On Keeping Secrets

All major transitions should include the beginning of a new journal. Not to mention a lot of Advil and stress-relief tea--preferably the Zen stuff that comes in the little green bags from Starbucks.

My current, 'life-transforming' transition (outside of my dramatic decision to paint my hair a dark, disturbing shade of brown): an immanent college graduation. Which--considering my tendency to live in contented denial--I would be ignoring, however, tomorrow just so happens to be my ... last day of college classes and, after two finals next week, I will be a free "person" with a nearly useless BA in English and a head full of dreams. In this launch from the sheltered bubble that is Westmont, we begin my enslavement to a society plagued by consumerism, taxes, rent, and espresso.

Sign me up for the next Job Fair.


You'd think that three and a half years of undergraduate education would have prepared me to step forth boldly and take the world by force. Instead, it served to prove that I know ... nothing about life and its intricacies. Although I may have a few insights about its eccentricities. Ha. The silly little 'what-goes-up-must-come-down' type of wisdoms--

- don't stick a screwdriver in a socket, no matter how well you think it fits
- a flat iron is for hair, not dress pants
- walking from Westmont to Conejo dressed as a pirate at 11:30 at night is a good way to get hit by a car
- procrastination is okay. Writing an eight page paper an hour before it's due ... probably not the best.
- The online RPG game, Elven Blood, will eat your soul and cause you to use your friends' facebook profiles for Stamina. And they. don't. like. that.
- Declaration of "It won't happen to me" means it most assuredly will.
- you CAN fit in the cupboards above your closet in VK
- Walking confidently at a bridge in the dark does not make the bridge magically appear beneath your feet. Most likely, you will end up in the ravine a foot to the right of said bridge.
- Tall, old trees are not as breathtaking as small green shoots pushing through charred soil in the wake of the flame
- Brushing your teeth is one thing you can't fake.
- the 24/7 Courtesy Hours do not apply to people with bongos.
- Your suitemates will let you scream Britney Spears at the top of your lungs all night, either because they like it, or because the sounds are too horrifying to confront.
- Quotebooks are only funny if your name is in it.
- wine + bad renditions of Shakespeare + fluffy bread dipped in cream cheese = a good time.
- Credit cards are trouble for impulsive spenders. Like me.
- its more fun to go to Chapel when you don't have to fill out a card.
- Setting your alarm for 8pm is a sure way to sleep through class. Then, when emailing your professor an hour into class, claim the alarm didn't go off.
- If your professor has the same name as a friend, make sure you don't accidentally email the professor while you're facebooking the friend in class.
- Half the people who say, "We should hang out!" don't really mean it. The ones who do know they don't actually have to say it just to be your friend.
- History isn't in a textbook. It's in the Retirement home down the street.


Our Listener is always present; we just shout too loud to hear the whisper.
No words thrill deeper than the hush of a good poem.


"These poems were written in silence, in solitude, mainly out of doors. A reader will like them best, I think, who reads them in similar circumstances - at least in a quiet room. They would be most favorably heard if read aloud into a kind of quietness that is not afforded by any public place. I hope that some readers will read them as they were written: slowly, and with more patience than effort."--Wendell Berry