WeSocialWork

I met you at the first SWDE conference. Even then, I noticed your brilliance. I noticed your kindness. You welcomed me in.
You gave generously of your time.
You offered thoughtful mentoring from the very beginning.
You taught me about flipped pedagogy.
A year later, I presented on flipped pedagogy because of our conversations.
The room was packed. People lined the walls.
You were right.
I noted your brilliance.
I noted your kindness.
I was buying crab apple trees for the backyard with my mom when Marina’s email arrived.
I stopped.
I looked at those trees and thought about how much you would have marveled at them.
I could not believe it. Unimaginable. I cried as I paid for the trees and checked out.
I thought about your brilliance,
your warmth,
your care.
I thought about our collaborative writing. Wow, article of the year with Laurel.
I thought about the ideas we shared and the projects we collaborated on together.
I texted Matthea. And I found myself thinking about community and support in this lifetime.
I thought about you and Laurel sitting in the front row, cheering us on during our presentation in Panama. You didn’t have to do that, but you did.

I thought about how I always called you a social work tech goddess.
You had a gift for helping us imagine what was possible.

You were curious, creative, and generous with what you learned. I tuned in for the first part of your SWDE keynote last month, mostly just to provide that cheering back for you.
You were supportive.
You created spaces where I felt welcomed.
I smile thinking of you buying a fancy hot tub with your Meta paycheck. I remember cheering you on as you sat in that hot tub, soaking up a well-earned moment of rest.
For someone who spent so much time helping the rest of us imagine what was possible, it was nice to see you pause and enjoy a little of what you had built.
That was such a Melanie moment.

Brilliant. Funny. Human.

That is what remains with me now.
Not only your scholarship and brilliant ideas.
Not only your innovations.
Not only the ideas you shared so freely.
I remember the communities you built.
I remember the people you connected.
I remember the ways you showed up for others.
I remember your brilliance. I remember your kindness.
And I am grateful that our paths crossed.
I will keep amplifying your work. I will keep mentoring others.
And I will keep building the kinds of communities you taught us were possible.

Thanks, Johanna

     ~ by Johanna Creswell Báez

Melanie (left) and Laurel at Social Work Conference in Panama