Shipwrecked

December 13, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Arts & Culture, Mental Health, Identity

By Samantha English

Content warning: mention of anxiety, depression, and emotional abuse

I fell in love with the Brontë sisters when I was sixteen. I read Wuthering Heights in a slow-churning tempest of terror and intrigue, Cathy’s ghost lingering over my shoulder as I drew complex family trees of the Earnshaw and Linton families at my kitchen table. I carried my black-penned copy of Emily’s singular work to you, Wellesley, where it sat watching me, witchlike, waiting to be joined by its sister novels. It didn’t take long. By my second semester, I was in the Nineteenth Century Novel class, combing obsessively through Jane Eyre. I wasn’t just hooked. I was haunted.

Three Flakes, Then Four: John Green's Turtles All the Way Down

October 31, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Mental Health, Arts & Culture

By Samantha English

Content warnings: description of anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder

When I was fourteen years old, I bought The Fault in Our Stars at a Barnes and Noble in Darien, Illinois. It was a hot summer weekend, and I spent the afternoon in my grandmother's air-conditioned basement curled up on a blow-up mattress, falling in love with John Green's most recent novel of the time.

Let's Talk About Therapy

May 17, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Mental Health

By Sophia Temkin '17

Content warning: implication of depression; mention of attempted suicide, sexual assault, and anxiety

The first time I went to therapy, I was in second grade. The last time I went to therapy was about a week ago. I think I’ve spent more years in weekly therapy than not.

The Road Less Traveled: or, the Ugly Side of Study Abroad

April 14, 2017 by Editor-in-Chief in Mental Health, Campus Life

By Anonymous

Content warning: implication of depression and anxiety

No matter how prepared I may have been, how many web pages I read or maps I studied, how much I knew I wanted to do this, study abroad is not all worry-free days and adventure. It’s not just weekend getaways and clever Instagram captions. It’s a lot harder than that.