It’s been a glorious five days.
Late last week, I flew to Chicago, where I had the honor of being interviewed onstage by NAPO President Mindy Godding at the 2025 Summit of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. I held a book-signing event where I got to meet and chat with many wonderful organizers.
I then flew to Portland, where I joined fellow anthropologists at the joint conference of the Society for Applied Anthropology and the Society for the Anthropology of North America. I presented on professional organizers’ experiences of the pandemic for the session “Work in the Wake of the Pandemic” along with colleagues Claudia Strauss, Ilana Gershon, and Michelle Venetucci.
This fabulous trip was made even sweeter by a stay with my sister Tawny and her family in Chicago and a whirlwind self-guided tour of the downtown Portland food scene, featuring a sushi burrito from Rollin’ Fresh, the divine farro and carrot salad at Dolly Olive, a made-to-order milk chocolate and salted caramel s’more from Toasted S’mores, a perfect sake and sushi dinner from Masu, McTavish dipped lemon shortbread, avocado toast with whipped ricotta and pickled onions at Grassa (in the airport!), and more oat milk lattes than I can count. My only regret is that the cheekily named Fried Egg I’m in Love food truck was closed when I swung by (twice), so I’ll save that for my next visit.
Now back home, I’m excited to prepare for upcoming talks to the National Association of Black Professional Organizers and a presentation to attendees at a dinner honoring some of the many generous donors to the CSUF College of Humanities & Social Sciences.
With warmest regards,
Carrie M. Lane
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