I get overwhelmed with so many important priorities in my life. Most of you know how I feel. I Co-Direct the LAKES program, which is a tremendous privilege I take seriously. I have other priorities in life, like my family, teaching, exercise, involvement in civil society, friends, etc., etc., etc. We really don't set ourselves up to deal with these things well in modern society, in spite of our efforts to improve "efficiency". I will continue to criticize the modern political economy and the culture behind it for various, important reasons, but we all still have to deal with it on a daily basis nonetheless. So how do you deal with being overwhelmed? I argue that you surround yourself with awesome people (as I have discussed here and here and here before). This summer I am proud to have many such students and colleagues I can lean on in the LAKES REU. This blog post is a reflection on two of those students, Yanira Campos and Josh Herron (read on- I suspect you will fall in love with them, too).
