I’ve never really traveled alone. I decided, though, on a bit of a whim (and available airline points) that I would take a few days in Mexico City. I have a respect for all of the dangers of the broader world— as a woman, you simply have to. But no matter: I booked the ticket. And I went.

II. the scenery

@elizabethjordiedavies#mexicocity #cdmx #travel

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Mexico City was immediately beautiful and welcoming. I felt at ease. I thought about how much propaganda we are served about Mexico and how touching down in the city proved it all wrong at once. I wanted this trip to be about seeking beauty and taking in as much light, color, and visual inspiration as I could. Going alone enabled me to take in and appreciate that beauty with intention.

Every park, every plant, every flash of pink I saw reminded me how this sort of manicured beauty is such a luxury in America (and maybe Mexico City too). I think making the beautiful accessible is now an ideological position of mine.

III. the art

This is what I came for! Eight museums, no excursions. My days were eat, art, nap, art, eat, dance. It was heavenly. I didn’t do the best job planning beyond selecting a location and googling which museums to go to. So the first full day I was there was International Worker’s Day and everything was closed. But the following days! I went to the Museo de Arte Moderno; the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo; Museo Nacional De Arte; Museo Vivo del Muralismo; Museo del Cacao; Museo Kaluz; Museo Soumaya; and the Casa Museo Guillermo Tovar de Teresa.

frida y diego

I spent a lot of time with the art of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, who often bring us into their situationship whether we want to be there or not.

But beyond their personal battles, I was reminded how much of Frida’s work was done while she was bedridden or otherwise impacted by her disability. I was also reminded that Diego wasn’t just a chauvinist male artist with a wandering eye; he was a fearless communist, often censored for his explicitly political work.

Ultimately, this trip taught me to let go of fear and seek out the wonders of the world, alone or with others. Move intentionally, speak your piece, and connect. An open heart is never a loss.

Engage Joy Daily

There’s something really… terminal about getting your PhD. Getting it feels like, okay I have arrived. You have your expertise. You figure out how to deliver it. And voilà. A career where you say things and (sometimes) people listen.

But lately I’ve decided I want to learn more…

Read more

It’s Monday night in my apartment in Long Beach and I’m insisting on this moment of reprieve before I begin some mad conference prep (…tomorrow). I’ve got a helluva schedule at the Western Political Science Association Conference this week. Come by one of my panels and say hi!

A sampling of my WPSA events:

• I’ll be presenting an article from m…

Read more

Read more

Happy end of quarter four, happy winter solstice, happy minute to collect my thoughts after Christmas! I’m writing to you from my brother’s porch, somewhere in the woods in Mississippi.

I think the way I can best describe this year and the last few weeks is a marathon— steady moving forward, focused. I’ve walked a line this year to complete my…

Read more

It’s officially fall! Another school year— teaching courses in ever relevant political subjects to a new crop of students. I’ve hit the third year on the tenure track and am definitely running in pursuit of my goals.

I’ve recently published a new article in Urban Affairs Review, titled “Fundamentals of Solidarity: Race-Based Caucus Organizin…

Read more

The train left the Seattle King Street …

Read more

I’m back on Substack! It’s August, one of my favorite months of the year— the heat and pressure of summer start to wear off but the school year hasn’t quite returned. There’s a sweetness and an ease to this time.

This summer, I focused on finishing my the first full draft of my book and I did it baby! I’m elated to have taken this first step a…

Read more

Below is a welcome speech I wrote for our graduate conference at UCI “Towards Liberation: Centering Our Communities in Research.” I’m so very proud of the space my students and I created to welcome graduate students from all over to present their work on Race and Critical Theory, Social Movements, Migration, and Race and Public Policy. Here a…

Read more

I’m sharing a speech I gave at a UCI event on the first 100 days of the second Trump presidency. Some of this has been percolating since my last post, but I articulate it a bit more here. I’m thinking about the ways Trump’s expansion of power has begun to capture even his own supporters, and the ways he will continue to create new enemies to …

Read more

Read more

Here I am for my monthly check in with you! I’ve been deep in teaching mode, in a cycle of prep and present in my Intro to Race and Ethnicity undergraduate class and my Social Movements in Theory and Practice graduate course. Teaching has been really invigorating and a place I’ve found I can do something significant by leaning into my experti…

Read more

I’m writing from Long Beach, where I am very lucky to live and work many miles away from the fires ravaging communities north of Los Angeles. It’s tragic and heart wrenching to watch climate disasters take people’s homes and livelihoods. If you wish to donate to relief efforts here is a link to a page of resources.

Another notch in the techno…

Read more

Read more

My friends,

When Donald Trump was reelected, I thought about my grandmother. My Ma Bette and I used to talk about politics a lot, share our disdain for Trump and laugh at the foolishness together. But then I remembered the world she grew up in. Rural Georgia in the 1940s was certainly an explicit racial hierarchy, sharp lin…

Read more

I’m not sure how to start this letter— I feel like the election is a conversation I need to have in a fuller, more considered way. Not because I think my opinion is the opinion you need to hear, but because there’s so much noise about what we should do, what we shouldn’t do, what needs to be done, etc etc to infinity.

So …

Read more

We’ve made it to another season, another end, another beginning. The summer sun has set and the autumn air is on its way. I’ve had an endlessly fun and productive summer. I feel like I’ve had an open heart to so many experiences and now I’m glad to settle back into the familiar doldrums of the academic year. I’m ready to make somethin…

Read more

Hi friends!

I’m writing to you from the middle of a southern California summer, specifically my little seaside apartment in Long Beach.1 But I come bearing summer reading recs!

A little housekeeping: I’ve started an Instagram for part and parcel. Give @everypartandparcel a follow.

And now for the main event: here’s what I’m r…

Read more

Here I am, I did it! I am done year 1 of the tenure track. It’s honestly been a great year with minimal catastrophes and only a moderate amount of late nights working. As summer settles in, I figured I would take a moment to exhale and think of advice to share for managing that first year.

1. Find Your People

   Navigating a brand new university is a…

Read more

The best part about having a postdoc is the time. And over the past few years I’ve had time to explore important side projects from grad school and time to get them published. So now, as I close my first year as a professor, I’ve got some fun things coming out.

Years ago, in my second year of graduate school, my colleagues Jenn M. Jackson a…

Read more