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Let the world flow around you like water
Remember as a kid when you had teachers tell you, “You have to learn to work in a group because you’ll be working with others for the rest of your life”? Fair enough. But for many of us, it’s a lesson in how to fade into the background and dim our light.
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Quiet Revelations: a journey toward self-acceptance
The body and subconscious mind possess a wisdom that will help guide you, if you’re willing to listen. Accepting myself as non-binary was revelatory; a discovery of something that had been hiding in plain sight for an entire lifetime.
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Helen Bass Williams: Purdue’s one-woman civil rights movement
Reflecting on a lifetime of service The below article was written for Purdue University’s School of Languages and Cultures’ summer 2023 graduate student newsletter. I want to express my gratitude to the staff of the Purdue University Archives and Special Collections for their generosity in helping me navigate their resources. I am also deeply appreciative…
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A letter on higher education
Originally written for and published in the Calvin University Chimes in November 2020 in response to proposed cost-cutting measures undertaken by my alma mater directed largely at the humanities. In 2018, I volunteered to help with a mock interview day at Purdue University. As a rule, the students I interviewed were very impressive. I scribbled,…
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Lake Superior Circle Tour, 2022: The drawbacks (and joys) of traveling by the seat of your pants
In the spring of 2022, I ticked an item off my bucket list: taking a circle tour around Lake Superior—the wildest, most remote of the Great Lakes. I started my trip in Houghton, Michigan, and drove westward in a clockwise circle. After crossing the border to Ontario, my trip took an unexpected turn. I got…
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Women’s March, six years on
Six years ago today, I was in Washington, D.C., for the Women’s March. As soon as I heard it was on, I planned to attend. I requested the time off work and started brainstorming what to write on my poster. Many were shocked by the outcome of the 2016 presidential campaign. I can’t pretend I…
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Taking the Long Way
After the year I’ve had, I’ve made the Chicks’ The Long Way Around into something of a personal anthem. A year ago August, I told my partner of 10 years that I was leaving him. It was one of the most painful things I’ve ever done. Writing about it is still painful. But last summer,…