Ah, yes — the mid-year review. That time in the corporate denizen’s annual cycle that makes her pause, take a deep long sigh, and ask the age-old question: Can I really do this for another year, or should I start sending out resumes now?

Well, whether you’re staying or going, the midyear is always a good time to ask for more money or another role you want. At a minimum, it gives your manager what she needs to advocate for you.

Three reasons to have the midyear

Here are a few scenarios where it’s useful:

1) You had a blowout…

Coronavirus is still killing people and spreading even if you don’t feel it

“Does anyone know anybody personally who’s actually had coronavirus?”

That question, or something like it, came across my Facebook feed sometime in late March. It seemed innocuous enough, but I couldn’t help feeling the attitude was: Is this a hoax or what?

Immediately, an image of my sister lying in bed ill with COVID-19 popped into my head.

At the time, cases were ramping up in New York City. Still, we were on pause. …

Arrivals

I met the Sankofa bird the day I landed in Accra, Ghana, summer of 2001.

When I touched down in that sprawling, tropical city on a breezy Sunday afternoon, I immediately felt closer to my native Haiti — 4,900 miles across the Atlantic — than I had felt living in Brooklyn for a decade, less than half that distance.

As I rode into city center, anticipation made me hyperalert. The sun’s rays really did seem to touch every single thing — just like Mufasa said in The Lion King. The heat; all the browns, bronzes, ebonies, and golds of…