I was talking to one of my good friends back home, and realized that this summer is definitely helping me figure out my direction. Specifically, I’ve become increasingly interested at the point where health and environmentalism/sustainability intersect. At work I read some articles by Ernest Callenbach, a Berkeley resident who wrote Ecotopia, an extremely influential environmentalist novel. I was most interested in his idea of the Golden Triangle, which positions health, wealth, and the environment on the three corners of a triangle. According to his theory, actions that help foster one corner will spill over into the other two corners as well (i.e. promoting things beneficial to the environment, are also in the best interests of health and economic interests). For example, biking to work improves your health, reduces pollution, AND saves money. I think that in coming years, as Americans struggle with their health, pending environmental crises, and economic woes, this Golden Triangle will see a resurgence in popularity and give way to all kinds of successful policy and business opportunities!
(Now for a visual interlude: below are a bunch of photos of my office and the surround area, as per Dad’s request.)
another view of the Chalet
historical house across the street from my building
This week I’ve also realized that I am becoming much more okay with letting go of things in the past. Over the past couple of years, I’ve had a hard time coming to terms with the reality that I can’t maintain all of my old friendships, and really struggled with growing apart from almost all of my high school friends. As more and more of my college friends graduate (this year there was an especially large number of them to say goodbye to), I found I was having the same struggle: not wanting to let go of those close friendships, yet finding it too difficult to really maintain our relationships. However, this summer I’ve gotten to see friends out here and while it’s sad I don’t see them every day, it makes me the time we do spend together that much more special. Plus, I’ve had fun meeting new people and getting to be better friends with people I didn’t necessarily know as well before.
All this is making me much less afraid to graduate next spring. It turns out, there IS life after college! (And beyond Harvard… who would’ve guessed?) I feel confident that I’ll stay in touch with those closest to me (I’ve even been receiving texts from a close friend who moved to Australia… so with modern technology you really can stay in touch!). Even though graduation will still be bittersweet, and I’ll really miss Harvard, I don’t think you’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming. I think I’ll be ready.
The other new world I explored this week was that of artistic creativity. My main project this week was making a video clip to educate County employees about a new waste reduction policy for office meals (basically instead of ordering boxed lunches – lots of packaging waste and unwanted food thrown out—we want them to serve food buffet-style; additionally, drinks should be served from pitchers instead of in individual cans and bottles). This involved writing a script and then acting in the film, as well as making little animations and then editing the video. I haven’t really ‘done art’ since middle school art class, but spent the better part of two days drawing animations! I felt so productive because I got really focused and into the project, which felt good. It was a refreshing change of pace, and also nice to see that I’m not completely creatively inept. For some reason, the past year or two I’ve been in doubt of my ability to be creative… I thought that my talents lied in taking an existing idea and implementing it or making it better. I think (hope) I can do that, but also be inventive in coming up with the original idea in the first place. Here’s to hoping!
(Note: I’m not posting the video because it’s for internal use, but the animations were of trash piling up, food getting eating, etc. Fun stuff.)
view from my cubicle
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