Weekend Inspiration: A Blessing

Save Sweet Briar

I know this seems weird, but this, room, right here, is my favorite place on the Sweet Briar College campus. 

Here's what else I know:

I know that yesterday, March 3, 2015, Sweet Briar College announced that it would be closing down in August of this year. 

I know that I was heartbroken when I had to take a year off, and that I was crazy excited to return in the fall.

I know that I did not take full advantage of my time there, and I know that as many times as I said that I didn't want to be there, after I slogged through all my own doubt and fear, I knew that Sweet Briar was the place for me. I was proud to be there, and proud to call it home. Because that's what home is, somewhere you question and doubt and fight but in the end, it's where you're supposed to be.

I know that I will always miss it, the opportunities I had, and the people I met, who quickly became family. I am incredibly sad that I cannot be there for them and with them now. I wish I was there for Sweet Briar's last year almost as much as I wish it was not Sweet Briar's last year.

Women's colleges, and the experience that women have at them, are incredibly important, and we should word to save these places for future generations and fight to save Sweet Briar.

Save Sweet Briar for the amazing girls who go there, and the amazing women they become.

Love Poems in Time for Valentine's Day

As an English and Creative Writing major, there's nothing I appreciate more than great writing--especially great poetry because that is so not something I'm good at (yet). So in honor of Valentine's Day, here are some really beautiful poems about love that I love. (See what I did there?)

Here I Love You by Pablo Neruda
Here I love you. 
In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself.
The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters.
Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.

The snow unfurls in dancing figures.
A silver gull slips down from the west.
Sometimes a sail. High, high stars. 
Oh the black cross of a ship.
Alone.

Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet.
Far away the sea sounds and resounds.
This is a port.

Here I love you.
Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain.
I love you still among these cold things.
Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels
that cross the sea towards no arrival.
I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.

The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.
My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.
I love what I do not have. You are so far.
My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights.
But night comes and starts to sing to me.

The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind
want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.

You Who Never Arrived by Rainer Maria Rilke
You who never arrived 
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost 
from the start, 
I don't even know what songs 
would please you. I have given up trying 
to recognize you in the surging wave of 
the next moment. All the immense 
images in me -- the far-off, deeply-felt 
landscape, cities, towers, and bridges, and 
unsuspected turns in the path, 
and those powerful lands that were once 
pulsing with the life of the gods-- 
all rise within me to mean 
you, who forever elude me. 

You, Beloved, who are all 
the gardens I have ever gazed at, 
longing. An open window 
in a country house-- , and you almost 
stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
Streets that I chanced upon,-- 
you had just walked down them and vanished. 
And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors 
were still dizzy with your presence and, 
startled, gave back my too-sudden image.
Who knows? Perhaps the same 
bird echoed through both of us 
yesterday, separate, in the evening...

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] by e.e. cummings
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

All poems found on Poetry Foundation. 

Weekend Inspiration: Jenna Lyons

Jenna Lyons, a.k.a. the Creative Director at J. Crew a.k.a the most important woman alive, is forever an inspiration. Here are her life lessons from the Spring 2014 issue of Porter, Net-A-Porter's magazine.

image via

Moving On from Yesterday

Do you ever have one of those days that feels like it's derailing everything you've been working towards? Like in one single day your whole life is being undermined? 

Well, yesterday was one of those days for me. I woke up an hour late to find that the nails I had just painted the night before were already chipped. I was exhausted, and knew I had a lot of stuff to get through, including, of course, a huge history test, so I drank too much coffee, leaving me with heartburn, nausea, and jitters all day. I didn't have time to review for the history test, and my project for my Shakespeare class that I was supposed to finish up in the morning? Forget it. Plus I looked like a zombie. 

To recap: yesterday was awful and I was feeling really done with everyone and everything, including myself. 

But then, while on break in Art History, I opened an email from a Sweet Briar professor. I had emailed her earlier in the week letting her know how well I was doing at Portland Community College, and in life in general, and yesterday, reading her enthusiastic response, it felt like the whole email thread was mocking me. Until I read her closing.

"Onwards," she signed off. And I realized that it was just one day. My whole life wasn't derailing, this day wouldn't be the end of my entire future and everything I had worked for, it wouldn't be the end of anything. I would move onward from this day, and the next day after that, and the day after that, and so on. I would keep moving onward until I got to where I was supposed to be, until I got to who I was supposed to become.

And today? I'm in bed with a heating pad, drinking coffee, writing a blog post, catching up on some reading for Ethics, and knowing that today is just one day.

So, onwards,

Lily

Weekend Inspiration: Relax in the Woods

One of my resolutions for this year was to learn to relax. Here are some photos from cabinporn.com that I find incredibly relaxing, especially in the mornings while drinking a huge cup of piping hot coffee and listening to some music. 

What do you find relaxing on weekend mornings?

My New (20th) Year Resolutions

I know what you're thinking, "New Year's was 22 days ago, isn't it a little late for resolutions?" And yes, you're right.
However, my birthday was on Monday, January 19th, and because my birthday is so close to the new year, I like to wait to make my resolutions until my birthday. That way, I can plan my life and my goals around my personal timeline. I know it's a little unorthodox, but I find it helpful.

SO. Here they are, my resolutions and goals for my 20th year:

1. LEARN TO WORK HARD
Over the past couple of years, especially, ahem, in high school, I feel like I've forgotten this skill. And trust me, it is such an important one. So this year I'm really going to focus on re-learning how to work hard. I need to learn how to just sit down and do something start to finish. This, for me, applies to school, work, my personal life, and also this blog.

2. LEARN TO SAVE MONEY
Let's face it, this is a skill I've never had. I love shopping too much! But now that I'm 20 years old--like, a real adult--I need to start thinking about the future a lot more, and saving money is just the beginning of that. For January and February, I'm focusing on putting $25 of every paycheck directly into savings. Hopefully in March I'll be able to put more, but I'm taking baby steps.

3. LEARN TO RELAX
Another thing I've never quite gotten the hang of. I'm literally always a ball of stress. My brain never stops going and it's exhausting. So in the new year, both 2015 and my 20th year, I'm going to spend some time trying to just relax, even if I have to schedule it.

All of these resolutions are hopefully going to help me take my 20th year by storm, which is really important to me. The idea of turning 20 is somewhat renewing-- I feel like I'm getting some real motivation in my life, especially after watching this TED Talk by Meg Jay. I'm reading her book right now too, The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter-- and How to Make the Most of Them. I'm honestly kind of obsessed with her right now.

Watch her talk and TRY to tell me it doesn't motivate you to get off your butt.