Sapere Aude

LSD And A Band From The ’60s

After my freshman year of college, I didn’t know what I was doing. I came home for summer break, realizing the only thing I really wanted to do was go back to school that fall and study something, whatever that something was. Not to be dramatic, but my life was a mess. I needed a…
February’s Simple Pleasures

Oh, February, please don’t stay forever. Sometimes, the weight of life presses in on us. The brokenness of the world—death, sorrow, and burdens too heavy to carry alone—can feel like a miry bog. In these moments, I try not to retreat into myself. Most of the time, I don’t find solace or answers there. Collapsing…
Small Talk and I Love Lucy Reruns

I love small talk. I do. Not in the Southern charm way—the way where you don’t actually like small talk; you just really like people to like you. No, I mean I like small talk in the way where you genuinely enjoy listening to people talk. When I was younger, it was hard to get…
Poems

One of my favorite forms of language is poetry. I love how it can be simple and intricate. I love how it uses a natural cadence. I love how it brings sections of the world together by helping them realize their sorrows and salvations are universal, and they are not alone in this lonely feeling…
Rivers and Roads, Rivers ‘Till I Reach You

I am a habitual singer. No, that does not mean I have a good voice, but rather that I just sing all the time. One simple sentence can trigger a song and spontaneously I am the lead singer of a band, air electric guitar and everything. I’ve even noticed this same effect with my students,…
Sunday Dinner

Everyone is home. The driveway is full so you have to park on the street underneath the maple tree. You walk to the porch in a daze, but the moment you step inside a sweet smell fills your soul. Sunday dinner. Everyone is crowding in the doorway, and the once silent house is now filled…
“I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address”

Back in the glory days of my angsty teenage years (You know how angsty those bookish girls can be… not…), I stumbled upon a cinematic masterpiece that forever changed the course of my existence. Picture this: Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks strutting around the bustling landscape of New York City, engaging in passionate discussions about…