End of Semester Thoughts

As I sit in the library, having edited my last final paper of the semester, delaying submitting it to my professor because that always feels so conclusive, I have time to reflect on the semester. I'll give you a tidbit from each of my classes that you can maybe use to impress your friends.

The Political Wisdom of Homer
This was one of my favorite classes. It falls under political philosophy if we're categorizing it. We asked questions like "Do you deserve a good grade if you study? Is it unjust if you get a bad grade?" and "Does Odysseus even want to go home to Ithaca? Is Odysseus selfish?" You can learn a lot about human nature by looking at what people tell themselves, i.e. that the gods protect them if they sacrifice to them, etc. The final paper I wrote for this course talked about the gods and nature, and how Homer showed the power of nature, but called it an act of the gods, to get his audience accustomed to accepting that nature is more powerful than the gods. Don't steal my idea.

Interesting tidbit: The first recorded instance of the word "nature" appears in The Odyssey. And Penelope is badass.

Senior Seminar in English
This class was with one of my favorite professors, and everyone in the class was a senior English major, so the class discussion was really great. We went over a bunch of the classics, which are important, because everything stems from them. I wrote my final paper on governesses and mental illness in English nineteenth century literature, using Jane Eyre and "The Turn of the Screw" as the works that I focused on. Really interesting stuff there.

Interesting tidbit: Charlotte Bronte was a governess! And former governesses made up the majority of patients in insane asylums at that time. So pay your babysitter well.

My other two classes were Writing the TV Pilot and Intro Computer Music. Both were very interesting and a lot of fun to be in, but the creative aspects are more difficult to summarize here. But I learned a lot of good skills! I hope to employ them in the future. Go creativity!

Beat the Blues

With finals coming up for a lot of us college students, I thought I'd post a few things that help me feel a little brighter when I'm gloomy. We all tend to be hard on ourselves, and we have to remember to be kind to ourselves, as well as others. A little self-care can go a long way. (Sorry for being cheesy) So, here are my tips for little pick-me-ups:

1. Reach out--Talking can be so helpful. Sharing your struggles and opening up can help you feel closer to whomever you're sharing with, and even open up new avenues of support. You may find they're going through something similar, or that they're willing to help. Saying what you're struggling with out loud can also make it feel more manageable, at least for me.
2. Be nice!--Not that you're mean. Make a conscious effort to compliment someone, hold open the door for the person behind you, make your friend a card, send a funny picture to someone you haven't talked to in a while, ask someone how their day is going. Making someone else feel good will make you feel good. It's selfish, really. 
3. Exercise--I'm not saying you need to go lift, get "swole," or run a marathon.  Go for a light jog, stretch, do some jumping jacks. Just get your blood moving. I've been loving yoga recently. After class, I feel like my insides are warm jelly and I could fall asleep at any time, I'm so content. Getting workout clothes on and getting out the door are half the battle. 
4. Watch a show--This isn't always the best thing, but it helps me feel like I have time in my day to do things that I want to do, instead of have to do. I've been watching "Jane the Virgin" on Netflix and it's a great show. Very ridiculous and self-aware. If you're into more serious stuff "Sherlock" on Netflix is also a great choice. And you'll feel fancy listening to British accents. 
5. Drink a cup of tea--You'll feel all warm inside. And you can Instagram it so you look meditative and artsy. 
6. Color--I just got "Secret Garden" by Johanna Basford and it's gorgeous. It's a coloring book for adults and the drawing you get to color in are so beautiful you can't mess it up, which is always my biggest concern. Picking colors, shading, and seeing your progress on my coloring are all therapeutic for me. My sister got one of her the Basford coloring books, too, and I think I like hers better than mine, so make sure you research all your options. 
7. Give yourself a break--Literally and figuratively. Take a couple minutes away from your work to go on a walk or check Buzzfeed. If you mess up, give yourself a break. Happens to the best of us. If I'm feeling stressed out, it helps me to ask if what I'm upset about will matter in a year. And it usually won't. 

Those are just a few things, but I hope they help!

Fall Times

Hello!

I'm sorry for the long hiatus. Things get crazy. Transitions and such. But here I am! Full-blown senior in college.

