Ends/ Means

Graduation: there is much to say. Commencement weekend was beautiful. Too beautiful I might actually risk ruining it with words... this is only a bit of what is floating around my head.

Commencement, Baccaleaureate, the funny cap, ill-fitting gown, shiny cords, and diploma are "ends." They are certainly important, but completely unrepresentative of the means (how I got to the photographs above). The means were less shiny; more real.

Being real, my eighth and final semester of college was the most difficult of them all. It was epically long and exhausting. It was physically/emotionally/spiritually draining until the very last moment. I am much too close to begin drafting my reflective memoir. But I think, when I look back on this strange chapter of my life, I'll say I learned about the means. I learned about getting through a class period (not a course), a page (not a paper), and a day (not a semester).

I am grateful to everyone involved in the many steps I took towards graduation-- the means. My diploma pales in comparison to the warm and generous wisdom of my friends, family, professors, coaches and mentors. My only thought for repaying you is to lead an important life. Not a life of being important... I have heard that is overrated. An important life, embracing the full range of human experience and making life better for others. I will carry you with me.

Tomorrow

Rough

One "page in process" from my Spanish research. Ouch. Lesson learned: never, ever become attached to a first draft. Especially in your second language, because even good ideas can be grammatically nonsensical.

Chaos: a portrait

This is my desk, circa April 31, 2010, shortly before I turned in my second senior thesis. Can you find: 3 separate coffee mugs, a rubber duck, Fulbright acceptance materials, a pocket Ecuadorian constitution, a Michel Foucault greeting card, something that says "Honduras", a handmade ceramic dish, a Jesus action figure, 2 graduation tassels, an ipod, and something in support of gay marriage?

Unsurprisingly, I have found it nearly impossible to work at my desk this year. I am packing everything up now, in anticipation of graduation (countdown: 7 days). The ants are mostly gone.

Spanish Thesis

Spanish speakers/readers can access the full text of my thesis ("Ecuadorian History and the Construction of Female Subjectivities: an Analysis of Three Novels by Alicia Yanez Cossio")
AQUÍ.

True.