When we met with my friend N. on Sunday, she asked me whether I could promise her to wear the gift she was going to give me all the time. I said yes, and this bracelet is on my wrist now – all the time!
Friendship
Month: March 2024
Summer Days
At the beginning of March, we had several summer-like days, and although the weather had already returned to normal, these couple of days were amazing! I biked before dawn and in the afternoon, and I swear I saw people at the beach!!!
Titanic Exhibit
Last Sunday was a very special day for me – I had a reunion with my very special friend, with whom we hadn’t met in person since the start of the pandemic.
It was never easy for N. and I to meet even before that due to our insane work schedules and living far away from each other, but before the pandemic, we tried our best to meet once a month. Then, we had to isolate, and then life just took over.
I am infinitely happy and infinitely grateful to my friend for keeping our friendship alive through almost four years, and even more grateful that we had a chance to spend several hours together.
For our reunion, N. suggested we go to see the Titanic exhibit in Skokie, and I was happy to do that. The exhibit was totally worth it, presenting a wide range of historical facts, lots of artifacts, photographs presenting how life on Titanic looked like, and even a recreation of some ship’s cabins. I didn’t take that many photos, because I was absorbed in the experience, but I still ended up with a lot of them!
Escorting
I haven’t done escorting since early November because I can’t stand still during the cold months, and on Saturday, I finally returned. OMG, I completely forgot how it feels! It’s awful!!! They yell loudly, screaming “mam, don’t kill your baby!” at each patient. They walk around breaking the bubble zone. They yell “go back to Ohio!’ when they see the license plate…
Also, we were told that Mayor Johnson didn’t approve the quiet zone ordinance, so we still do not have any legal protections…
Chicago European Film Festival
This year’s festival is 1) hosted by Belgium 2) runs for a very short time 3) each movie is screened only once 4) I am in town for it, which usually I am in Europe at this time of the year!
I went to the opening night on Friday. I do not regret that I went, because the movie (Omen) was extraordinary, but I think it was a little bit too much on many levels. First, it is a very loaded movie, and very difficult to watch, and the trailer I embedded below does not include the darkest parts of it. Second, everything was way longer than I planned. The start of the screening was supposed to be at 7 PM but in reality, 7 PM was the time of the festival opening and the Belgium General Counsul speech. Also, the film director was present, and he talked a little bit before the movie, telling us what he wanted us to pay attention to. After the movie, there was a Q&A session, which was great, except for I didn’t plan to be there for so long, and after a very intensive week, I was almost collapsing on my way home.
I am still processing this movie. I think it represents the unresolvable conflict between those who left and those who stayed behind. And even though the film director urged us to see this story from four different perspectives (that’s how the movie is built, consisting of four separate parts), I do not see any way of all the characters coming together…
The Start of Women History Month
From February to March: on Wednesday, which was still February :), I went to the event which celebrated women who advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, hosted by Wintrust. I had never been inside this building, one of those that make the Chicago Financial District and embody the Gloden Era of our city, when the buildings were designed to ensure the customers that their savings are secure :). I love LaSalle Street, it’s silhouette, and each of it’s buildings!
There was wine, cocktails, and bites, and some desserts at the end, and there was a lot of people! Mostly women, and many, like me, didn’t know a single person in the room, but everybody was happy to start a conversation.
The panelists were great, although I am starting to resent the idea that “women have to put their careers on pause to have children.” However, there was one thing which struck me most, because it echoed a conversation we had during the other panel two days earlier. Incredibly smart and gorgeous Tope Sadiku, who is of Nigerian origin but lived most of her life in the UK, mentioned how she rejected the offers to participate in any Black issues discussions, panels and committees, because she didn’t know the UK Black issues, and could not meaningfully contribute. The keyphrase was “I didn’t know I was Black until a came to the US.” At that moment, I recalled the question from one of the participants of our Black History Month panel at work. He asked our speaker whether, in his opinion, Black people or women are in more of a disadvantage at the workplace. I think that even if a workplace prejudgement might be close to equal, to hostility is proportionally on the side of race.
Being Black
The Back History Month is officially over, but my mind is occupied by conversations I had recently.
For our Black History Month event in the firm, we had a panel with Nwabueze Phil-Ebosie, the Director of Engineering at ComEd. He came to the US from Nigeria when he was seventeen, and after obtaining a degree in Engineering from Perdue, he worked at ComEd for his entire career. He talked about his experience of coming to the US from a place “where everybody looked like him,” to a very different environment. The moderator’s questions were mostly about the challenges our guest experienced during his career at ComEd, and about what needs to be done to attract more Black talent to Engineering, and how to create the environment that foster innovation. Then there was time for questions from the audience, and many of them were more pointed.
As it often happens, I was an icebreaker, asking him how he keeps himself opened to new ideas working at the same organization for eighteen years (later I got the mike twice, asking about the fear of failure which accompanies any innovation and about starting to engage into STEM earlier, in the middle school the latest). Then other people started to come with their questions, and very soon the most important question came up: How you deal with hostility? Phil-Ebosie said that in the beginning of his career he it often about choosing his battles, and often times choosing focusing on work and ignoring hostility, but now he would not tolerate hostility and would calls things out. One of our coworkers asked whether wouldn’t it be that if he won’t be silent in his earlier days, he won’t rise to the position where he is now, and won’t have the power to call the hostilities out. He replied that he just thinks that now is the time, but I think that the person who asked was not convinced.
I was not convinced either, especially having several conversations with before that night, and after the meeting was over, we all moved to the cafeteria and the conversation continued. I do not want to share personal information which people related to me, but many stories shocked me, even though I consider myself to be “informed on that subject.” The scariest part is that many things you would have thought are the things of the past, are happening right now. It makes me angry when I hear that Black people state that they understand that the passerbyes think about them as a thread, as “big Black man,” and ll these things. Again, i do not want to dig into personal stories, but OMG! Even at school, even among neighbors… I am aware that there is very little I personally can do, but I can’t sit still and do nothing. At least in my little corner of the world, I want to make a difference. I am not the right person for that, as people mentioned that there should be conversations, and can’t be rushed, and we should find common grounds, and yes, it takes time…
Hettie's Reflections 