Gender Studies Conference 2019, University of Helsinki

This trip has too many photos for one blog post. So, here is part one!

Madame President Halonen was president of Finland for 12 years, she termed out. So inspiring to meet a world leader!

I'm listed!!
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/gender-studies-2019-conference

Finland

When I was in undergrad (20 years ago!) my counselor encouraged me to keep journals, using writing as a tool to help manage then-undiagnosed ADHD, OCD, PTSD, and Anxiety disorder. These labels would come years later during a particularly rough breakdown I had during my final year completing my PhD.

I kept these journals and carried them with me through every move and new adventure. I didn't re-visit them often. They were full of trauma and painful memories. In our move to Washington, the journals were unpacked and Matt suggested I read through them again and consider keeping them or tossing them. After reading them, I decided to digitize them. Then I realized I had a really interesting research topic on hand. Strong themes around food insecurity, abuse, homelessness, mental health, and more were prevalent. I reached out to Rita, a trusted mentor and professor. Over the course of two years, she was my editor and guided me through drafting a manuscript.

It was another healing step for me that led to more questions of "What next?" We looked at various journals and books to submit too, but did not come across anything that felt right. On a whim, I came across an international conference with a workshop focused on children, violence, and unhoused/homeless experiences. I sent in my proposal in February 2019, and was delightedly surprised in May to find out I had been accepted! Bonus: the conference was at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Well, one cannot travel abroad and not take advantage of visiting other countries. Once there, travel is easy through the European Union. We knew we wanted to take the girls, our last trip abroad was two years ago and we had been planning a trip for this year already. Those plans were paused, our budget and time dictate one large trip like this roughly every 16-24 months! The one flaw in our planning was Matt had been nominated, and awarded, a prestigious award at his alma mater and the date of his reception was the date of my presentation. What are the odds?!

Through the help of a lot of people, we finalized our plans and just like that, we were on our way!

I knew I didn't want to travel alone for the first week and I reached out to three of my closest friends to see who might be interested in joining me. One had a clear schedule and availability!! Jessi, who was my college roommate freshmen year was available. And this was fitting in so many ways, mainly because the final paper includes some narrative around our friendship :-)

And lo and behold, Rita was also available!! This was a real privilege, to have the person who has helped me academically, professionally, and personally since freshmen year be willing and able to be there, was icing on the cake.

So that is how this all began. If you want to know more about the paper, hit me up for an in person convo. I can say I have clear direction for the next step and will be working with a professor from Germany. I can also say, this conference was fantastic! Two highlights for me including hearing from a former president of Finland and hearing from a Canadian professor who researches workplace ostracism, abuse, and violence. The former was inspirational, the latter was affirming. I already know I want to dive deeper into that work and she was very encouraging of exploring how we can work together! Could there be more travel in my future? Most likely ;-)

The following pictures are in random order!