Home of Ripley's things

      It is May 6th today. In 13 days I will have officially completed my freshman year at SUNY New Paltz. I feel the need to dispatch a little reflection on the past ten months of my life, as they have been strange and, I think, important. Making alginate molds in Sculpture     I'm writing from Peregrine Dining Hall. A moment ago, out the window to my left, a red-tailed hawk glided past with what I think was a mouse hanging from its talons. Outside it is very green and very blue, and I can see my dorm building but not my bedroom window because it's hidden behind a tree.      College life is about obsessing over the simple facts of your environment. I feel like I complain a lot in casual conversations, whether it is about the food here, my workload, or my tendency to complain about those things. My focal point is the campus, and even when I stray a mile so out on a walk my mind recenters on a class or where I might go to get some work done. I don'...

                 Kangarue “Diane” Butterfield passed away on February 18, 2023 after experiencing sudden heart failure and subsequent veterinary euthanasia. She was around 12 years old and spent her years as the Butterfield family cat, outliving the beloved Spooner Butterfield and remaining after Catniss Butterfield was re-homed. Originally called “Waffles,” Kangarue’s given name supposedly came from an argument between her young adopters, Ripley and Drusilla. Ripley wanted to name her new cat “Rue” after the tragic Hunger Games character- she had recently seen the movie. Drusilla, being only a toddler, preferred an animal name. Thus, the story goes, Kangaroo and Rue were fused into a singular title for the black and white kitten. In the last 3 or 4 years of her life, Kangarue went by “Diane,” a name suggested by her dear friend Madeline Boccone. “Diane” comes from the song "Sleeping with the Television On" from Billy Joel’s 1980 a...

There is something simultaneously stifling and freeing about walking in New Paltz. It can be refreshing, and wondrous- like when it's crisp outside and I spot groups of birds in the air or the Wallkill River- but it's also such an annoyance to trek uphill to campus after going anywhere. A walk is free, it helps slow-moving hours pass, and it's a form of exercise that I don't hate or attach self-conscious thoughts to. However, in a place where transportation is fickle and exceedingly limited, walking feels burdensome. And I don't consider it as "relaxing" or "mind-clearing" as some. It's an activity that I treat much like reading and drawing: I love it and can't imagine life without it, but don't indulge with as much regularity as I should. From the New Paltz Postcard Archive at Sojourner Truth Library. I'm thinking about walking because recently I've taken to listing out my days in a check-off-able to-do list on the app/websit...

(LAST WEEK): I feel confident in saying that, based on my 4 days of experience living on-campus at a state university, college is a simulated life. It's like a compact video game where the day-to-day needs of characters are simplified as to make playing fun and manageable. My roommate said it's almost as if we would spawn back in our dorm if we were to stray too far from campus. Knowing this, there's no reason to even try. I like it here a lot, though. It almost seems like one aspect of life that was trimmed away in order to make a playable simulation game was my laziness and much of my insecurity. I have been out doing things constantly: going to the BEAUTIFUL, fresh, airy library, having food in the dining hall, exploring town, and even going to a (singular, disappointing) party. I easily get up for the day. The drive to live life on the campus seems to not even be hampered by unmanageable anxiety or social seclusion, which is what I'd expected going away to school......

Wisconsin . I had a better time than I anticipated (I was kind of dreading this trip beforehand) but it's also been sort of grueling. Each day my family has attempted to complete 1-2 main activities: go to the Paul Bunyan logging museum! go to the free zoo in the park! go to the "Watermelon Festival"! and the like. This light load of planning was then added to by frequent restaurant/fast-food meals. Being in a fairly rural state, our drives from one thing to another were generally quick trips on empty highways. We just haven't been doing... much, in my opinion. The last couple days have left me feeling really irritable and bored at times. There was the admittedly disappointing ordeal of the Washburn County Fair, on Friday. It was pretty much as I expected in size: a few compact rides (tilt-a whirl, small ferris wheel, carousel), a few carnival games, some little food stands and of course, the barns where animals were being displayed and judged. I had a nice corn dog a...

 As I write, I am on a trip with my dad and sister in the Minnesota/Wisconsin overlap area. I have been experiencing a sensation not unlike one I might have if I'd been knocked on the head and woke up to find myself in a different state. Why am I in Minnesota right now , I thought, as I looked out our rental car window at a nondescript highway. There's literally no reason to come here. I mean, we went to the Mall of America but none of us are huge shoppers. I made my own (deranged, Monkees-themed) M&Ms at the M&M store. We ate a disappointing dinner at the Rainforest Café, and I looked at a lot of bad clothing, and we went back to our motel. That was day one.  I make it sound very depressing, but I actually had a nice time overall. Something about the air seemed cleaner, and the absurdity of being on a random highway in Minnesota was amusing enough to keep me generally happy. Day two was better: we got to drive out of the ultra-commercial area we were staying in (near ...

Tomorrow, June 14th, is my final school day as a 12th grader. I don't exactly know how I feel about it. School has been a fairly comfortable stasis for me, particularly during this past semester. I have a small group of friends, a teacher who is sweet and hospitable to us (we spend most of the day talking and snacking in her office) and a very light class schedule. I've done extracurricular creative things, been accepted to the college of my choice, and recently became employed. Overall I'm very lucky and I have reason to be pleased with where I'm at. But... for whatever reason, whether related or unrelated to the coming end of school, I have been in a semi-depressive state for the past week and a half or so. That might be overselling or exaggerating it, but I don't think it's inaccurate. It isn't totally new either- discomfort and anxiety has always tipped me into hopelessness at times. If I were more isolated it wouldn't really be a big deal, but as it...