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.
Green Key: the fabled event of a spring term on Dartmouth's campus. This term, the classes of 2023, 2024, and 2025 all collectively got to enjoy our very first Green Key since the class of 2022's freshman Green Key in 2019. For me, this meant a celebratory weekend packed with live music, free food, and darty after darty (depending on who you ask, either a combination of daytime + party or Dartmouth + party).
What exactly is Green Key? The origins go back a long while—maybe as far back as 1899—and the festivities themselves have changed substantially over time. Now, Green Key looks like a few days packed with fun events hosted by organizations across campus, with the highlight definitely being Green Key @ Collis—an annual program hosted by the Collis Center for Student Involvement that brings notable musicians to campus to usher in the spring season. This year, the College brought artists Doechii, KYLE, and Saint Motel to Hanover for a Friday night concert that definitely had what felt like the entirety of campus clustered on Tuck Drive.
Now, I've been a Saint Motel fan since circa 2013, so even if you might not recognize them, know that I was beyond hype. I literally dove into the archives of my different email addresses, found my middle school Spotify account, and rediscovered my ancient indie rock playlists—all packed with classic Saint Motel. And while I may have been the sole person screaming the lyrics to Sweet Talk and For Elise when the tracks came on, I was on cloud nine as my younger self lived vicariously through me in those moments.
This hand-written, multicolored sign greeted us on our way in. Needless to say, we ran for the tacos immediately.
On Saturday, I went to BrewHaHa. Hosted by and on the Dartmouth Organic Form (or O-Farm, for short), the event featured live music by folksy folk, homemade kombucha, craft brews, delicious tacos and hot dogs, and plenty of vibes. Shuttles ran continuously to the event from just in front of the Hopkins Center, so getting there was easy, and leaving was hard. It was such a pleasant time and Saturday's perfectly peaceful counterpart to Friday's shenanigans.
All in all, my first Green Key was amazing. I'm already reliving the vibes as I choose the photos for this post, and am ridiculously encouraged to take up the guitar again after a long hiatus. I genuinely had no clue of what to expect but was pleasantly surprised all-around by the sheer amount of energy on the part of both those involved in preparing for Green Key and those whose infectious enthusiasm ensured we reached for the upper maxima of campus-wide hype. Can safely say that the long, long wait was well worth it. Same time next year?
Walking around the Wellelsey campus, it's clear that it was built with intentional incorporation of the surrounding nature. The architecture of many buildings were also mindfully crafted to support Wellesley's unique principles.
