Race, Equality and Comfort

The sunlight is long here.
The heat remains and everyday large storms bring thunder, lightning and plenty of rain to break the humidity. I’ve been sharing my room the past few days with one of my best friends, Amanda. Our fan runs all night and day and our one window is always open. We laugh and talk far too much each night and wake up to the summer heat, humidity and 5am sunrises.

Work continues to go well. I carpool most days with two co-workers. The days are long, but I’m learning so much. I write every day and it’s wonderful. Tonight Amanda and I headed to the fitness center here. I jogged on the track and every memory came back. Spending so many evenings there during my first and second years. The stress relief, the time to think, the basketball and soccer games below the track and just everyday being so different and learning everything I could.

I’ve thought about St. Andrews here and there the past two days. Never when I thought I would, just thoughts and memories coming back unexpectedly. While I’ve maintained the friendships and they’ll remain what I miss most, lately I’ve thought back to the small moments. The moments I had to myself, the moments I explored, the quiet moments. It began last night. I was seconds from sleep but so many words still drifted in my head. And then a clear and bold memory. The academic business school at St. Andrews. The windows. The sunlight streaming in. Walking through it searching for a place to study. The feeling of warmth, exploration, awareness and comfort. And then this morning the memories returned unexpectedly again. Like being awake in a dream. Buying raspberries my first few weeks there, my daily walk into town and classes every day, spotting the ocean from afar most mornings, the bitter wind some days, walking through the hallways of my residence.

Yesterday’s (June 25) Supreme Court ruling on Section Four of the 1965 Voting Rights Act ruled unconstitutional surprised me. As I drove in the carpool yesterday, the three of us turned NPR up and listened to the news of the court’s ruling on the rainy drive home and discussed it -- raising our voices to be heard over the heavy raindrops hitting the windshield. We discussed and agreed that states still need Section Four of the law. When did justice and racial/income equality arrive equally to all fifty states causing the federal government to no longer speak for voters denied the right given to every American citizen?

The ruling sounds somewhat similar to the Civil War. A selection of the southern states – the same states that currently restrict the most voters on race and class, now free of the federal government’s interference when it comes to voting; a return to states’ rights over the rights of a nation.

            And then today. Fresh air. The repeal of DOMA bringing equality and full recognition and benefits under the law for every American marriage. Beautiful.

Vermont, Thunderstorms, Walt Whitman, and Nelson Mandela

Hello again!

It's a Monday night here in Vermont.
And it's super muggy.
Today and this past weekend has been wonderful. My brother was home and we all did a bit of hiking, swimming, kayaking, eating, drinking and plenty of laughing.

Here's a sibling photo from the weekend. We shared a small very early surprise birthday celebration appropriately titled '25/21'.

This morning I woke up in New Hampshire and renewed my license. I drove through a few small towns I had never explored before and when I arrived in Claremont to renew my license -- a town  right on the Connecticut River, the humidity was heavy but it was a beautiful setting.
Work today entailed a department picnic/BBQ in Morrisville, Vermont at the location in the first  photo posted above. I drove from Claremont to northern Vermont and passed plenty of Quebecois tourists and families along the way. At the picnic, my co-workers and I ate together and played a game of horseshoes. When a thunderstorm rolled in, we all ran for our cars and zoomed away.

 

Back at Saint Michael's, my evening was spent with two of my best friends, Katie and Amanda. The three of us haven't been together since December, and it's been so fun. The laughter and non-stop conversations continue. As I worked on a research paper earlier and Amanda read a book for her Spanish class, Katie joined us and watched the Boston Bruins game on a giant projector with surround sound. When another large thunderstorm rolled through
(and successfully relieved us of the humidity) we remained in our classroom shelter and watched the storm hit the surrounding ivy-lined brick buildings through the windows.The stories, laughter, memories, and plans for the future continue to dominate the discussions.

I began reading Walt Whitman's Civil War-themed poetry and prose last week and it's been so captivating. The detail, power and realistic influence the words have despite being written in the nineteenth century is amazing. 'Vigil I Kept on the Field one Night' might be one of my current favorites with the lines of
'Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there in the fragrant silent night'
and
'Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you, my son and my soldier, as onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones upward stole' as two pretty fantastic combination of words.

