Mother Baltimore: Work, work, work
Hey, y’all! I’m back from vacation. Did you miss me? (you don’t have to answer that). I missed y’all!
Every time I take time off, I’m reminded by how much additional time I’d need to take off when the vacation ends. I dreaded returning to work. In fact, I dreaded it so much that I struggled to live in the present moment because I was very anxious about the obligations that work would bring. I tried hard to eliminate that anxiety, but, as the days transpired, I couldn’t shake it.
I like my work, so I couldn’t understand why I was feeling that way during my vacation. But then I thought about how work in general, regardless of how much we like what we’re doing, is an exploitative system. And the consequences of that system, like other oppressive systems, are unfurled against society’s least powerful. Work doesn’t care about us in the ways we’ve been socialized to center our lives around it. Rainesford Stauffer, author of “An Ordinary Age,” writes about this in an excerpt from her book.
The combo of individualism and capitalism makes it so we’re working more hours, so of course we figure those hours will go by easier and faster if we love the work we’re doing—but it can also keep us from critiquing the structure in which this is unfolding. It seems to put the burden of ‘creating work-life balance’ back on individuals, rather than a workforce that takes, takes, takes.
The more I think about Stauffer’s argument, the more I try to give myself grace and allow myself to have those complicated feelings about work. And, if you’re facing a similar dilemma, I encourage you to do the same.
Have a story tip or just want to talk? Contact me at 618-239-2624 or dsutgrey@bnd.com.
Now, here’s the latest news in southwestern Illinois:
Here’s what we know so far about Illinois’ new statewide, indoor mask requirement
During a press conference on Thursday, Illinois officials reinstated an indoor mask mandate that’s required for all Illinois residents, regardless of vaccination status. The mandate will go into effect on Monday, August 30. Additionally, all healthcare workers, pre-K-12th grade teachers and staff and higher education personnel and students are required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
More on the new mask mandate in IL:
Here’s Gov. Pritzker’s press release on Illinois’ new masking mandate to fight COVID-19
Pritzker to IL educators and healthcare workers: Get vaccinated or face weekly tests
Mother of children who died in East St. Louis fire needs prayers, grandma says
BND reporter Carolyn Smith talked to the grandmother of the five children who died earlier this month in an apartment fire in East St. Louis. Last week, the children were buried at a cemetery in Millstadt. In speaking about the relationship between the children and their mom (Sabrina Dunigan), the grandmother, Linda Barton, said the following:
All of our children are very much a part of everything we, as a family, do.” And Brina’s kids are all close. They were always together. No matter what, Brina always kept her kids with her.
More on the East St. Louis fire:
Five children from same family die in overnight East St. Louis apartment fire
East St. Louis community gathers to bury five young children killed in apartment fire
It’s the first day of school in East St. Louis. The BND will be here all year
This school year, the BND education reporter Megan Valley will be shadowing Wyvetter Younge School of Excellence in East St. Louis to follow how students adjust to in-person learning and how they’re dealing with the emotional trauma of being in an under-resourced community. The new school is the result of a merger between Gordon Bush Elementary School and Wyvetter Younge Alternative School. The school will be the first K-8 academy in East St. Louis since 2012.
More on Wyvetter Younge School of Excellence:
Wyvetter Younge School of Excellence in East St. Louis welcomes students to a new school
East St. Louis looks to capitalize on Gordon Bush Elementary school’s success
What to do
This is a new section of Mother Baltimore that’ll highlight upcoming events in the metro-east that’s relevant to Black communities. If you have tips for events, send them to dsutgrey@bnd.com
Community Day
12- 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 28, at Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in East St. Louis
The Sinai Family Life Center will host “Community Day”, which will feature vendors, free food and music. The event will also be a chance for members in the community to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. For more information, call 618-514-5800.
What to watch
Really Love
Directed by Angel Kristi Williams and co-written by Felicia Pride, “Really Love” depicts a romance between an artist and a lawyer in Washington, D.C. The couple struggles to maintain their romance while pursuing their respective careers. Starring Kofi Siriboe (“Queen Sugar”) and Yootha Wong-Loi Sing (“The Paradise Suite”), “Really Love premiered on Netflix on August 25.
What to read
One in a Million: An Elegy for Aaliyah
For Harper’s Bazaar, writer Naomi Jackson reflects on the career and legacy of R&B singer Aaliyah, who passed away in a plane crash twenty years ago. Aaliyah’s innovative style and timeless music was partially overshadowed by her association with R. Kelly, who married her when she was only 15 years old (Kelly was in his late twenties at the time). Although the marriage was eventually annulled by Aaliyah’s family, the incident was the foundation of a decades-long history of R. Kelly preying on young girls, the legal consequences of which would not be unfolded until now. After years of extensive abuse allegations against Kelly, he is currently on trial for federal racketeering charges related to sexual abuse and kidnapping. In thinking about Aaliyah’s career, Jackson expresses how it’s hard to overlook how her legacy will always be tied to how the abuse of Black women and girls is systemically forgotten:
As I heard Black folks in the media—both men and women—defend Kelly against this and other allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, my dignity and sense of safety withered. If Aaliyah—a gorgeous, extraordinarily talented celebrity—couldn’t be protected from the overtures of older men, who could be? Who would stand up for or with me if I spoke up about my own experiences with abuse? The message was clear: Black girls, no matter how much fame they had achieved, were on their own.
That’s all she wrote!
Talk to y’all in two weeks!
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This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 1:16 PM.
