By G.I. Titmouse
Dear Myself Four Years Ago Today,
Nope. We had no idea. Who knew? How could anyone know? The last four years have been insane. Here is a very incomplete list of 21 things to come between now and May—no, June—2021:
Read MoreBy Jacqueline Roderick ‘23
CW: death of a parent
On a Saturday morning, three weeks after my estranged mother’s sudden death, I found myself walking in solitude along the shoreline.
Read Moreby Dallis Kehoe ‘23
The alcohol smiles through our eyes as we find ourselves flowing with the vibrations that pulse around us. I see your smile widen as your body is overtaken by the rhythm of night and sound. I see you, and you become mine for a second.
Read Moreby Samantha Elalto Cuneta ‘21
Language forms the basis of a culture, and Taglish, a combination of Tagalog and English, is a daily norm in the Philippines. Yet the concept of synonyms is almost nonexistent. “Nakakatuwa” translates into “funny” in English, and is interchangeable with “humorous” or “witty.” In my country, the word is almost never used in these contexts. To translate “nakakatuwa” from its native form—to strip it of connotations built up through three centuries of colonization—would dissolve the culture that invented this word and prevent its people from adopting a permanent culture of indignation.
Read Moreby Emma Sullivan ‘24
CW: sexual assault
After I read Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese at the onset of quarantine, I thought, Yes, I just need to let my body “love what it loves.” I’d always brushed off the jokes about liking girls from the boys at my lunch table, or once from my father at Thanksgiving dinner. While I dodged the thought, I compiled a Straight-Girl-History for myself as refuting evidence. Now that I was in forced meditation, I had to address that, Yes, boys were fine, I guess. But girls made my breath hitch. I thought maybe, this is the thing I love and need to let myself love.
Read Moreby Stella Ho ‘22
The thing is, the cool girl I admire is a character. More often than not, she’s a character defined by men, whether they’re the writers that created her or the male characters that love her. This worshipful gaze turns her into the idealized version of woman that I saw onscreen and took as a representation of reality. Struck by her glamour, I applied that same male gaze to judge myself and all the girls I met.
Read Moreby Laura Chin ‘23
CW: implication of religious homophobia
I grew up on an interesting cocktail of religions. Every Sunday morning, my family would pack into our little blue car and drive to the San Marino Presbyterian Church. At night, my sisters and I would gather around my mother for bedtime stories from D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. At an annual family gathering in some glitteringly golden-red Chinese restaurant, I remember squinting at the jolly statue in the lobby. And, many miles across the sea, brushed with salt and a gentle island breeze, I listened, wide-eyed, to my grandmother’s tales of a whole new pantheon of gods: powerful commanders of the earth, wind, sea, and sky, beings as old as time and chaos and darkness themselves.
Read Moreby Marie Tan ‘21
When I told my dad I got my period, he was excited. “You know in China, we give our neighbors red rice when a daughter has her period!” Please don’t do that, I told my dad.
Read Moreby Zoë Owens ‘22
CW: implications of eating disorders
She didn’t look at me as she said it. It was almost like she wasn’t saying it to me; she was saying it to get it out of her head and off of her heart.
Read MoreBy Parker Piscitello-Fay ‘22
I have two beautiful mothers, an amazing younger sister, a sperm donor father, and at least three half-siblings. I don’t know how to explain how this feels to strangers.
Read Moreby Megan McNally ‘20
I know, of course, that the world has changed. But sometimes I am surprised at the ferocity with which it has not.
Read Moreby Roz Rea ‘19
Content warning: suicidal ideation
Senior Spring has culminated in one event after another where I am supposed to wear outfits that make me look “nice.”
Senior Soirée required “cocktail attire” with the caveat of “whatever makes you feel comfortable.” But if everyone else is in cocktail attire and you’re not, you sure won’t feel comfortable anymore. I wore a blue lace cocktail dress. It didn’t zip all the way up.
Read Moreby Lydia MacKay ‘19
When I tell people that I’m majoring in History, their first question is often, “Well, what are you going to do with that?” Is there a good answer to this question? Sometimes I list out some “acceptable” responses—law, business, the usual—but other times I’m just sarcastic. As if their skepticism isn’t bad enough, people often feel compelled to offer their advice that I choose a more profitable major. True story: once I talked with this man for all of five minutes, and he recommended that I switch my major to accounting.
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