Author: mewen@rollins.edu

“You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?” I realized it was only one chance in a million.” -Holden Caulfield, The…

Is identity something that we are born with, an innate quality of our existence, or is it a malleable, ever changing byproduct of experience? There are some aspects of our being that I would suggest many of us understand as being constants in our life: a particular interest, a general aura, a certain way we…

“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It’s always our self we find in the sea.” -E.E. Cummings Since the last time I updated everyone about good ole Australia, I have managed to start, but never finish, multiple different posts for this blog. Some of them were about the joys of being…

“You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?” I realized it was only one chance in a million.” -Holden Caulfield, The…

“And because almost all forms of joy are fleeting, pleasure must eventually lead to loss, no matter how small – a loss that brings with it the certain knowledge that everything passes.” Susan Griffin Even before I left the States for my study abroad adventure, I wasn’t entirely keen on the aspect of a breadth…

America is a country suspended in  state of ambitious adolescence. Begrudgingly she inches towards maturity, forging a harshly hewn path fueled by her own reckless abandon and cloaked in a veil of ignorance, which at once shelters and threatens to catch fire. With every carefree, confident stride she propels herself closer to the threshold that divides…

Allan Kaprow, Yard, 1961 There are some things in life that are hard to think about complexly until you have had some sort of separation from them.  This could apply to a relationship, an event in your life, that paper you wrote at 2 am last week that you could’ve sworn would one day be…

In my most recent entry, I reckoned with a hypothesis on the spatiotemporal nature of a study abroad experience: you are removed in time and space from what can be considered your Reality and therefore are better able to reconsider that reality. Having this opportunity is wonderful and opens up so many opportunities for reflection…

            This past week in my Aboriginal Culture Class, I had the privilege of listening to several aboriginal identifying speakers who told me about their experiences and about the parts of their culture that they love. The Elder in Residence, Aunty Bronwin Chambers, laid out a huge table display of her own personal archive of…

Spread from my current art journal for experimental painting methods Since a very young age, my parents have tried ceaselessly to explain the concept of think-before-do to my brother and I. At home we were always reminded to try and think before we spoke and at church we were reminded to think about the repercussions of our actions,…