Learning Statement:
“No, I don't know the path
Or what kind of pith I've amassed
Long lines of questions
Lessons” – Justin Vernon, 666ʇ
I sat in a tree in Ravenna Park and listened to Bon Iver’s album, 22, A Million, for the first time in full. It was quiet and the sky was soft. There was a creek below my feet and most of my visual field was filled with the muted green of leaves at the beginning of fall. I had unknowingly just started the hardest and most trying quarter of my college career, and this album would help me through it. Listening to it again, months later, breaks my heart in the best possible way.
Almost done with my undergraduate experience, I’m left to question: was it good? Will I miss Seattle, a place that has never really felt like home? Can I reconcile the happy moments of my college experience with the utterly desolate? Will I look back on these years fondly, or will I refuse to look back at all? Right now, I don’t know the answers to any of these questions. Often I am overwhelmed by the sheer weight of hardships I faced during college, ones that reverberate through the years and still strike me today. Other times, I walk around my cozy and quiet Seattle neighborhood, warmed by the good memories I have, and think leaving this place will be close to a tragedy.
One thing I’m trying to focus on and trying to shift my thinking towards, is the importance of balance. This may not be a huge, unique revelation, but I’ve found it’s one that helps me reflect on my time at UW: no experience is only good or only bad. For all the bad I’ve endured, there has also been a lot of good. I am lifted up by the communities I’ve been able to form here, including my excellent peers in the Honors Program and my co-tutors at the Odegaard Writing and Research Center. The people I’ve met through these, and other, experiences have been critical to my happiness and sense of belonging at UW. And on the whole, I’ve been pleased with my academic experience. I have been invigorated by my biochemistry coursework and enlightened by my anthropology and Honors courses. All of these classes, spanning disciplines and departments, have increased my understanding of the world and of life itself.
Naturally, these good experiences will be mentioned throughout my portfolio. But, because I am a strong believer that vulnerability is vital, so will the bad. And the balance I’m learning to find both between and within them.
“I hurry bout shame, and I worry bout a worn path
And I wander off, just to come back home
//
Well it harms it harms me it harms, I'll let it in” – Justin Vernon, 00000 Million
Or what kind of pith I've amassed
Long lines of questions
Lessons” – Justin Vernon, 666ʇ
I sat in a tree in Ravenna Park and listened to Bon Iver’s album, 22, A Million, for the first time in full. It was quiet and the sky was soft. There was a creek below my feet and most of my visual field was filled with the muted green of leaves at the beginning of fall. I had unknowingly just started the hardest and most trying quarter of my college career, and this album would help me through it. Listening to it again, months later, breaks my heart in the best possible way.
Almost done with my undergraduate experience, I’m left to question: was it good? Will I miss Seattle, a place that has never really felt like home? Can I reconcile the happy moments of my college experience with the utterly desolate? Will I look back on these years fondly, or will I refuse to look back at all? Right now, I don’t know the answers to any of these questions. Often I am overwhelmed by the sheer weight of hardships I faced during college, ones that reverberate through the years and still strike me today. Other times, I walk around my cozy and quiet Seattle neighborhood, warmed by the good memories I have, and think leaving this place will be close to a tragedy.
One thing I’m trying to focus on and trying to shift my thinking towards, is the importance of balance. This may not be a huge, unique revelation, but I’ve found it’s one that helps me reflect on my time at UW: no experience is only good or only bad. For all the bad I’ve endured, there has also been a lot of good. I am lifted up by the communities I’ve been able to form here, including my excellent peers in the Honors Program and my co-tutors at the Odegaard Writing and Research Center. The people I’ve met through these, and other, experiences have been critical to my happiness and sense of belonging at UW. And on the whole, I’ve been pleased with my academic experience. I have been invigorated by my biochemistry coursework and enlightened by my anthropology and Honors courses. All of these classes, spanning disciplines and departments, have increased my understanding of the world and of life itself.
Naturally, these good experiences will be mentioned throughout my portfolio. But, because I am a strong believer that vulnerability is vital, so will the bad. And the balance I’m learning to find both between and within them.
“I hurry bout shame, and I worry bout a worn path
And I wander off, just to come back home
//
Well it harms it harms me it harms, I'll let it in” – Justin Vernon, 00000 Million