beloveds – i have had a number of somewhat panicked messages since monday that made me think it might be helpful to articulate how to interact with me on my sabbatical.
first, a couple of FAQ type things:
what is a sabbatical?
“a period of paid leave granted to a university teacher or other worker for study or travel, traditionally one year for every seven years worked.”
why am i taking one as a non-academic?
i identify in the ‘other worker’ category, on good days an organic intellectual. in the last seven years i have completed three books for publishing and three books that are still making their way to the light, toured a lot of places, been a doula for an institute, facilitated and mediated movements i admire, and survived mad shit.
what am i going to do?
i am going to travel and rest, rest, rest until i remember how to really sleep and feel a good deep breath. i may study pace and creating in the realm of fiction, music and art.
and how can y’all interact with me on this journey? here goes:
send me beautiful, weird, cool, science/fictional, Black, liberation or other awesome things – i especially love pictures of bombastic creatures, proof of magic, and high quality memes.
send me positive vibes that remind me how each of us are more miraculous and valuable than anything we have or could ever produce.
if you happen to see me in the wild, know that i am aiming for anonymity. be kind, and let me go on.
i am aiming for unstructured and unplanned space. if you are not my family or woes, please do not ask me where i am going, or if you can join me.
do ask me how my heart is, what is interesting my mind these days, what inspires me.
don’t take it personally if i answer internally.
do not ask me to work.
beyond facilitation and writing, my work includes scheduling, brain picking, assessing, connecting, interviews, administration, and teaching. do not ask.
that includes not asking me who to reach out to in my absence about work – my auto responder and all social media have the email addresses to use for all work related requests: bookings@alliedmedia.org or emergentstrategy@alliedmedia.org – ask them…and please honor their answers.
especially don’t slide into my DMs/private messages to ask me to work, or to slip around my boundaries.
holding boundaries as people push against them is work. do not push against my boundaries. do not ask me to collaborate with you in breaking my boundaries.
if you aren’t sure if what you want to say or share is work or not, wait until June 2020 to say or share it. let’s share the interdependent faith that it’ll keep or find another space.
and finally, recognize how hard it is to need this, to write this, to ask for this, to take this moment for myself, to go into the unknown of myself. hold my hand by holding my boundaries.
with love!
ps. you can also give to my sabbatical fund:
you can send me money (thru apps below or send checks c/o allied media projects with amb sabbatical fund in memo line) OR e-gift certificates to online places where I can order books!
cash app: $adriennemareedough
venmo: adrienne-brown-25
paypal.me/adriennemaree