A Dispatch from the House of Mirrors
by Megan McNally ‘20
I know, of course, that the world has changed. But sometimes I am surprised at the ferocity with which it has not.
Read MoreDear Office of Student Housing
by Anonymous
Dear Office of Student Housing,
I want to say you’re trying your best. I want to make excuses for you and tell myself that this is my fault. I want to believe that you care about Wellesley’s student body, our mental health, our well-being, our sleep. I wish I could thank you for making our lives easier, fostering a hospitable living environment for all of us, and making sure we feel cared for by securing a room and a bed for every student.
Read MoreWaldeinsamkeit
by Corinne Muller ‘21
Several years ago, I happened upon a website entitled “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.” Compiled in this dictionary are words mostly derived from the Romance languages, German, and Japanese that somehow encapsulate those feelings that always seem impossible to adequately identify, those feelings whose pulse the English vernacular never satisfactorily touches.
My Body
by Mar Barrera ‘20
Content warnings: gender dysphoria, mentions of transphobia
My body feels like a political statement, even though it never asked to be one. Wherever it exists (or doesn’t, according to the Wellesley College administration), it must be prepared to justify and explain its existence.
On Anna Karenina, Loving Literature, and Wellesley
by Samantha English ‘19
I have marked my time at Wellesley in books. When I recall the people, lessons, and love I’ve experienced during my four years here, I always remember a novel I was reading or a paper I was writing alongside them, a character I was falling in love with or an image I was tracking. Jane Eyre undercuts my Wellesley experience, illuminating every image in every book I read until I found my senior thesis topic of birds and women in Victorian literature. Other books are scattered, left behind in past semesters with only memories to speak for them.
Read MoreZippers
by Roz Rea ‘19
Content warning: suicidal ideation
Senior Spring has culminated in one event after another where I am supposed to wear outfits that make me look “nice.”
Senior Soirée required “cocktail attire” with the caveat of “whatever makes you feel comfortable.” But if everyone else is in cocktail attire and you’re not, you sure won’t feel comfortable anymore. I wore a blue lace cocktail dress. It didn’t zip all the way up.
Read MoreWhat are you going to do with that?
by Lydia MacKay ‘19
When I tell people that I’m majoring in History, their first question is often, “Well, what are you going to do with that?” Is there a good answer to this question? Sometimes I list out some “acceptable” responses—law, business, the usual—but other times I’m just sarcastic. As if their skepticism isn’t bad enough, people often feel compelled to offer their advice that I choose a more profitable major. True story: once I talked with this man for all of five minutes, and he recommended that I switch my major to accounting.
Read MoreStar Island
by Ely Willard ’20
Every summer, my family goes to Star Island for a week. It’s a tiny island ten miles off the coast of the New Hampshire-Maine border, in a cluster of eight other islands known as the Isles of Shoals. For the past hundred years, Unitarian Universalists and Congregationalists have hosted week-long conferences there throughout the summer. My family always goes to one of the UU weeks even though none of us go to church that often. But people from all faiths are welcome, and most of the programming has no direct religious connection. It’s kind of like summer camp, but for whole families, not just kids.
Read MoreCognitive Dissonance
by Sofia Rose ’22
You are hit with a brilliant epiphany! You’ve been stupid! When you’re feeling bad, you should reach out for help! Obviously! You are a fully functioning person in control of your fate, so you make an appointment at the Stone Center for Monday.
Read MoreWhere There's Barking, There Are Dogs
by Alicia Olivo ’20
Last October, I was lying in my bed, pretending I was still asleep while scrolling through my Twitter feed. I heard knocking at the front door, and then my mother answering the door. Although it was ten in the morning and the sun was radiating heat through my window, leaving me sweating, I closed my eyes and pretended to be comfortably asleep. My mother entered the room. Mamá looked annoyed, and then she told me why: “The neighbor came by and told us to bring the dogs inside. They’re barking too much, according to them.”
Read MoreNo Cultures Left to Appropriate
by Caitlyn Chung ‘20 and Midori Yang ‘19
Ariana Grande’s Japanese tattoo has recently gained international attention, but not for positive reasons. The hand tattoo, inspired by her music video titled “7 Rings,” was supposed to be a translation of the song’s title in Japanese. The full Japanese translation is “七つの指輪,” as shown repeatedly in the music video and in promo materials for the song. However, when Ariana got the tattoo, she shortened the phrase to ”七輪” due to the pain of getting the tattoo. Unfortunately, the phrase no longer translates to “seven rings,” but instead, an idiom that means “small Japanese charcoal grill.”
Read MoreThank You, Molly Bloom
by Maggie Roberts ’20
That semester, I was reading Ulysses for an English class. I had been too anxious—for no particular reason, just mentally fried—to commit to the novel. I viewed reading it as a chore instead of as the stimulating, enjoyable challenge it should have been for me. Finally, at the end of April, when I had just about given up on myself intellectually, writing myself off as dumb as well as fat, I was able to fall in love with the novel, its creative language, its self-involved, ever-so-realistic characters. Most of all, I fell in love with Molly Bloom.
Read MoreIt’s Oscars Night and I Miss You
by Delaney Robertson ’21
Content warning: family death
You used to stay until the end of the credits after every movie you saw, and boy, it drove me crazy. Now I can’t seem to leave the theatre until the lights come all the way up. Someone needs to continue your tradition. It feels like the least I can do.
Read MoreChoosing the Instance of Gender Euphoria
by Gus Agyemang '22
Content warning: gender dysphoria
What I have now come to understand as “gender dysphoria” became my problem around the time of puberty. Like most teenagers, I noticed the changes my body was going through, but what really bothered me was how different it was from my friends’. My voice didn’t drop, and I didn’t grow tall, and people were now referring to me as she. I felt disgusted by my budding breasts and hips and enraged that I was to feel proud of them.
Read MoreRaised Right
by Sara Clark ’22
I grew up in a world where George Bush could do no wrong. I remember celebrating his reelection on my fifth birthday, oblivious but excited because the right side had won. I spent his presidency dozing off on my living room couch after dinner, comforted by the familiar voice of Bill O’Reilly praising the leader of the free world.