No se como explicarte
Lo que siento.
No estaría exagerando
Si te dijese
Que he perdido la habilidad
De verme a mi misma sin vos;
Que son pocos los momentos
En los que no te quiero a mi lado;
Que quiero ser mejor
Porque quiero que te des cuenta;
Que los minutos
Frente a tu puerta
Son infinitos
Y llenos de ansias,
Alegrías;
Que pocas veces dude tanto
En lo que digo,
Hago,
Escribo;
Que tus brazos
Me aseguran;
Que tus besos
Me curan;

Que tengo miedo;

Que nunca senti
Lo que siento hoy.

Que no se si esto es lo que quiero sentir.

I've been thinking about injustices and our responses to them a lot lately. People here see them everywhere they turn.
Things that could be interpreted as racist, homophobic, classist, etc. always are. And while, certainly, many racist, homophobic and classist things are said with intentionality, many are not. We are human beings after all. We make mistakes: Sometimes we are not fully informed. Sometimes we say things that don't come out like we intend them to. Sometimes we just don't know that what we are saying is hurtful. Sometimes we really do have good intentions.
I love that Swarthmore and all its students are quick to respond to injustices. It shows that we care.
But what happens when we spend our whole lives feeling angry, frustrated and offended because we simply choose to believe that everyone has hurtful intentions?
What good does it do to fight against every injustice if it's only going to further convince us of humanity's depravity  — if it's going to make us miserable?

Can we assume good intentions where we can? Won't this make us happier?

Can we be happy and still do good for the world?
Can we pick our battles?

I'm Not Sorry

As the flowers bloomed and the weather got warmer, as the sun drew students out to throw frisbees and footballs around, an ugly, aggressive fight loomed over campus. For the past month or so we have been divided on issues central to our lives here at Swarthmore. We have debated over the existence of Greek life and all that entails (racism, homophobia, sexual assault and rape), and the invitation of a conservative to this year's graduation (one who may have done more harm than good for the world). And those of us who were on the offensive — those of us who were pushing to change the status quo — have been made to feel like we did something wrong. How could we ever upset the campus? How could we question institutions and systems that "work so well"? How could we chalk such grave and "unfounded" accusations on the paths of our beautiful campus for tour groups to see? How could we "ruin" the spring semester of seniors who up until this moment have never had to question their role here? How could we do it?

Last night, I received an email from a senior on campus inviting me to an event — "Fuck bigotry, harassment and rhetorical bullshit. Celebrate solidarity." After weeks of questioning my role in this place — after weeks of questioning whether I really was alone in all of this — this informal conversation between us "shit-starters" made me realize why I go to this school.  It made me realize what kind of people I want to associate myself with, what kind of things I want to do, what I want to change, and who I want to be as I move forward during my time here.

Most of all, though, it made me realize that I should never allow people to make me feel bad for wanting to change things that are so very clearly wrong.

Amidst criticism that we're ruining Swarthmore, I am now more sure than ever that we're doing the furthest thing from that.