I think about disposability a lot, about how we use a thing for a single purpose, for a moment in time, and then it is no longer any good to us. Plastic water bottles, grocery bags, a cardboard to-go container in the Caf. Every second, the United States throws away 1,500 plastic water bottles. Every minute, that is 90,000 bottles. In a hour, we throw away … Continue reading Reduce, reuse, then what?

Fifteen years ago this October, a man riding his bike outside of Laramie, Wyoming noticed a scarecrow tied to a fence. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was man laying on his side, hands bound behind his back and brutally beaten. It was the unconscious Matthew Shepard, an openly gay student at the University of Wyoming. The night before, the 21-year-old had accepted a ride … Continue reading The meaning of Matthew: fifteen years later

You’re in the middle of finishing some reading for tomorrow’s class when you get a call from your friend, Ashley. She has been crying and tells you that she needs someone to talk to. Without a second thought, you stop everything that you are doing, pack up your things, and head over to comfort her. The two of you talk for an hour, she is … Continue reading Playing the blame game

Here’s a question I love so much that I even used it as the opening for my first novel: “What is your dream, your aspiration, the thing that gives you guidance?” We all have dreams — that is why we are at Gustavus, after all. For a select few, a dream is something that we carry with us from the beginning of our lives until … Continue reading What does dreaming mean to you?