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.
As soon as our final exams for 2020's Winter Term finished, my friends and I came to the realization that to celebrate, we should again take to the streets: we wanted to see West Lebanon in all of its glory before we had to say goodbye to our favorite college on earth.
The weather was so nice at the end of the term during #finalsszn we couldn't help but play some volleyball on the Green to destress.
It was honestly more nostalgic than anything else. Considering recent events, my friends and I came to understand that we might not be on campus for a while, and so this would be our last little get together before saying goodbye to each other. But Winter Term has been beautiful: we had Winter Carnival, we saw ice castles, we went ice skating (twice!), sledding — we did miss skiing, but that's something to look forward to next winter — and had plenty of King Arthur Flour (KAF) drinks infused with mocha and espresso (try the chocolate milk with two shots if you're ever in town — will most definitely change your life). Winter was, without a doubt, amazing. Maybe part of that has to do with how mild it was comparatively, according to the upperclassmen I call my friends, but I am not complaining at all.
Getting off campus is extremely easy and affordable. There are multiple buses that run throughout the day that pick you up from different places on campus and go straight to places like White River Junction, West Lebanon, Lebanon, and tons of different stops in between. Last term, my friends and I made our way to West Lebanon (lovingly referred to as West Leb) to get Moe's queso and go thrifting. This time, with a different friend group, we wanted to go restaurant hopping, thrifting again, and honestly were in search of the best vibes possible to cure our rising sentimentality about leaving campus.
A few minutes after boarding, we made our way to Five Guys for milkshakes, McDonalds for snacks, and ended with a trip to a place called Yama — a Korean-Japanese cuisine place that reminded me a lot of Sushiya, the place I go sometimes for lunch that is just down the street from campus. I was so full by the end of our little excursion that the only thing to do was go back to campus and watch a movie together — what's better for digesting sushi than a 90s rom-com?
Mirror: Dirty / Vibes: Good
One of the best parts about your first-year at Dartmouth is how quickly you become close with the friends you make during your first few weeks, the ones you add later on, and even the ones you only start really hanging out with towards the end of a term. Something about the atmosphere here accelerates your relationships and you make best friends quicker than you can imagine. So even if I won't be seeing my wonderful fellowship of NADs (the perpetually powerful Indigenous community at Dartmouth), my fellow Questies (Questbridge ʻ23s represent!), and all of my fellow First-Generation Low-Income (FGLI) folks for a little while, you should all know that you make Dartmouth a wonderful place to be.
I think on the other side of the screen, every time you hear someone answer "Whatʻs the best part about Dartmouth?" with "The people!" you might roll your eyes. Itʻs sort of a cliche at this point. But this cliche has a specific reason for existing, and that's that the people at this place will enrich your experience beyond the ability for any campus event, class, or burger special at The Hop (I donʻt even eat burgers but my friend Hubert swears by them…). I already know Iʻm gonna keep in contact with these people for a long, long time.
When you come to Dartmouth, as I hope you will, the connections you make will make every midterm study session, late-night grind, and office hours visit worth it. My friends made this Winter Term perfect, and I hope that if you come here in the Fall, you find that same sense of joy, community, and home that I have come to love. Aloha until next time.
It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I wrote my first end-of-fall-term reflection. It felt like only yesterday that I stepped into my dorm room this September, eager to reunite with my friends.
Most students have to go back to college after Thanksgiving to take their finals, but not at Dartmouth! We have a six-week winter break, known as "winterim!" Let me tell you how I spent my winterim!
As a second-year at Dartmouth, I've embraced leadership roles that foster community, creativity, and support! Here's a look at how each role has shaped my journey.
