Disease, Dis-ease

It's a funny spot I find myself in right now. A period of transition between transitions. Spring semester has ended, but summer hasn't quite kicked into gear yet. I'm getting ready to study architecture, but I'm still declared as a biochemistry major on paper. I've got about three courses left on the pre-med track, but …

March 2017: A Photo Diary

Hello dear friends! As some of you may know, I keep an Instagram to the side of my blog where I share my photography, matched with quotes. Recently, I’ve been looking for some ways to integrate my two channels, and so last month I created a composite “Photo Diary” of January 2017, followed by another "Photo Diary" …

A Book of One’s Own

I free myself from my cashmere cape and drape it around my awkwardly high chair.  Perching from this vantage point, I face the rectangular table, nested among letterpress tools, jars of utensils, and shelves of carefully filed stamps. I am here without guarantee of return. Having submitted a waitlist request a few days ago, I …

Original Poem: Sleep is a Place

Sleep is a place And in it a world as real As reality The journey to Sleep Is a short one Simply crossing a doorway With a single step Insomnia Is the inability to open This portal to sleep Weariness Rushes and invites You in Coming back through Is abrupt or reluctant A noise concerns …

Original Poem: Oasis

A desert, barren, devoid of meaning, Stretching on for eternity, Scorching sun sucking souls Of what they were meant to be. No shade, without relief Phantom winds roam the scene Dried air like shriveled minds Of which some refreshment they are keen. For in darkness there is hope A treasure hides in dumps Or like …

Senior Year Reading List

During my last year of high school, I rediscovered how much I really liked reading. Here are some of the titles I read, with my ratings. I wish I could write reviews on them all, but the ones rated five stars are the ones I really highly recommend! And I would love to discuss any and …

Children Invent Things: Venice, Determinism, Bach

Before I knew that there was a country called Italy, before I knew the word philosophy, let alone Plato or Socrates, before I had touched classic literature or become addicted to the internet, I liked to daydream. I still do, of course, that's a pastime that will never completely leave me and is probably essential …

Slam Poem: What Do I Know?

I know nothing, of me or the world. I know, and only know, that I know not a thing, not a whit How do I know that in this chair I now sit? Can I prove, am I real? We can guess, support, conclude But your green could be my red And my rock is, …

You Don’t Have to Get It All Figured Out to Move Forward

Hooray! If you’re reading this, then it means that my efforts of beginning a blog have begun to take fruit. I have procrastinated creating my website and writing my first posts because frankly, I was scared. Staying where you always have been is so easy. I was scared of what others might think of me spilling a corner of my brain into text on a daily basis. At the same time, I was scared of what would happen if absolutely nobody read it (still a fear of mine) and I was scared that it would be a waste of my time. So. At this stage in my life, I can take advantage of obscurity. I can use my ignorance and naïveté to my benefit. I still think that anything is possible (but not everything - there's a difference) for me. The uncharted waters of knowledge are infinite for me. I can take risks and fail again and again with no reputation to lose. I have no insecurity but my ever-present ego, which is really nothing but self-dictated baggage. Well, five weeks and 46 posts in, I'm thinking, I'm glad I took the first step. Sure, I was stressed during exam week, but the few hours I could find to spare became super valuable for me. It was amazing how productive I could be when I knew that my time was limited. I loved exacting the transfer of a cloudy notion in my head into clear, specific words. I sure didn't know everything about blogging when I created my WordPress account a month ago. Heck, I still don't. But if anything, what I've learned about life is that you can, and sometimes you have to, continue, even if you don't think you have everything figured out at the stage you're at. Your seeker comes to find you whether you're ready or not. Exam weeks come whether you're ready or not. You graduate whether or not you think you're ready for the real world. Accept that you'll have to learn things as you go, otherwise you'll never start. Once that happens there's a certain feeling of peace.

Original Poem: My Revelation

Here's one I had written from experience nearly three years ago now. I unearthed this recently and was reminded of how the younger version of myself experienced God, "surprised by joy", as C.S. Lewis would have put it. Oh! How I soared From that sudden energetic burst The earth was far below And I had …