many ways I feel like this summer was serendipitous.

I spent 8 weeks working in New York and 6 weeks working in New Orleans. I always wanted to spend some time in New York – I wanted to see if I could one day live there, and by the end, I fell in love with its immensity, its diversity, and even its frustrations. I realized that any fight against inequality had to succeed in New York, and I finally decided that I was up for a fight there.

But I made my way to New Orleans in a more circuitous way. I was thinking seriously about going to LA. Then one day I decided to sit in on a talk by a lawyer I’d heard was doing work in incredibly innovative ways in the South. I’d heard about her organization and knew it was working in the movement lawyering model I was so interested in learning more about. Sitting through that presentation that day, I felt so excited, and so inspired. I had a background in the work the organization was doing with Black and Latino communities in the South, and so I thought I’d figure out a way to get there. And it was a wonderful decision.

My time in New Orleans just felt so right form the very beginning. The work was incredibly interesting and cutting edge and everyone was so committed to it. I also loved New Orleans – its an incredibly unequal, unfair, unjust, often times racist and frustrating place and I know I couldn’t be here if it wasn’t to support work to change these systems of oppression. But working at the Workers’ Center, I also felt an incredible potential – whether it was at the 400 hundred people strong weekly Congreso organizing meetings, or in conversations with incredibly knowledgeable and committed community leaders, I really felt like these people can take on and lead the change that is so necessary in New Orleans. I love the idea of working to build and support a movement; it’s humbling and transformative in so many ways. Moreover – I loved the live music, the weather, the bayou…  

Weekly Congress of Day Laborers meetings in New Orleans - numbering over 400 people! 

Preparing for an immigrant rights' march in D.C. - we drove 25 hours from New Orleans with a dozen members. 

No more deportations march in D.C.

The immigrant rights march in D.C. merged with the peace in Gaza march in D.C. - when social justice movements merge, its a beautiful, powerful thing. Free Gaza, no mas deportaciones!

A powerful march calling out racial injustice in New Orleans and showing solidarity with the community in Ferguson. The march was unplanned and people took control of their streets.  

I fell in love with New Orleans fast and wanted to find a way to be back there soon. And thankfully, New Orleans wanted me back as well. I’m so excited to be welcomed back to the Workers’ Center for Racial Justice after graduation. 

I spent the last week in Northern Quebec – hiking through fjords, speaking Quebecois, and spending quality time with my family. It was beautiful – and since most people don’t have opportunities to explore the way my family has allowed me to, I thought I’d share more photos.

 

The last few days in Toronto catching up with friends were also great. My time in Canada gets shorter and shorter every trip I take back, but I still love the opportunities to reconnect with the closest people in my life who’ve really seen and supported me as I keep growing. It has been a wonderful way to recharge and end an inspiring, fulfilling, wonderful summer. 

As always – reach out and stay in touch. 

- S