Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

Knowledge is for the ancestors. I am learning that every day as I sink deeply into an anthem of the decades. From the origin of life, to the nature of words and their meanings, they say the secret of ancient wisdom lies in what we name, and the meanings we keep, those new, those forgotten too, those simple yet deep, that probe into the essence of our being. Such that all that is left is a prayer, that one’s mind will forever be nurtured and nourished with songs of ancestors long gone, yet from whom all our greatness, seen today, first began.

We never met, yet when I think of my journey through academia, I consider Dr. Ruth Kirschstein as my academic ancestor. I embrace her spirit fully for training the next generation of scholars. I know I am nothing if not for all the ways she paved the field so that one day, I can say, who ever knew that I would be an F-31 predoctoral scholar (named in her honor), trained to promote diversity in research. This F-31 grant, my first one ever written, changed my life and I look forward to teaching how it can be used to change the life’s of the next generation of scholars.