Be it the vexing half-hour chirrup of the old wall clock, Professor Litfin’s pager beep, or perhaps the sighs of the student beside you, it’s hard not to be cognizant of time’s passage. In the classroom, we are beholden to this ever-present tick-tock. We’re getting older by the second, damnit! Even closing our eyes, as we do in contemplation, does… Read more »
You’ve likely seen the famous Norman Rockwell quartet from 1943: the freedom series. The work has always affected me—I’m a sucker for realism, how the artist grasps light, the details of fabric fold and skin’s ripple. Note the prominent vein on a knuckle, the crispy glisten of Grandma’s holiday fowl. (Putting aside the obvious lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity—considering… Read more »
A drizzly day came in early December when eight people rose to do something different. “Solar Powered” aimed to generate sweat—perspiration as lubrication for social advocacy. It was a yoga & dance party aimed to empower people in light of dismal climate change facts; we wanted to discuss agency in a positive setting. I worked on the basic logistics of… Read more »
A quick shout-out to our classmate, Claire, who penned a crisp and comprehensive article for the UW Daily about mindfulness in the classroom. A talented journalist, Claire interviews a few experts on campus while weaving in her own findings from the quarter in Honors 392. She calls attention to three alliterative components within mindfulness: “presence, personhood, and perspective.” When outlined as… Read more »
* Not all of us have access to a magic school bus capable of shape-shifting. Nor can we guide eight wide-eyed students (“pupils with dilated pupils”?) through the human body for a lesson on digestion. Not everyone has the budget for such far-out field trips, let alone the permission to keep an uncaged lizard in the classroom. Nah, Ms. Frizzle… Read more »
Our class recently watched the 2011 documentary Journey of the Universe (14 billion years condensed into 57 minutes! suffice it to say, there were copious metaphors–beets, balloons, fruit solar systems–employed to emphasize abstract concepts). Afterwards, Professor Litfin had us quickly go around the room to share a word or two that resonated in the film’s aftermath. What immediately comes to… Read more »
Look past your thoughts so you may drink the pure nectar of this moment. -Rumi To live with OCD is to maintain a teeny metropolis within the mind. Imagine the microcosm as it hums: serving as my own groundskeeper, police officer, and newsboy, I ensure successful quotidian efficiency within this small system. The lawns, impeccable; the laws, abided by. Obsessive… Read more »
Let’s talk about bubble wrap. For the uninitiated, it’s worth noting: a fresh sheet of pristine bubble wrap provides an endless abundance of sensorial pleasure and poppable potential. The satisfaction of its loud “clack!” is matched only by the sheer delight of snapping a pustule beneath your thumb pad. For years (heck, until this course began, really), I’ve lived within… Read more »