Lastly, I like Nelson Mandela a lot. I've written on him before, but I feel that reading about his life has allowed me to see and learn about the world in it's most unfair yet beautifully forgiving and progressive journeys. I've long been interested in the American Civil Rights movement, but South African Apartheid is a wholly different topic to tackle and understand. I think I've shared most or all of these before, but because I love them so much and feel that they've greatly influenced me in a positive way, a few words by Nelson Mandela are below:

"As we entered the new decade my hopes for South Africa rose once again. Some mornings I walked out into the courtyard and every living thing there, the seagulls, the wagtails, and even the stray blades of grass seemed to smile and shine in the sun. It was at such times when I perceived the beauty of the even this small, closed-in corner of the world, that I knew that some day me people and I would be free."

"In judging our progress as individuals, we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one's social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education...but internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's development as a human being: honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, purity, generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve your fellow men -- qualities within the reach of every soul."

Writing from Vermont

Greetings!

It's been far too long.
Much has changed, but nothing too substantial.
All continues to be well.
I've enjoyed blogging this summer, and I hope to blog more, I've found the transition from writing in and of Scotland though became challenging when I returned to a (lovely) life that I was so used to before. Each day in Vermont or New Hampshire (I've been splitting my time pretty evenly between the two and jumping the state line often) doesn't seem as news/blog-worthy as my days in the U.K. Yet there will always be words to write.
I've read quite a bit of American Contemporary poetry these past few weeks.
If I hadn't left the book of my favorite poems in the car tonight, I would share a few lines here.
I've also been writing plenty.
I've begun the enormous (and slightly embarrassing to admit) task of writing a novel. Yikes. It's gone well so far. Day Three completed. I'm trying to take a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) approach which involves writing somewhere around 1500 words per day for a complete, unedited, full-length (well, I guess average length) novel at the end of thirty days. As NaNoWriMo is celebrated as a community event in November, I've never quite felt free enough from school and finals preparations each November to write that much per day, but June/July may be a different story. I've tried to use my evenings after work wisely.
I hope too, that by writing this all here, I stay motivated and finish.
It's a process.
It's positive and negative.
I'm happy I want to write.
I'm happy the ideas and characters and settings and descriptions haven't left my head in three days. I'm happy that I have a notebook nearby me at work to write down ideas.
Yet I'm not too pumped that it could detract from my internship...
The internship continues to go well.
I've loved working at community events each week. I've done my share of face painting and speaking with Vermonters about the upcoming Health Care exchange in which Vermont (as the only state in the country) will require all residents to have health coverage beginning in 2014 with businesses of fifty or fewer employees transitioning to the employees now purchasing independently.
I've continued to write articles on health and wellness, update social media platforms related to BCBSVT and edit plenty of health care magazine/brochure drafts.

I'm living more full-time now on the Saint Michael's College campus as it's closer to work, and this week I've been between NH and VT frequently with my brother visiting from California. After a year away, it's been wonderful to be on the Saint Michael's campus again and spend time with friends here every evening. My room is cozy and smells like a freshman dorm in the most beautiful sense of reminding me at every doorframe of the memories of first entering school here nearly three years ago. I've been reminded too, how much I'm enjoying still being an undergrad, and how happy I am to be here for the following year. I eat dinner here in the dining hall most nights with friends before evening walks and plenty of laughter as the sun sets. The grass is long and the Vermont trees are far greener than my memory recalled. Today we ventured through a residential area with large brick homes with wrap around porches, lilac bushes (not blooming), and old-fashioned street lamps. It was a warm night with a pink setting sun shortly before 9pm and so many residents were on porches, grilling outside and socializing with neighbors. The smell of coal was strong and so comforting in the relaxed-outdoor-summer-evening kind of way.

It's taken a few weeks, but I continue to feel better each day with my experiences and the life I'm living in the U.S. There are still little things I'll always remember and miss about Scotland -- a memory or two come back to me each day -- but I know that this is where I am for now. I'm striving towards living in the moment and realizing what I have here -- the small and large comforts I missed while in the U.K. are with me now. I know that as phenomenal and wonderful my experiences were there, the tricky part has been transitioning back and re-adjusting here. Words and spellings that I never mastered while there now come flooding back here -- I've gone into restaurants and asked for 'take-away' rather than 'to-go', I spell my words accidently with an extra 'u' in the '-our' sequence, and more than a few times have accidently referred to 'lines' as 'queues'. And while I know I'm not fully realizing it now, it is wonderful to be home. It was wonderful kayaking with my brother and hiking with my Dad this weekend, perusing the dozen or so books I hope to read soon (but will probably never get to in the near future), seemingly never talking for long enough with my Mom, finding and arranging picked clumps of daisies and wildflowers in the forests of New Hampshire, laughing with friends each night at Saint Michael's, listening to Bruce Springsteen everyday, and witnessing my grandparents celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary this past weekend. As I begin to watch this summer and this year unfold and the direction of the years to come become clearer, I want to remember where I am now and in the coming days. It's the present I want to remain focused on.

