By Samantha English '19
25 Baker Street is bright blue and falling apart. The three levels are lopsided and the concrete steps are dusted with a layer of dirt. The building may not be up to code and it desperately needs to be cleaned, but there’s a simple charm to it, a sort of cheeriness that old colorful houses create for me in their unremembered nostalgia.
Read MoreContent warning: racism, transphobia
Thanks to so many of our submitters, being a Wellesley Crushes moderator can be an incredibly uplifting experience. Seeing a recipient comment on their post, saying how much better the submission made their day, never fails to make us smile. There are certain things, however, that can make you want to quit.
Read MoreBy Nikita Saladi '16
I have Wellesley goggles.
Not the type you’re thinking of —those infamous pieces of invisible eyewear that cloud a Wellesley woman’s gaze as she walks through Harvard Square and to class at MIT, magically turning all average looking men into Ryan Gosling. While I might be guilty of wearing those occasionally, Wellesley has also equipped me with an entirely different pair of goggles.
Read MoreBy Cecilia Nowell '16
In the film The Lives of Others, there is a scene where an East German artist plays “Sonata for a Good Man” for his wife while a Stasi secret police captain listens in through a surveillance system. After finishing the piece, the artist ponders aloud, “could art have the power to make people good?” The implication is that listening to the “Sonata for a Good Man” might not only have made the artist a better person, but also the eavesdropping German spy. After watching The Lives of Others, I found myself entranced by this question—could art make people good?—and couldn’t help but wonder if art might have other powers as well. Could art make people kinder, stronger, more resilient, maybe even braver?
Read MoreBy Anonymous
Content warning: sex, sexual assault, slurs
It didn’t take me long to realize that the never-ending cycle, and my horrible anxiety about any sexual advances, were not normal heterosexual experiences. But I figured that I was just sexually immature, or maybe had a hormone deficiency.
Read MoreBy Anonymous
I’m not going to shave because it’s itchy and because I decided that my sexual partner was just going to have to be okay with my pubes. Now that I think about it, there’s also something political about this decision.
How can pubes be political?
Read MoreBy Laura Mayron '16
Queerness is so much about space, place, and interacting with others, whether as friends in a community or in a romantic context, and gastrointestinal illnesses aren't exactly a sexy topic of conversation. As I like to joke, Crohn’s disease is probably the least sexy illness out there—chronic diarrhea (or just a lot of normal pooping, when in remission) isn’t seductive for a Tinder date.
Read MoreBy Allyson Larcom '17
When my best friend and I were hired together as waitresses for the brand-new Mediterranean-inspired restaurant in Salt Lake City, Gusto!, we were fairly certain it was going to be the best summer of our lives. We imagined exchanging banter as we waited on regulars, making sandwiches while talking about our lives at home, and earning an extra dollar or two by winking at the right people. We were hired on the spot, without the owner so much as glancing at our resumes.
That really should’ve been the first sign.
Read MoreBy Clellie Merchant '18
I feel like a mess. I feel unattractive. But not for long. Soon I remember that I am beautiful to someone. And I always relax. Why am I so sure? I don’t have a significant other. But I do have a crush.
Read MoreBy 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.
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