On Friday, I submitted a rough draft of my thesis. Everything immediately got very intense- my brain was swirling with thoughts of ringing the Taylor bell, and I had a bit of a freakout. The last six weeks have been hard, because I haven’t been able to really participate in the things I wanted to- there’s only so much crutching back and forth across the big hill a person can do before collapsing, not to mention attempting to navigate SEPTA! Now that I’m walking again, I’m feeling especially restless.

The time to complete my Bryn Mawr bucket list is winding down, so the next few weeks are going to have to be packed. I’ve been doing okay with crossing things off of it, but the clock is ticking and I feel I’ve forgotten a few things. I missed out on the Duck Pond Run AND the last senior cocktails, so I’m packing next week full of adventuring to make up for it. My friend/soulmate/cat co-parent is coming to visit from NY, and he’s staying for the whole week. Not great for homework, but really amazing for my state of mind!

This is us, last time he came to visit:

This time, I’m dragging him out to the mothership- I only have a month left, and he has to see it before I leave! He’s managed to escape the college visit every other time, but this time, I’m forcing it. What are your favorite things to do with your non-Mawrtyr friends when they come to campus? My hope is for hammock time, at the very least. Suggestions welcome! And if you had your senior year to do all over again, what would be on YOUR bucket list?

Last week, members of the Bryn Mawr community participated in the college’s first-ever Community Learning Day. Students, staff, faculty, and administration gathered for a full schedule of panels, workshops, lectures, and events. We didn’t have class, and everyone was given time to actually go to things they wanted to go to.

(The schedule and more information are here: https://www.brynmawr.edu/community-learning)

I missed the opening event, but made my way over to Canaday to hear Whitney Lopez ’15 (another McBride!) talk about the Backtalk exhibit recently put up near special collections. The talk was about the college’s African art collection, and “questions of ownership, representation and both creating and decolonizing knowledge.” It was a really amazing conversation, and it touched on not only curation, but artifacts, art, and meaning across cultures. I was so thankful for the expertise of the other attendees, but primarily super proud of Whitney for doing something so amazing.

(More info on the exhibit, including an ongoing discussion that you can participate in here: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/oneworld/backtalk)

The second panel I went to was “Perspective and Experiences of African American Staff.” Five members of staff from numerous departments came together to talk about their lives both in and outside of Bryn Mawr. I was really into in what they all had to say, and especially taken by the differences in perspective across gender and generational lines.

I had an amazing day, and the conversations were continued well into the evening. I’m really grateful to Kim and the rest of the administration for making this happen- and I hope that it encourages people to actually have more of these talks. It can’t just be one day. Don’t let it stop at one day, mawrtyrs!

Welcome back, Mawrtyrs! I’d planned to go to New Orleans for the break, but my broken ankle really prevented any kind of exciting travel. The good news is that the cast came off last week (whoohoo!), but the bummer is that I’m still not allowed to put any weight on it.

I used my break to rest and recover- I did a lot of reading, I elevated my leg, and I saw my family. My last spring break as an undergrad was exactly what I needed- and I’m glad it happened the way it did.

This week is exceptionally busy! It’s the end of midterms, so I have a few papers due. We have the McBride General Meeting tonight! It’s the once-per-semester meeting of the McBride minds when we get dinner and talk about the progress that we’ve made so far and what we want to do in the future. I’m excited about this one because we’re talking about elections for next year! We’re also discussing the Labyrinth tradition, which is fairly new for Bryn Mawr (it’s only in its third year), and happening in mid-April. I’m participating for the first time this year, so I’ll tell you all about it when it happens!

Wednesday is the campus-wide Community Day of Learning- there are so many amazing things happening during the day, and I’ll only be able to go to two! I’m hoping that the lectures are filmed or recorded, because I’d love to be able to see more of them. I’m proud of Bryn Mawr for carving out the whole day for something so important, and for working with students and faculty to create programming that makes sense for our community. I really can’t wait- it’s been in the works for a while, and people have really dedicated a lot of time to making it great. Anassa kata, Mawrtyrs!

I’ll report back at the end of the week, but if you’re interested in learning more about it, or following along from home, check out: brynmawr.edu/community-learning and on Twitter, #mawr2learn.

Oh, and final thing- happy spring! It’s officially not winter anymore, and I’m reveling in the light jackets and short sleeves that this amazing weather is for. Enjoy it, everybody!

This will be a shorter post, because like the rest of Bryn Mawr, I’m hunkered down with my laptop working on my midterms. This week has been rough! I’m accustomed to working my life out around invisible illness- having chronic migraines means that I spend a lot of time in bed, in the dark, with ice. My temporal lobe is a little messed up, so I also have some problems with my perception of space/time/gravity. My funky brain stuff impacts everything I do, and it has for so long that I am pretty decent at dealing with it and how it impacts my interactions with others.

Fast forward to now- I’ve been in a cast since last week, and it has been rough (to say the least). I’m no stranger to fielding other people’s comments on my body and my choices, because I’m a woman (among many other things) who exists in the world, but this has been next level. I have chosen to leave my cast uncovered, because my normal body temperature is really high, but that means that my toes are exposed. I painted my toenails purple to match my cast, and figured that it wouldn’t be an issue. I was so wrong! So many people have had things to say, from expressing their concern at how cold I must be to telling me unsolicited stories about their injuries to touching my crutches. I can’t possibly know what’s best for my body- everyone else’s ideas are more valid, and my choices have to be second-guessed.

To see this power dynamic actually expressed, over and over, is enlightening. I can’t get away quickly, and people use that to their advantage. I’m focused on my body, and where I’m going and what my crutches are going to hit next, which means that I can’t really tell when people are staring, and once I notice, it’s too late to do anything about it. I’m intrigued by the way Mawrtyrs especially, who are so frequently aware of power structures and their places within them, have engaged with me around this.

If this is interesting for you, or you want to continue the discussion as it relates to Bryn Mawr specifically, I encourage you to check out EnAble Bryn Mawr. It’s a fairly recent group on campus, led by my friend Niki. I haven’t been able to make meetings because my off-campus life doesn’t usually allow me to be on campus as late as they tend to happen (this is true of most extracurricular groups, actually), but I encourage others to participate. It’s important.