LAUSDeanLong: Returning home is always fraught with complex emotions and feelings, for you return to a familiar place a changed person.
I wonder how students are feeling about their return home for Thanksgiving this week in the wake of the complex emotional, intellectual and psychological experiences of the past two weeks.
LaurenPerrotti: Some students have already made up their minds by posting facebook statuses warning friends not to bring up the Sanudsky case. Others plan to tell family and friends that it is their week off and they are taking a break from addressing the issue. Thursday evening at the LAUC meeting, our very own Doug Dooling (@DailyDiplomat) posed the question to the council. I am fortunate that my family has been patient and understanding of both the situation and my reaction toward it. However, I know that this is not the case for every student.
LAUSDeanLong: Last week in my letter to students I appealed to Rilke who spoke about the need to “live the questions.” This week, as you return home, I thought perhaps this quotation from D.H. Lawrence might speak to you as it has to me over the past two weeks:
“The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.”
Our attempts to live the questions among the ruins really is difficult work. But it is work for which you all are prepared; it is the work of a liberal arts education, the work of growth and maturity. And you have resources to help you with it: your family, your professors, your friends, and our Liberal Arts academic advisers.
My hope for us this week away is that we find ways to renew our energy and refocus our attention. For when you return, we will need our collective talents, our best selves, to move forward with integrity.
LaurenPerrotti: Yes, and we thought that we might provide a space below in the comment section for students who are at home for the break who want to continue to talk through their experiences with other students on our blog. Over the course of the next week, we invite you to do just that.
- 814-863-0395
- For an appointment: http://www.sa.psu.edu/caps/schedule_appointment.shtml
- For emergencies: http://www.sa.psu.edu/caps/crisis.shtml