Babu Chatterjee
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing…a schedule is a mock-up of reason and order – willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.” -Annie Dillard
Babu grew up in the woods of central North Carolina, surrounded and supported by a family of powerful matriarchs (two moms, a grandma, a twin sister, and pets to boot). After sticking around for college, he chose the Pacific Northwest as his natural next destination – it has closer mountains and beaches, more cold and rain (a pro for him), and open, tight-knit communities of people.
In college at Duke University, Babu (like many) initially had no idea what he wanted to do with his career, ultimately studying psychology & history due to an intense interest in wanting to understand human behavior. Inspired by a lifetime of attending and working at summer camps, he decided to try teaching shortly before his senior year of college, realizing the joy he felt as a camper translated perfectly to working with kids as an adult. He got a job teaching middle school at Open Window School and hasn’t looked back since!
Outside of school, Babu likes to hike, buy books quickly and read books slowly, scroll Wikipedia for hours, learn about geography, see drag performances, travel when possible, and hang out with any and all cats in his neighborhood, especially his roommate’s. He is passionate about encouraging empathy in all people, trying new things, and arguing with his friends over subjective ratings of music.
If I could have a meal with anyone, alive or dead, it would be the singer Lorde. Her reflection on what it means to be a young person has inspired me constantly, ever since I was a teenager.