Aloha to the page of a wanderlusting writer juggling college life and several other hobbies into an eternally-short 24-hour day. I hope to shed light on the Dartmouth experience as I explore the brave new world of Hanover, NH and everything going to college here has to offer. In my free time, you can find me trying to learn a new language or building the perfect Spotify playlist (alternative/indie, anyone?). I hope you enjoy!
Taught by Gordon Henry, an Anishinaabe poet and author, this class taught me to explore Indigenous storytelling within digital contexts. I took this class with only seven other classmates, allowing us to really engage with films, comic books, and television shows in Indigenous languages or produced by Indigenous artists.
Taught by Timothy Pulju, this class taught me how to identify and understand how languages evolve over time and why. I analyzed and reconstructed fictional languages of imaginary nations in order to understand the link between language and culture, and ended up having such an appreciation for the complexity and beauty of language's place in history!
Taught by Lindsay Whaley, this class let me discover a newfound love for ancient apocalyptic literature. We analyzed ancient texts and compared them to modern apocalypses, looking at the zombie apocalypse phenomenon and other apocalypses in pop culture and comparing them to the ancient tradition of writing apocalypses. Additionally, I learned the Greek alphabet and now I can even stumble through ancient Greek passages.
FallNew Orleans, LA
Favorite Class: Native American Literature and the Law
Taught and organized by David Peterson, this class let me get into the shoes of a real linguist as we did fieldwork (virtually!!) with the Zophei language. I learned how to describe a never-before-learned language's phonology (sound system), how to characterize its grammar and words, and ultimately got to present my research to experts in the language family around the world in a workshop at the end of the term!
WinterHanover, NH
Favorite Class: Native American Literature and the Law
Taught by N. Bruce Duthu, this class taught me how Native literature can provide lens by which to evaluate, critique, and ultimately revise Federal Indian Law. During this class, I read works by Native authors like Tommy Orange and Louise Erdrich '76 alongside the opinions of definitive case opinions in American law and explained how literature can be a catalyst for Indigenous sovereignty.
Supervised by N. Bruce Duthu, I spent this off-term performing research after being awarded a Sophomore Research Scholarship to study contemporary Hawaiian cultural and linguistic revitalization. I studied 19th-century newspapers and contemporary Hawaiian texts in order to understand how Hawaiian language revitalization both past and present has advanced and continues to enable a contemporary bodied Hawaiian politic of sovereignty.
Taught by Laura McPherson, this class taught me about how languages create meaning through words. During this class, I learned how to analyze different languages' morphological processes and compare different approaches within the field as to morphological structures.
Taught by N. Bruce Duthu, this class offered me a glimpse into the lived realities of Native people in Indian Country Today. I learned about the economic, social, cultural, and historical roots for the struggles of Indigenous people today within the United States, and was able to write about the contemporary battle for Native Hawaiian visibility and Hawaiian sovereignty.
Taught by Laura McPherson, this class taught me how to engage in language documentation and how, as a linguist, we can put our skills to use to help communities seeking to document and revitalize their languages. I worked on the Satawalese language, spoken on the island of Satawal in the Federated States of Micronesia. Ultimately, my team created two dictionaries - one in English, one in Hawaiian, a website, and several materials that focused on the Satawalese tradition of wayfinding and non-instrumental ocean navigation.
Taught by Charles Eastman fellow Sunaina Kale, this class taught me about the role of sound in delineating, conceiving, and comprehending relations between people and the land in Indigenous musical traditions. Over the course of the class, we discussed Indigenous musicians, listened to music from Native peoples around the world, heard from masterful Indigenous musicians, and ultimately presented a project that creatively analyzed a song of our choice. My project focused on the song "Ask Yourself" by Foster the People, and I wrote a poem that integrated aspects of Indigenous languages and worldviews to answer questions posed by the song.
This term, I formally began the research process for my upcoming honors thesis in the Linguistics department on Hawaiian semantics! While living in Hanover, I also began working as a Senior Fellow with the Admissions department—a position I will be holding for the entirety of my last year at Dartmouth.
3 Random Things I've Learned from a Virtual Spring
Despite my inability to spend my first spring term on Dartmouth's campus, being a Dartmouth student at this moment in time, with so much global clamor for change and with the future in flux, has taught me a lot about my own habits, strengths, and weaknesses. In many ways, being at home during this moment of time has allowed for me to work along an even more liberal schedule than is possible on-campus, which has given me a lot of time to simply reflect. By just being a virtual student, making the grind work virtually, I've ended up teaching myself how to study effectively, how to make the most of spare time without being conventionally productive, and really learned more about what being a student means and why your standards should stay constantly rooted in your surrounding reality: give yourself and your projects room to grow, and you'll love seeing them blossom — isn't that what spring is about?
The best part of learning is the process, not the product.
I think when we're on campus, under normal terms, we're constantly focused on really specific objectives. We use grades to evaluate our progress and aptitude, and too often our study habits become based around recitation rather than understanding. The way my professors have adapted their classes for a Credit/No Credit virtual term has helped me truly appreciate what understanding feels like. To be able to comprehend the material and ask questions about new ideas I've had just from reading or listening to course content without the pressure of a grade has helped me change my perspective on learning itself.
It's too easy to forget that at school, we're aiming to learn for learning's sake, and your professors are trying to inspire you by sharing their own love for scholarship. I understand now that Dartmouth as an institution looks for people who share that passion for learning. When you apply to college, or when you arrive at college, just remember to show what makes you passionate about learning itself.
Being organized is a superpower.
And at home, it's really, really hard. In my case, with seven younger siblings all doing their own schoolwork and my parents busy completing our move into a new house, it was a definite challenge to learn at home in spite of social-distancing rules. That being said, creating a fairly flexible routine to study, do work, and find time to read (for pleasure) and re-re-rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender was the only way I could simultaneously preserve my sanity and fulfill my student obligations.
It's a mix of taking time for yourself and getting work done. And maybe a fair dose of complaining to your friends over Zoom, Facetime, or in-game during a study break.
There is nothing more powerful than a playlist.
Maybe I already knew this, but seriously, there must be some psychological study that backs me up on this. I created a study playlist, and every time I study, I turn it on. Whenever I have this playlist in the background, with my headphones on, I have the power to read for my classes without picking up my phone. I can't recommend this enough.
It's easy to forget how easy it is to access walking trails during the hustle of a Dartmouth term. As graduation nears, I am reminded of how special it is to step off campus and enjoy quiet moments in nature.
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont!
After returning from an enriching study abroad program, I'm diving into a bustling spring semester here at Dartmouth. Here are my four courses I'm taking this term!
