“Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself”
Hello,
Lindsay did a good job introducing me in her blog post last week, but then she made fun of me for saying lemon squares are my favorite, so I’ve decided (because she does not appreciate the finer things in life) I should introduce myself. I’m Emily. And you’ll be happy to know I polled the office, and Lindsay is the only one not into the lemon squares. She says they are “too sugary;” everyone else says they are “delicious.” That I took a poll at all illustrates my personality fairly well.
As Lindsay mentioned, I am a long-time drama staff member, and I recently went on a month-long camping-slash-hiking trip alone in some of our great National Parks. You might be thinking, “That makes no sense. Drama staff members are not acquainted with what we on the outside call ‘out of doors.’” You’re not wrong.
Fortunately for me, alone in National Parks, you’re not quite right either. You see, as a camper I had exactly two interests: stagecraft and mountaineering. I designed my schedule to maximize my time doing both (Stagecraft always third period on Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, and activities I don’t care about missing every other period. I’m sorry, Ceramics.). Stagecraft, being the only activity I loved more than Mountaineering, led to my position on drama staff; Mountaineering, being what it is, gave me the skills necessary for a month-long camping-slash-hiking trip.
This illustrates the nature of Merrie-Woode: Giving girls the freedom to do whatever it is they love best, and to not do what they don’t want to do without any stigmas or pressures to fit into just one box.
So yes, this drama kid has been exposed to the out-of-doors, and in a big way; my first National Park stop was the Grand Canyon. I cried the first time I saw it while surrounded by people using selfie sticks. I didn’t expect to cry; it was just much bigger than I thought it would be. This is the theme of the trip: MUCH bigger than I thought it would be, and just as beautiful as people you think are exaggerating tell you it is. I sat on the edge and watched the shadows grow below as the sun set, and I slowly realized I hadn’t brought my headlamp from my campsite (I am what Betsy calls an experiential learner; I didn’t make this mistake again.). I walked back in the darkness and thought about why I cried. It is such a secret place, the land of tears (note: I took this from The Little Prince). The beauty and size alone may have inspired a tear or two, but I cried at least three (hundred), but I tried hard not to draw too much attention to myself. I realized, as I desperately tried to develop night vision, that the reason the canyon had that effect is because when I stood next to it, I felt incredibly small, but at the same time, incredibly important. Not self-important, which is just another way to say small, but important by the measure of others, which is to say very large in a figurative sense. How very rare that feeling is in a young woman! And how very much am I indebted to Merrie-Woode for teaching that feeling to me (a lot. I am a lot indebted to Merrie-Woode for teaching it to me.).
After spending three days at the canyon, I moved on to Yosemite National Park. Let me tell you about Yosemite: it is much bigger than I thought it would be. I spent a week and saw a small fraction of what is there. Every view was like one of those oil-painted backdrops they used in old movies. I’ve included a picture to illustrate this point. Views like this are beautiful and plentiful in Yosemite, and they make you miss those that feel real: the sunset over Sarasota Bay, a friend from across a room, Old Bald on a misty morning.
My last National Park stop was the Redwoods National and State Parks in Northern California. To complete the triptych: those trees are MUCH BIGGER than I thought they would be. And despite the signs that warned that in the old-growth forest a branch could fall at any moment and crush me, I felt very much at peace exploring among the giant trees. I also saw a salamander and learned that they live high in the canopy which forms its own aerial ecosystem (which, from what I gathered, consists mostly of salamanders. I want to live there.).
It took me a week to drive home. Everyone told me I was brave and that I must be very tired. I actually felt very relaxed and refreshed (I was, however, tired of driving.). I think wonder and adventure are the natural impulses of the human spirit. Whether you fulfill them on stage or on a trail (or, yes, in the Ceramics place. EDIT: I am told in the art world it is called a studio.), they demand to be sought out and absorbed and nourished. And I’m happy to be working in a place that allows me to do just that and to encourage young women to do the same.
See you again soon, and I promise not all my blog titles will come from rap songs,
Emily