It was a cool summer morning in the outskirts of Mancos, Colorado when I first noticed a golden retriever behind a rusty, iron fence. Our eyes found their way into each other as the gloomy clouds dissipated above us, revealing the warm, golden sun. The dog had a silver bell and a circular copper tag around its brown leather collar. The dog stepped closer to the fence and let out a quiet bark.  I did not understand what that meant. There was a language barrier between the dog and I. We were both up early in the morning, awake during the lonely hour of 6 A.M. I tilted my head while maintaining eye contact as I let out a soft smile. In a blink of an eye, the dog was gone. I could hear the silver bell ring from behind me.

I woke up to the sound of the birds chirping, the Motmot’s low whistle carrying through the wind and the Northern Pintail’s sqawks disturbing the early morning. I could see stars thrown across the sky from the small hole in my home. Grass was growing through the floorboards.

A stranger atop the Juliet & Juliet balcony

[Late posting due to illness and inclement weather]

A Wendy Doniger Reading of The Hungry Tide

Every Saturday morning of the Spring semester, Haverford College hosts fifty students from middle and high schools in the Philadelphia area as they participate in science and writing labs. Committed to providing opportunity to minorities historically underrepresented in STEM fields, the program, known as MAST, is comprised almost entirely of students of color. Currently, I hold the position of Middle School Science co-coordinator, and like the majority of the Haverford students that act as tutors and mentors, I am white.

English Language Learners 

 For the longest time I considered myself a 'science person' (along with an attendant sense of achievement). I was oblivious to the extent to which my personal opinions and beliefs framed my view of the world, what I wanted myself to be, and to be viewed by others. In participating in this course I realize now how utterly subjective my framing of science is, with my opinions interpreting my experience. I realize that it takes a lot of faith to be placed in the subjective in order for me to be objective.