Today marks one month since my partner and I returned to Oakland, CA, to the Redwood Heights neighborhood, in a lovely ranch-style home that I previously lived in back in 2015. Since then, the backyard garden has grown tremendously: aloe and matilija (fried egg) poppy plants are taller than me, there’s a pomegranate tree, and a kumquat tree (which I rescued from the trash) has doubled in size and is starting to bloom. This morning I picked figs and apples. Later I’ll pick some cherry tomatoes and use them in a salad or an omelette — if they make it back to the kitchen. There are a few final zucchini. The space and the home feel familiar, so our California re-emergence feels natural and has luckily been smooth.
Yes, it’s great to be back in the Bay for many reasons — for the first time since I accepted the role of Chair, I’m able to do the work in person. I’m on campus at least once a week, and love running into students in the café and casually advising them on their assignments of the day. I’m lunching with faculty and convening meetings and making introductions, all in person — in other words, building community.
As we drove across the country, seeing friends along the way who I knew from other parts of life and other cities we used to both live in, and even still met up in person with people I’d only met online, I realized we have (or can build) community everywhere. But it’s the concentration and intersection of all the communities we’re part of that brought us back to the Bay. The design and tech communities, the entrepreneur and startup and venture capital communities, the queer communities. My friend and colleague communities. And my chosen family, my godson, and my business partner and oldest dearest bestie — now in SoCal.
We rode out the peak of the pandemic in Philly. It’s a fantastic city — affordable, walkable, diverse, delicious, got its own culture, close to NYC, easy access to the Jersey Shore, and DC — and we loved getting to know it as much as we could. Given we were there during a time when most everyone was at home, building community was challenging. But we managed to make a few new friends who’ll be waiting for our return visits.