I have work experience in HR and Operations. I read a lot, I enjoy taking online courses, and I do some yoga and some rock climbing. I enjoy learning languages, and I think that I tend to have a fairly international/cross-cultural focus or awareness in my life. I was born and raised in a monolingual household in the US, but I’ve lived most of my adult life outside the US, with about ten years in China, two years in Spain, and less than a year in Brazil.
As far as EA is concerned, I’m fairly cause agnostic/cause neutral. I think that I am a little bit more influenced by virtue ethics and stoicism than the average EA, and I also occasionally find myself thinking about inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in EA. Some parts of the EA community that I’ve observed in-person seem not very welcoming to outsides, or somewhat gatekept. I tend to care quite a bit about how exclusionary or welcoming communities are.
I was told by a friend in EA that I should brag about how many books I read because it is impressive, but I feel uncomfortable being boastful, so here is my clunky attempt to brag about that.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, opinions are my own, not my employer’s.
In service of clear epistemics, I want to flag that the “horror stories” that your are sharing are very open to interpretation. If someone pressured someone else, what does that really mean? If could be a very professional and calm piece of advice, or it could be a repulsive piece of manipulation. Is feeling harassed a state that allows someone to press charges, rather than actual occurrence of harassment? (of course, I also understand that due to privacy and mob mentality, you probably don’t want to share all the details; totally understandable.)
So maybe these really are scenarios in which the community health team dropped the ball. But maybe they aren’t. And the snippets shared here aren’t enough for me to have confidence in either of those interpretations. I guess I mainly want to remind readers to not pass judgement based on tiny snippets of narratives.