It’s finally getting warmer here in Wellstown and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve gone in to town a lot this past week, and I enjoyed not feeling like my skin was going to freeze when I was walking around Boston. Plus I don’t have to wear my huge puffy coat 24/7 so I don’t look like I’m wearing the same exact outfit (big black coat, long black boots) every single day.
Sounds insignificant but really, it’s the small things.
Lots of really intersting things have happened since my last post, so I’ll try to give you all quick snippets of most of it.
ADMISSIONS ANNOUNCEMENT
So Wellesley College became another Women’s College to reaffirm their mission statement and reexamine admissions policies. As a Gender Studies Major, I was fascinated by how the conversations regarding gender were being conducted at an administrative level, as well as within the student community here at Wellesley. I have personal interest because I think this issue of gender is one that isn’t talked about enough. I have friends here who do not identify as cisgender female, and what I love about this school is so deeply rooted in the presence of diversity on this campus. I believe a place like Wellesley should be more open to people who don’t fit societal norms of “woman”, but still should stay true to its purpose of empowering and educating women. I think that’s exactly the issue the college has attempted to address in their new statement which you can check out here.
President Kim Bottomly addressing the Wellesley Community about the new Admissions Policy Statement
HINAMATSURI LUNCH, MEETING WITH SMITH
I mentioned in my last post that last Tuesday was National Girls’ Day in Japan. There’s a tradition here at Wellesley that was started a few years ago where some Japanese students on campus get together and cook a (pretty elaborate) Japanese-style meal to celebrate Hinamatsuri, Girls’ Day. I was of course in charge of the easiest dish – the chirashizushi – which consisted of cooking the rice, mixing ingredients in the rice, and decorating the rice with sashimi (raw fish). I love this tradition and I’m excited to keep it going as an upperclasswoman in the following years.
HARVARD LECTURE(S)
Then, on Monday and Tuesday I skipped classes. TO ATTEND LECTURES I promise. I had heard about these two lectures through professors and different forums I follow online. The first lecture I attended was called “Gender (Re)assignment,” an examination of the medical, social, and and legal ethics trans* and intersex individuals face with gender reassignment surgeries, and it was hosted at Harvard Law School (this is one of those sentences I never thought I’d say/write but I’m excited that I am now).
On Tuesday, I went to the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard to attend a panel called “Japan’s Tohoku Disaster of 2011 Remembered: Impact and Aftermath”. Aside from my personal connection to Japan, I was interested in this talk because of one of the lecturers – Daniel Aldrich – who came to my high school back home a year after the triple disasters that struck the Northeastern region of Japan in 2011. He is a fascinating person and has done some interesting research in the past few years. It was great to hear him as well as a Japanese Economist talk about different effects of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.
*CAN WHITE PEOPLE APPRECIATE HIP HOP?
I returned to Wellesley on Wednesday (the day I have no classes..lol) and attended a lecture hosted by the Philosophy Department with this* title. The speaker was a Professor from University of Memphis who approached the study of Hip Hop, and more specifically what he called “Hermetic Rap”, from a philosophical perspective. I also learned that there is a course offered at Wellesley called “Beats, Rhymes, and Life: Hip-Hop Studies”. WHY IM NOT TAKING THIS CLASS RIGHT NOW I DON’T KNOW.
SEMIFORMAL
Then to top off an already great week, I hung out with these two amazing people – we had pretty good ramen in Harvard Square – and went to the first Phi Sig/Agora Joint Semi-formal. Fun night, great people, but my feet are dead.
Also did I mention it’s midterm week(s) too? This week has made me realize that I work GREAT under pressure. Having a lot of things to do and places to be is a little overwhelming at times but it also pushes me to really focus and get stuff done when I need to. I think I say it in nearly every post, but Wellesley to me is about finding opportunities and taking them. With Boston so close by, plus peers and professors who seem to be doing amazing things left and right, it’s hard not to feel inspired and go find my own amazing things to do. Now I have to work on my amazing Gender Studies midterm paper. BYE!