Dear Academic Mama,

I am here. I am still here. I said this today after thinking about how hard life has been after finishing the Ph.D. I emailed you to ask you for a letter of recommendation again today and remembered how many times for many years, I would come to your office for a meeting and how I wish you were here.

I came to you like many who walk through your door carrying more than books and my laptop. You reminded me that This Bridge Called My Back isn’t just a catchy title, but a lived reality. And I thought about how when I met you, you helped me set down my worries, my pain, and gave me a safe place as a Xicana in academia, a survivor, a single mama and so many things I was or became in the six years I spent with you in…