UNBECOMING

“She didn’t know how to fix herself….” -Bryn Chancellor, Sycamore I love the idea that we find in a book what we need to see or hear at that particular moment. I just finished re-reading Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor. It is the first selection in our campus-wide book club, Levine Reads. The first time I read the book, I had a purpose in mind. I was trying to solve the mystery that unraveled throughout the pages. There was a missing girl—a crime to be solved. I needed the answer

And I want to tell her to do more than just believe it, but to enjoy it! That changing your mind is one of the best ways of finding out whether or not you still have one. -Taylor Mali, “Like Lilly Like Wilson” I started off in January declaring 2017 to be my year of minimalism. My best friend also adopted this goal. Well, she won. She swept through her entire house in less than a week. She made a budgetary plan to minimize spending. A third of her belongings were at Goodwill

There in that moment she sat as a nine year old girl filled with wonder and dreams, completely absorbed in the bounty of my leftover lunch.

Perhaps this new beginning comes with a toddlerhood of its own. Each new phase demands fresh-tilled soil to start anew with a tiny seed. In

It has been said that you are the sum of the three people you spend the most time with in your life. If this is true, we have to carefully c

“WE CAN CHANGE THE WEATHER IN OUR FLAT!” My husband does not even flinch when I burst into his office with a grand idea or revelation. I confess that I am an enthusiastic, “Guess what?!” type of person. But on this occasion, the wheels were really turning. I was reading Zadie Smith’s latest novel, Swing Time. The narrator states that her parents got divorced and “the weather changed in their flat.” I could immediately relate to the image. This is a universal truth beyond divo

Instead of a swear jar, I can create a “should” jar to hold myself accountable. Though it will take work and discipline, I refuse to enter t

"It turns out, I am terrible at self-compassion. A few weeks ago I took a self-compassion quiz that was linked to the book I was readin

It is a painful process of unbecoming and learning everything we thought was a given - an unchanging truth - might not be set in stone. We d

This past week we were given a rare opportunity. Faculty members were offered two hours of professional development credit for attending a watercolor workshop. It was taught by a resident artist. He opened the presentation by explaining that painting with watercolor was a lot like a cat. You can tell it what to do, but it is going to do whatever it wants to do. What? Oh, HELL NO. How am I going to relax through a creative outlet that I CANNOT CONTROL? I have two children; I d

“There’s a part of me that likes shoes, and likes dresses, and likes makeup, and likes books, and likes to write. I think that’s the case for many women. But our culture makes us think we have to choose slices of ourselves that we’re comfortable showing the world.” -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie As often happens, our family dinner conversation took a strange turn. We were discussing cultural grooming practices. “Female shaving has been used historically to keep women in a visually