By Hannah Davelman '16
Below the ice, pitted and melted where the raindrops have struck, the water, dark as ink, protects its own. Shadows whip across its surface, and the timid sun hides all but the briefest glimpse of the silt below. A bloated mouth opens to swallow any tiny, unfortunate creature in its path.
Read MoreBy Katelyn Campbell '17
College Government Cabinet positions are entirely unpaid despite the fact that they require tens of hours of work per week. Particularly in the case of the College Government President, this work, I am told, often adds up to nearly 30 hours per week of emailing, working in Senate and on committees, and attending meetings. Like many work-study students, that kind of sacrifice is unimaginable...
Read MoreBy Sarah Michelson '18
I'm stirring my coffee and she's sipping her orange juice, and it's quiet. It's a nice quiet, the kind you can appreciate and don't feel the pressure to immediately break. Just outside, the Pacific Ocean is beating down on the shoreline. Yesterday, we went to the beach and it was also a nice quiet. A few days earlier, we went to the Getty Museum, and that was a nice quiet too.
Read MoreBy Arleny Vargas '18
The first time I ever felt American I was 15. I was on my way to México to meet my relatives for the first time, a scared and anxious young girl, filled with doubts. What would they think of me? Would I live up to their standards? Would they love me?
Read MoreBy Elise Brown '17
Hi God. I don’t think You can hear me, and really, I don’t even believe in You. Then again, I suppose thinking You can actually hear me would be taking the idea of prayer too literally.
Read MoreBy Tamar Davis '16
At Wellesley, I’ve developed a clear understanding of privilege: who has it, who doesn’t, and why it’s bestowed upon some and not others.
I’ve realized that despite the multitude of different backgrounds we all have, just being on a college campus is a privilege that we all share.
But as a woman of color, especially a Black woman, this recognition of privilege is all the more potent.
Read MoreBy Anonymous
Content warning: bugs, sexual assault, physical violence, PTSD
I am triggered by bugs.
I was assaulted and am triggered by bugs.
I was sexually assaulted and am triggered by bugs.
I was raped and left for dead and am triggered by bugs.
Read MoreBy Cecilia Nowell ’16
I have a confession. It’s not something I like to admit and people often think I’m pretty weird after I tell them about it. But it’s time I shared: I’m a nerd, and not just any nerd. I’m a trekkie.
Read MoreBy Julie Renfroe '19
Distance disconnects us from the world. Distance hides reality from our vision and encloses us in a veil of ignorance.
I always thought distance was a passive thing—I never knew people could use it as a tool to invalidate me.
Read MoreBy Melissa Jo
When I was in high school, I had a beard. And no, I’m not talking about the beard on someone’s face, but a beard that concealed identity. My beard was so thick, it even fooled me. I should also mention this was not an “I dated a cis-man, so no one would know I’m gay” beard.
Read MoreBy Saraphin Dhanani '16 and Carine Ilunga Wete '16
“How many of you would prioritize having a career over a child?”
Read MoreBy Emma Stelter '16
This happened to me twice. One day last January I walked out of the Hôtel Citadines on the left bank in Paris. I saw the news headline on the flat screen TV in the lobby. I read the words “attentat terroriste.” It didn’t register. I walked to the Metro and rode to the Tuileries stop, with every intention of going to the Musée d’Orsay, where our guide, Lucille, was giving a tour. When I checked my phone for the time, I saw an email from our program director, written in English, asking us all to check in with her as soon as possible. I texted my parents that I was OK, and returned to the hotel.
Read MoreBy Victoria Uren '17
We knew about them, then-not in detail, of course, but we had an idea. They flew around without pilots, dropped bombs wherever they pleased. Did Obama have anything to do withit? I guess so, but-“hope,” right? We knew what the military did was probably not ethical, but whose ethics could we judge by? It’s not like we were given any. The CNN of my childhood covered a Bush government. Those were the headlines that taught me how to read.
Read MoreBy Anonymous
Content warning: depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation
It is 5 pm on a Wednesday evening.
I am behind in all my classes, barely recovered from the flu, and might not have enough money to last me this semester or a job to support myself.
And yet, I am happy.
Read MoreBy Counterpoint Staff
“Cultural appropriation ... refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group. That’s why cultural appropriation is not the same as cultural exchange, when people share mutually with each other—because cultural exchange lacks that systemic power dynamic.” —Everyday Feminism
Read More