For the final time (at least for this year)...
Hey hi, Pios!
My oh my, what a YEAR it has been. I can hardly begin to articulate how grateful I am to have had the year I did. I met so many astounding people and did so many wonderful things with them. I have never felt so creatively fulfilled. I have never participated in so many creative endeavors so far outside of my comfort zone. I feel both entirely authentic to myself and like an entirely new person. How stellar it feels to feel like I’ve found a place that feels like a real home so early…and on the first try!
I also feel very lucky to be able to say my finals were relatively painless. Relatively. I just turned in a 20 page essay for my CORE class, which was pretty terrible to write. But, you know what? That means that I am done with CORE, and that feels amazing!
My Psych 100 class had a standard final. It was an exam just like the rest of our semester exams, open-note and around an hour long. My Spanish 102 final would have been standard, but was turned into an online at-home final due to the recent COVID spike. We also gave a presentation last week for a portion of our final grade. My Voice & Movement final was a 15 minute devised performance that we’ve been working on for weeks and a reflection on the semester as a whole. My V&M final was definitely my favorite, as it’s one of the things I feel most creatively proud of right now.
The assignment was to choose a story from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, cut it, adapt it, and devise a performance to it with a variety of both vocal and movement-oriented requirements. My group chose the story of Echo and Narcissus. We performed in the reflecting pool! Yes, we performed IN the reflecting pool! Goodness gracious, it felt so cool. It was one hell of a final project, and I highly recommend that class to anyone who wants to take it (and even those who don’t).
Anyways, enough of the final talk. Everyone is tired of it anyways. Something else that’s not super fun… moving out! I packed up my room today and it was honestly just a bummer. My room has been such a statement of my growth as a person over this past year, and it feels wrong to just tear it down and pack it all up. Moving is never fun, but especially not now. I feel a sort of sadness returning to Utah for the summer. I’ve just spent the last 8 months creating such strong relationships with people who make me feel SO loved, and now I’ve got to be without them for 4 months. How absurd! I dislike this whole notion so much.
Onto happier things, however, it will be good to get a break. Everyone has worked so incredibly hard this year, and a break is desperately needed. I really am so proud of you all, Pios. It has been a pleasure to be here and a pleasure to write for you all each week. I hope this summer break is everything you dream of and more. You’ve all done something incredible! CONGRATULATIONS!
I'll leave you all with a couple of my favorite pals and I being pirates :)
-Mack
(they/them)
email: mwille@lclark.edu
insta: @mack_mae11