2025 Wrap Up

2025 has been a very long year. It has been filled with ups and downs and an awful lot of anxiety. The public policy space faced unprecedented levels of upheaval as previously stable funding streams were rocked with uncertainty. I have been lucky enough to work on a project that has been stable in our funding, but with unprecedented times comes anxiety because that stability could falter at any time.

As such, I realized I needed to distract myself from reality and the news cycle. I read more books this year than I have in previous years. My goal is always 52, but this year I smashed that back in September.

I also began to take these ideas I have around community more seriously. I spent the first half of the year reading a lot of books about community and civic engagement. Then I took the leap and applied for the fall cohort of the Accepted Society Researchers program. When I was accepted, I couldn’t believe it. The program armed me with the skills and confidence I needed to really own this research. I’m excited to start sharing it over the coming months!

But as all that was happening, I visited 12 different states (a couple more than once), read those 70 books, watched more tv shows than I can count, bought too many things and wore some pretty fun outfits. All of my favorites, plus some pictures from those travels below!!

States visited

• Washington D.C.
• Seattle, Washington
• Tallahassee, Florida
• Oklahoma City Oklahoma
• Denver, Colorado
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• San Antonio, TX
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Concord, New Hampshire
• Montpelier and Burlington, Vermont
• Nashville, TN
• Hartford, Connecticut
• Providence, Rhode Island
• Pittsburgh, Clarion and Mercer Cty, Pennsylvania

Books Read

Looks I loved