The summer ended fantastically with an amazing last dinner at Blue Hill and going to Book of Mormon finally.

So far, the fall has been filled with frisbee, work, swimming in a river, a beautiful farm dinner,  a little apple picking, a sprained ankle from frisbee, attempting to plan for after graduation (eek!), dyeing my hair, Halloween, and a few visits from, and to, loved ones.

What I've Learned Living in New York (so far)

My time in New York is coming to an end. I can't express how wonderful this summer was. I was lucky enough to learn an incredible amount from two different internships, grow closer with the quirky, sweet, and silly Will and Schuyler, and have the best summer of my life with Scott.

Enough with the sappy stuff. Let's get down to the nitty gritty. There's a learning curve when you move to New York, especially if you're like me and have never lived in a metropolis before. You're gonna trip a few times before you get that NYC strut down. You know you're acclimated when you start shoving past people on the sidewalk.

I think everyone has thought about living in New York before. Or they've at least thought that, then visited, got pooped on by a pigeon, took it as a sign, and decided never to go back. I don't know. It could happen.

Anyway, here are some tips:

My Books of the Moment: August

Here we are again. Books. *sigh of happiness* 

As you can see, I have ventured into a diverse library selection as of late. And, in case you were wondering, no--I haven't finished Lord of the Rings, but thanks for asking. How many 1,000 page trilogies have you finished this summer? Hmm?? Not so easy, is it? 

I'm sorry. That got a little aggressive.

I feel a little guilty about not finishing books. Until I was about 12 I finished every book I ever started, even if I hated it. And I would finish that book before I started a new one. Then I realized that's a painful way to go through life, and that's how I ended up here: midway through four books at once.

But first let me tell you about the books I've actually finished this summer.

Broadway Updates

Last I told you all, I had seen Matilda. My Broadway experiences have really racked up since then. Whenever Scott and I both have a day off and a free afternoon, we head down to Broadway. Since our first expedition, we've been three more times. Here's how they went:

Summer, You Fleeting Mistress: How to Extend Her Glory

Most people admit that once August hits, summer has sung its sweet song and is already parting with us. I reject this idea.

While I admit that it feels like it was still May just last week, August is no less than those sweet early months of summer. The heat wave of July is over, and everyone feels nostalgic and eager to fit in everything they can before September hits. Why not capture that energy and pounce on every opportunity, rather than lament over our fair lover's short-lived beauty. Here's what I plan on doing to extend Summer's glory:

1. Never Wear Pants. Frankly, this should be a motto at any point in the year, but especially now. Dresses and shorts allow summer to breeze its way onto as many areas of exposed skin as possible. Don't shut her out with pants.
2. Read Books/Watch Shows about Winter. Nothing will make you feel more like you are in the heat of summer than watching someone else freeze to death while eating a moose carcass they found in the woods. 
3. Go Outside. Eat outside, read outside, walk outside, pee outside, shower outside. You'll be grateful when it's January and you haven't felt the wind on your face in three moons. 
4. Deny Everything. Tell October to go home while you eat ice cream in your bathing suit. 
5. Surrender and Buy School Supplies. At some point, you'll have to come to grips with the fact that summer is ending and you must return to real life shortly. However, the blunt pain of this realization can be numbed with school/office supplies. Nothing heals wounds like a neat stack of notecards, or an eraser as pink as a baby's bottom. 

Martha's Vineyard and New York Updates: Mostly Photos

I've been lucky enough to escape to my island home a few times so far this summer. Everyone requires the occasional break from the hustle and bustle and noise and smells and heat and smog and chicken bones in the street and crowded subway trains of the city once in a while to keep from going crazy. 

This is one of the prettier, calmer moments of the city that remind me how cool it is that I can be here. 

DIY Paper Bag Wrapping Paper

In the words of Broad City: Reduce Reuse Rihanna.

Scott's birthday was earlier this month, and I had several books as presents. As a book-lover myself, I overestimate the excitement others experience when receiving books as gifts. But I think he liked them. Here are the books I chose, if you're in the market for some gifts or light reading:

My Broadway Lottery Luck

Photo: http://expertvagabond.com/cheap-broadway-tickets/

One of my absolute favorite things to do growing up was go to musicals. I've gone to a fair share of them, both in my hometown of Buffalo and on visits to Toronto and New York, but each was a special treat and I remember each vividly. There's nothing like the feeling when the lights go down, the orchestra tunes up, and the curtain rises at the beginning of a show. I've been living in New York for a few weeks now, and it dawned recently on me that I haven't even tried to go to a show yet. So yesterday, when Scott had a day off, we decided to try our luck with the lottery.