Photos from Vermont and Writing

A few photos from the past week and some writing below!

Pupil the cow. Right before I fed her one of her favorite snacks, two unpeeled bananas.

Dying white lilacs.

After the bananas.

Stream. And my shadow.

New Hampshire over the weekend.

View from my desk at work last Wednesday morning. Fog rolling in off the green mountains.

 

Everything is well! I was at work much later than usual tonight as it feels like there are an abundance of articles to write, but I really enjoy the work. Today a celebratory local Vermont lunch was brought in for BCBSVT as the company as recently voted 'Best Place to Work in Vermont'! While it was a bit of a colder day, it was sunny and beautiful outside when I drove home. I'm not always a huge fan of my 35 minute commute through three tiny towns on a mix of dirt and paved roads, sharp turns and passing 'Slaughter House Road' twenty minutes into the drive, but today I found myself loving the mountain views, the farm stands, winery, the copper-colored calf I see each morning and evening, the gold dome of the Vermont state house visible down in Montpelier right as I leave work, the white churches and meeting houses in the center of Northfield with American flags hanging from each telephone pole, and the green scenery in every direction. When I arrived in Northfield, Mrs. Murphy and I ate a quick dinner which ended with a bowl of raspberries before tackling some serious tree cutting. We walked far out into the forest, into reaches and tree densities that I didn't know existed. I was thankful I had changed out of my work clothes and now wore tall rubber boots and cloth pants. I carried a pair of clippers or scissors that were as long as my leg, and cut away at baby evergreen tree which interfere with her metal fence line that keep her four angus cows (Pupil, Java, New Moon, and Obsidian) from escaping into the wilds of Vermont. We worked for about an hour straight, and while it wasn't too hot, the mosquitos chased after us. The sun had set by 8:30 and we squeezed past rows of trees to walk back through an open field with knee-high grass. The pink sky bordered on the mountains beyond and we walked back home.

 

Life in Vermont

Greetings!
(As a side note, unfortunately my laptop/internet connection hasn't been cooperating lately, so this post will be solely text as I'm unable to add pictures).
All is well! And very busy.
I began work in the communications/external community affairs department at Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont last Tuesday and I've loved the position. My co-workers are so friendly and kind. Last Thursday night we all went out together after work and there was so much laughter.
Most days I write articles for magazines distributed to BCBSVT employees, health care providers, and members, in addition to editing, being at BCBSVT sponsored community events and spending a chunk of time on email. I've loved being in the middle of the Green Mountains, too. :)

It was nice to visit one of my best friends, Katie at Saint Michael's late last week. It was such a hot stretch (90 degrees/32 degrees Celsius if any lone U.K. readers remain!) of days, but it was wonderful to be with friends on campus. There was an obscene amount of laughter.

I went home to New Hampshire for the weekend, too, which was so busy. The warm stretch continued, but it was beautiful to kayak on Saturday with my Mom on the lake and attend a family gathering on Sunday. :)

My living situation in Northfield, Vermont is in a beautiful setting. The mountains are gorgeous. I'm up and out most mornings around 7, and while the sun rises closer to 5, the lingering low sun and foggy mornings out here are beautiful for my morning commute through tiny rural towns. This evening, I fed one of the four black angus cows residing behind the house two overripe bananas. Supposedly cows go for the full banana. She reached out her long tongue and grabbed both bananas from me so quickly. The scent of the white lilacs here are beautiful as well. My tall rubber rain boots have already come in handy as well with the ultra long grass, swampy spots and treks through the yard. :)

I'm looking forward to five more days at work (I'll be working for BCBSVT at a 5k on Saturday) and the excitement it all holds. As tired as I am some evenings (I feel as if the four hours per week of classes at St. Andrews didn't quite prepare me for a full-time internship), I've loved everything I'm learning, those I interact with, and the effects I hope the writing can hold. If my internet connection/laptop issues improve, I'll certainly post some green-sunny-mountainous-cow photos of rural Vermont. :)