Your Turn (Winter 2021)

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Read responses to the fall 2020 Your Turn prompts and contribute to a future issue with two new prompts! 

What new skill/behavior/practice have you learned due to the COVID-19 pandemic? 

“I received my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate during the remote fall semester. The course was 150 hours plus 20 hours of practical experience through the International TEFL Academy. I took the course as I was unable to study in Bologna for the full year and I hope to see Italy either through Dickinson or by teaching English there!” —Sadie Fowler ’22 (international studies and educational studies with a minor in Italian) 

"As for new skills/behaviors since the start of the pandemic last March, I:

  • learned how to Zoom proficiently (who hasn’t?!)
  • watched several complete operas via the internet
  • learned how to oil our cuckoo clock via the internet, then did so
  • saw our neighborhood horned owl in our juniper tree while watching comet Neowise
  • became a Denver Nuggets fan during the playoffs
  • learned how to install a bathroom ceiling fan/heater and replace a toilet wax seal via the internet, then did so
  • sold an upright piano on Craigslist
  • began selling beautiful mineral specimens on the internet with my son." —Bruce Geller ’77, P’12  

“In the summer, I started preserving wildflowers  in resin. I have had a lifelong love of flowers and  my background in science (environmental studies major) gave me some of the skills I needed for mastering the very exact process. You can check  out my work on Instagram @posy.floral or at etsy.com/shop/posyfloral.” —Dani Shae Thompson ’12

What book, published in the last decade, would you recommend as a must-read and why?  

"This week I tore through Rebekah Taussig’s Sitting Pretty (published 2020). In it, Taussig weaves together a tapestry about accessibility and representation and ableism by sharing the details that make up her life as a woman who navigates the world by way of wheelchair, and in doing so, she demonstrates that this world is built for some bodies and not for others. She pushes back on the notion that such a category as “ablebodied” really exists, and, instead, argues that we’re all and always traversing between points of strength, dependence, health, pain, illness and resilience. It’s just that some of us can pass for a little bit longer (to the detriment of a world that could make space for all types of bodies and benefit from their unique contributions). While she’s writing specifically from her experience as a disabled woman, the parallels for other marginalized identities seemed impeccably clear. The world is a series of accommodations, unequally distributed. Representation matters—it’s our blueprint for feeling welcome and our assurance that our future is possible. Hierarchies are dangerous. Listening is critical. I’m just scratching the surface of the terribly important, relevant ideas that this book so beautifully, clearly and compellingly conveys." —Caly McCarthy ’17 

"My wife, Judy, highly recommends the following books published in the last 10 years that she’s read recently: 

  • Becoming by Michelle Obama
  • Educated by Tara Westover

My son, Ben, really liked: 

  • The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris" —Bruce Geller ’77, P’12 

Avery Leslie O’Neill ’80 recommends Gaku’s Question: How Can Everyday People Create Peace? written by her college roommate Betsy Johnston ’80. She invited Betsy to a Zoom book club discussion and highly encourages her fellow Dickinsonians to read this book, encourage friends and family to read it and talk about how we can each create peace every day. 

Contribute to a future issue!

  • What Dickinson faculty or staff member had the biggest impact on your experience as a student? How so?
  • What is your favorite piece of Dickinson memorabilia? Something you still wear/display/use, or even something tucked away in a box in the attic!

Email your response to Editor Lauren Davidson (davidsol@dickinson.edu).

Read more from the winter 2021 issue of Dickinson Magazine.

TAKE THE NEXT STEPS

 

Published February 15, 2021