Spring Quarter has been a period that I am very grateful for. I live so far away from my family and so many of my friends and I was really lucky to be able to be with them in the beginning of such a stressful time. I spent the quarter doing online school, taking two hour daily walks with my little sister, getting iced coffee with my mom, and hammocking on Lake Michigan with my best friend. Looking back, this quarter was almost a detox from the hustle and bustle that is modern day life. Though many people struggled switching into stay at home orders and online learning or work, I found it actually really relieving. It made me realize how quickly my life moves and how much of it I don’t appreciate. School wasn’t horrible, I found the online format easier, but I was definitely learning less, which got very frustrating. My classes I found fairly dry and I couldn’t bring myself to get heavily invested as I typically do. But I did get invested in social movements. Spring Quarter was the start of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. I donated, protested, and posted all over social media. But what I found to be the most important for me was the beginning of consistent anti-racism work. I have always considered myself to be socially aware and a participant in civic duties. But this quarter I started actively seeking out anti-racist education for myself, making time for it in my schedule, as if it was another class. And the more work I did, the more I understood that now I cannot stop trying to be anti-racist, because as a white person, I will always be racist. Through this work I learned how to deal with white guilt, how to be an active ally, and how to be a better friend to my friends of color. Being home and getting to live with my siblings again was so much fun. We are all old enough now to get along and actually hang out together. I was happy to be eating home cooked meals, and they were happy there was a third sibling to help out with the chores. My mom got Covid in May and was fortunate to make it through with mild symptoms. My siblings and I brought her meals for two weeks and binged watched as much reality TV as we could before our mom was let out of isolation and could let us know we were ‘rotting our brains’. However, Covid isn’t getting any better and it’s difficult to find internships in a pandemic. Though this quarter was full of family and relaxation, it was stressful to not be doing anything. I found myself having a lot of anxiety about the recklessness of the government’s pandemic response, as well as not being able to plan for the future.
anti-racism readings
Why do white feminists often feel that bringing race into the conversation of feminism is detrimental to the conversation?
A big part of my internal anti-racism work has been focusing on feminism. I am really trying to push myself to better combat white feminism and promote true intersectional feminism. Above is a quote from one of discussions my friends and I had that I really resonated and learned from.
hammocking & lake michigan
Spring Quarter I found a new favorite activity; hammocking. I spent hours outside hammocking on the Lake Michigan shore, reading, listening to music, or napping. It came to be a really relaxing form of self care that minimized my stress when the pandemic or parents got overwhelming.
biology 220 diagrams
Biology 220 was a very difficult class for me but pushed me to learn in a new way. Homework and exams largely consisted of drawing diagrams of plants and anatomy. As a far from artistic person, I struggled with this new method but found it a very effective way to learn.