The Letter

1334 S. Galloway Street

New York, NY 99756

October 27, 2015

Maddy Bodell

5567 Downing Street

Denver, CO 80210

Dear Maddy,

I was walking through downtown center yesterday morning at an early hour. It was that calm before the storm- you know, early enough that world seems to have slowed down for just a moment. It was so quiet, so very close to silent. Anyways, it was the silence that reminded me of you, Maddy; I had a flush of memories from all those times we attempted to be philosophers, laying in the grass just outside the library just to think about the silence. I know we have lost touch over the years, but I was reminded of you in the silence yesterday morning, so I thought I would send you this letter.

How have you been? The last time we talked we were both finishing up school, and I think the busyness was truly consuming us. Where are you working now? Have you kept in touch with anyone from back home? I am thinking of you and cannot wait to hear about how far you have come!

As for me, I am still a little stuck in our philosopher phase. I have taken to writing notebooks, so I think you’d be happy to know reflection is still a large piece of my life. While completing reflections now, I often think back to seventh grade. Ms. Namath started a book-writing club during lunch period, and I remember giving up every Monday and Wednesday lunch to sit in her classroom and write a short novel. Even then, I think I was fascinated with words and the power they conveyed. For a very happy seventh grader, I wrote a tragic novel; it was a collection of short poems about the death of the main character’s family friend. Then, I understood writing as a form of escapism- imaginative and transcendent. The process of writing always conveyed something fictional. I think back to this understanding of writing because it sparked my love for words, but my understanding of their power then was blurry and unfocused. I had perceived words as inward forces, but no transferred them to how I could grow in the outside world. I still hold on to this use of creativity as a form of catharsis in my reflections today, but I am also working “to think of writing not only as… [a] descent into self but also as the ascent from chaos to cosmos… [an understanding that] through ordering this chaos, we may use composition to achieve composure” (Moffett 234).

I remember in that class we took together, we wrote many reflections; that was probably my first time exploring these topics formally. Many of my reflections were works of fiction. I particularly remember writing my own obituary because that somehow seemed safer than just transcribing my thoughts directly. I often reflected by writing in flowy, metaphorical terms and while part of me knows I will always be a fanatic for aesthetics, I think I chose to write all those reflections in metaphorical terms because it gave me distance to hide and to avoid the task of practically applying my reflections to something greater. They could be beautiful, and thus, a tool of distraction rather than critical reflection.

In the future, as I continue to build on the reflective practices I learned in that course we shared together, I hope I can render the beauty of words into something useful for my future. Just to update you, I just got back from spending a year in New Zealand. Now, I am starting graduate school pursuing a degree in Rhetoric and Composition. I hope to go on to receive my PhD in Rhetoric and Composition while intersecting research and community work on the housing crisis and gentrification into my dissertation. Therefore, I am embarking on a long journey of writing- but this time with greater purpose. I think the greatest take-away I still hold from that class is that writing serves both an internal and external purpose. It can be used to understand inner chaos, but when it is shared, it must examine greater topics and connect to others in a way that is encouraging and transformative. Thus, in my work toward my PhD, I am writing because it still something within me, but I have an academic goal that pushes me to critically reflect on my identity and role in this world while making sense of forces in the greater community.

I remember our university’s motto was ‘to transform passion in purpose’. As someone who likes to stay within her own daydreams, I never understood the value in this phrase- why couldn’t I just have passion? Why couldn’t I just think to myself without connecting those thoughts to something greater? To answer these questions, I actually reflected on my physical state when I was deep in a daydream. When daydreaming, I am still and gone to the outside world- I am floating free of obligations. This state is sometimes necessary to keep me feeling human, but this is not reflection nor is it useful in propelling me into something greater. I may be happy in this; however, I am stagnant. Therefore, passion should be transformed into purpose because purpose requires you to be connected to those around you, to build relationships, to learn more and to create goals that compel you to critically engage with the world around you. To briefly resort back to lyrical terms, it allows you to ascend as cosmos.

This is where I am at, Maddy. I wanted to share a bit of my journey after spending those moments in silence with you. I hope to hear more about your passions and purpose and to hear how you have grown. I will be traveling through Colorado next month and would love to grab lunch sometime.

I hope to hear from you soon! I am wishing you only the best.

Sincerely,

Aly