May Day 2025

Mayday, mayday, it’s feeling like an emergency.

It’s May Day 2025, International Workers’ Day. A Thursday, the busiest day of my week for a while now, as if any day has felt slow lately.

On Thursdays, I often join the Survivors Opposing Solitary coalition meetings on my way to the University of Washington. These meetings fuel my research, but today the conversation lingered differently. On any day, but especially International Workers’ Day, the labor of incarcerated individuals, done for pennies on the dollar, is often ignored. It adds to the dehumanizing reality of our current legal system. Instead of my usual post-meeting thoughts, I left thinking about how far we still have to go to increase rehabilitation and uphold human rights in this country, and how I can make an impact.

When I arrive for our weekly Wang Lab meetings, I revel in the time we spend together. It was once a space where I could retreat from the chaos of my job in community organizing and political work, to lose myself in a world of exploration. These days, we often commiserate over funding cuts, shrinking opportunities, and what it means for the trajectory of our research. Still, there’s peace and power in sitting beside passionate scientists each week, committed to the work.

From UW, I jet off to Bellevue College. Today, though, I had a biology midterm before completing my usual circuit of King County and heading back South to support my hometown’s May Day protest.

Somehow, I made it back in time for dinner with my son. We talked about what it means to fight for the working class and care for others. As I close out a full day, I continue to reflect on my work, whether I’m doing enough, and whether I’m asking the right questions. What I can be certain of is that the call to the fight is innate. Whether it’s for my own family and friends, adjacent communities, or future generations, I’ll keep showing up and working to answer those questions.