My Books of the Moment

Books, books, wonderful books. During the school year, I read a lot for class. In two English classes alone this past semester I read 16 books. While I love many of the books I read in class and they become some of my favorites, it isn't the same process as reading for pleasure in my own time. When I read for class, I'm often going as fast as I can, tallying up how many hours it will take me to read another 200 pages, hunched up in the library with a pen in my hand. But when I read for pleasure I can relax and absorb the plot without contemplating the use of the picturesque, or the author's views on evolution. I must admit as time goes on the lines between reading for pleasure and for class get blurred in that way. After three years of studying English at the college level, I do find myself analyzing the text for feminist theories and wondering what the symbolic geography lends to the family dynamic in any given novel. I remember my English teacher in high school telling me how lucky I was that I could still read a book without a pen in my hand. Now, as those days seem numbered for me, I see what he meant. 

But now let me share some of the books I've been reading lately for pleasure.

On to the Next One: Brooklyn

On to Brooklyn! And there have been a few stops along the way.

Ohio-->Buffalo-->Martha's Vineyard-->Concord-->Brooklyn

After hours in the library surrounded by tears, notes, dozens of soggy paper coffee cups, USB flash drives, and scraps of food I managed to gather to sustain myself, my junior year of college ended. 

After a couple weeks of R&R in Buffalo, my mom, sister, and I shoved our car full of suitcases, turned on Comedy Central radio and set off for the 8 hour drive to Martha's Vineyard. Comedy Central turned out to be unsurprisingly male--and therefore penis driven--comedy, but there were some gems in there that literally brought my mother to tears. This is the definition of "dangerously funny" because she was driving at the time and her tears of laughter were impairing her vision. In case you're wondering, the joke had to do with a woman repeatedly leaving messages on her mother's answering machine pretending to be baby Jesus. 

The Vineyard was similarly restful, although more beautiful and with more delicious food than Buffalo. One of the highlights of the trip was eating dinner on the second floor of a restaurant next to a window. Yes, the views of the sunset were gorgeous, yes the food was scrumptious. But that's not what made this dinner such a poignant moment of the trip. From our perch, we were able to see two teenage girls design their own photo shoot under a tree beside the sidewalk outside. One girl was the model and the other was the photographer snapping away with her Iphone. The poses consisted of throwing her head back, flinging leaves in the air, and the classic: leaning against the tree. Real ingenuity and gumption was shown, however, when the shoot was taken to the next level, and the model laid down on the ground underneath the tree and her photographer friend fanned out her hair behind her. They assessed this photo, heads bent over the screen, and walked away. Their work was done. There's no beating the on-the-ground-hair-fanned-out-mermaid-style photo. 

While on Martha's Vineyard other activities included bike riding. I forced my dad and sister to join me as I turned an amateur walking trail into a dirt-bike adventure, causing several near-accidents. 

In Concord, New Hampshire I was visiting my friend Jane and her family, all of whom I love dearly. Jane is a big-shot business lady now, though, leaving me in the house while she went to her high-power internship to watch Friends and play with her dogs and secretly eat her cereal. It was a grand time, nonetheless. 

Now, here I am in Brooklyn! Moved in for the summer, with a remote internship, looking for a job. The city is more daunting than I anticipated, and I have to push myself to go outside and do things alone. There have been some great adventures in the short time I've been here, though. Jane's dad's gig in Dumbo, a Mumford and Sons concert, a premiere for a web series done by some Kenyon alumni, trips to bookstores, the High Line, Ultimate frisbee pick up, and silence-inducing fried chicken. I think I'll become more comfortable with the neighborhood and the city with time. It's something that takes a little adjustment. The places I've lived in so far in my life have all been relatively small and quiet compared to New York. I'm excited to get this city under my belt. 

Now pictures!

Grandpa questions my bike adventures