I am sure I am not alone in this. However, I think I deal with not meeting my own expectations with continually doing nothing about it. After all, the expectation is already not met- right? Wrong. The expectation is not gone. It is simply not executed. For action to take place, I just need to get over myself. How do you get over yourself Paola? I often try to avoid doing it, but I imagine my future self watching me in that very moment. Have you ever had your past self help your future self? And then beam with joy because YOU. DID. THAT!
What are you talking about Paola? Here is a small example, when your past self actually puts your keys in its' designated place after a tiring day. Your future self (who if you're like me believes "you never find what you are looking for until you're no longer looking for it") will thank you. Here is a big example, when your future self (I imagine myself in my white coat in front of my successful enterprise) looks directly into your pupils to show you that third episode of Tasty recipes will not help you memorize the hormones that will be facing you on your next exam. Back to operating in your best interest! YOU. DID. THAT! Sincerely, Paola J.A. Benefo
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It is a word for a Black African (including Afro Latin/Caribbean nations) who is a D.A.C.A recipient. Black + D.A.C.A. Get it? This word was coined organically with a fellow Bl.a.c.a from Haiti, Guerds Jean. We were two out of the many D.A.C.A. students attending our alma mater, Berea College. One thing became very clear as the first pilot group of D.A.C.A students accepted at Berea college: Dreamers aren't a monolith. On the surface, there were Latinx (Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras), Asian (Korean), African/Caribbean (Ghana, Kenya, Haiti) D.A.C.A students who were gathered together our first month in college. Internally, we had varying, but similar stories of our journey to this promise land. The monolithic rhetoric that targeted my Latinx brothers and sisters, was inhumane and dangerous. So, it is my privilege as a Bl.a.c.a to stand and fight with them and all other D.A.C.A. recipients that are still in the shadows.
I close with this quote from my mentor, "You really can change the world if you care enough." - Marian Wright Eldelman -Sincerely, Paola J. A. Benefo Where does one begin when introducing themselves? It is consistently harder to do so at every ice breaker event I encounter. So, I am going to work backwards. I research regeneration in jellyfish (A.aurita) at the University of California - Davis.
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