while @victoriadreyes & I were postdocs at @UMichNCID & working on our books (which have since come out!), we talked often about how deeply we related to @Lin_Manuel's lyrics in #Hamilton as writers of color. Here's some lines that fueled us. Others feel free to join in! 1/

"I'm past patiently waiting I'm passionately smashing every expectation" was utterly liberating. There's always a battle between "respectability" & writing with the passion & depth that I know will piss people off. I write about immigration. I don't have time to tread lightly. 2/

"write like you are running out of time." frankly, we write like this BECAUSE WE ARE. POC die years before their white counterparts, & there's so few of us in the academy that the pressure to make every single moment matter is both invigorating and debilitating. 3/

"every action's an act of creation" was also liberating to hear. Career-wise, I would be better off with published articles. But it was not the form that Guadalupe's story needed to be told. Feeling free to take risks-- to careen down a path not explored--was invigorating. 4/

"If there's a reason I'm still alive
When so many have died
Then I'm willin' to—"
Ugh... that line unfinished... I think this is the ultimate tension for many of us. I LEFT my community to get an education with faith that it's for the better. But is it? And how will I know? 5/

Ok we have these two to take care of so I’ll be back and forth to this thread all day! 6/