< Back Ralph's Story, 2025 Ralph reflects on how his understanding of “home” evolved from a physical house to something much deeper and more expansive. While his house feels like home through safety, creativity, and memories, he realize that home is also found in meaningful human connections, whether on a subway, in a restaurant abroad, or within a close-knit community. Through these experiences, he came to see home as something he carry within himself, shaped by relationships, kindness, and shared moments. Ultimately, home is not a single place, but a feeling rooted in connection and belonging. 00:00 / 03:32 My first incarnation was to think about a house as a home. But then I realized that was only a small part of what home might be. So then I had to ask myself: what turns a house into a home? First thing I thought of was the obvious: where I feel safe from the elements, safe from physical harm, safe to express who I am, and safe to love and be loved. My house is my home, but why is it? I feel I have several hundred, if not thousands, of homes. Well, the house I live in, well, I'm an artist, oil painter, to be exact, with the studio in the house, where I struggle to express thoughts in paint and charcoal. That's the one thing that makes the house my home. It's also where I play, cooking, gardening, even cleaning. But those are the tangible elements. But what keeps me here, hopefully till I die, are all the memories:the good, the bad, the ugly. So this place isn't just a home, it's me. I feel at home on the New York City subways, which I don't know how many people can say that. But why do I say I feel at home there? Well, it's the people. My wife and I ride the subways all over the city. When we get on, it's usually pretty much standing room only. And that's when the magic happens. Someone will notice Mary Ann standing. Then they get up, indicate she should take their seat. They smile, she smiles. And that's if I can, I come over to them and thank them and mention that they're making it hard for me by setting such good examples. You know, at which point, they usually look me up and down and laugh, cause they know I'm right. It's strange because I was thinking about all the places I feel at home and really feel comfortable in strange ways. And there are an awful lot. We had been to Florence several times. Once we went to visit our daughter while she was studying Italian. We went to take her out to dinner to what turned out to be a very popular restaurant with the line going halfway down the block. Despite this, we decided to cross the street and just take a peek inside. We got halfway across the street when the individual taking reservations spotted us, more accurately, my daughter. He meets us in the middle of the street and announces to the waiting patrons, “For you, I have a table now.” We were ushered in and given the table overlooking the entire dining room; we never looked back at the waiting line. Then there's a small village in San Odell where I was taught the true meaning of family. I just live with what they taught me. That's all I can say because I'd have to go on for hours. Two or three days ago, I'm coming back from a walk and about to go down my driveway when I hear two of the children on the block yelling my name. Realizing it's a race between brother and sister, I hold out my arms to indicate the finishing line. The little brother won, big sister is a gem. Little brother leaves drawings in our mailbox and closes the lids on our garbage cans. They are so special. And if it's not obvious, the street is also my home So, Summer, as you may have guessed, you are now part of my home since it seems I actually carry my home around in my head. And I closed with, “Home is where the heart is. Who knew it was in my head all these years?” Previous Next

Freeman remarks on his decision to retire and how retiring has allowed him to grow as a person and start new things after his career. He later elaborates on the ultimate goals and appreciations he has for his life and his message for others when considering the path of their own life: “think of the long ride, not the short journey.” Freeman's Story Freeman remarks on his decision to retire and how retiring has allowed him to grow as a person and start new things after his career. He later elaborates on the ultimate goals and appreciations he has for his life and his message for others when considering the path of their own life: “think of the long ride, not the short journey.” Freeman's Story 00:00 / 04:39 I’ve been retired amazingly since 2013. It was really easy for me, I mean the part that was. First of all, I was really ready to retire. I turned 65. I was going to retire. Principal asked if I would stay another year just to help with transition. I was happy to do that. But I knew that I wanted to do other things. I loved what I was doing. I loved the students. Great way to end my career. But I was ready. I wanted to try other things because my father died at the age I am now. You know you never know how long you have. I was healthy and I wanted to take advantage of that. So fortunately as a teacher in a public school you have a pension. And that made it possible for me to retire. It was easy, and I had a long list of things that I wanted to do. So I started to study Yiddish. I started to teach myself guitar. I started playing chess. I started playing tennis indoors which I had never done before. And I was doing some consulting. So I was plenty busy and I joined the Northampton Arts Council, cause I wanted to contribute to the community in which I lived, not just the community which I had previously worked. And when I was looking at possibilities and things to volunteer for, I was looking at different committees and councils. I noticed that the head of the arts and culture department was a guy named Brian Foot and Brian Foot was a student that I had when I was teaching at Chestnut Middle School in Springfield in the 6th grade. And so that made it even more appealing to get to connect with Brian who was a wonderful young man in 6th grade and now has contributed a great deal to Northampton Arts Scene. It was good to be a part of that for a few years. I am still doing similar kinds of work because I joined an organization called Friends of Northampton Trails and part of the work that we are doing is to promote arts in the neighborhoods in Northampton so that feels good. Right now, I am the secretary, so one of the things I do is take minutes which in some ways is a good thing because taking minutes at least for me means I can’t talk as much so I have to listen better. So that always is a good thing to practice. What I am aware of is that this is a good time for me to spend more time listening. You know I think the most important thing is just being more attentive to what’s around me. Just having an awareness of my environment and not always being active but sometimes just being an observer, just appreciating, just being able to slow down instead of waking up at 5:45 and getting to work by 6:30 or just living more slowly. Looking at the news, playing chess puzzles, and then being able to just have the days evolve. You know that’s such a privilege to be able to do that. And really of all the things that upset me, the fact that I am aware that so many people don’t have this. And I have health, you know so. Being healthy. Having a loving partner. Having loving children who want to be involved in our lives. There’s not that much that I really need. You know I am one of the fortunate people, I mean its crazy that people who are not wealthy, like we are not wealthy, but I have, I had a pension. Its crazy that people don’t have that, and can live a reasonable life. I can’t do whatever I want. I can’t travel the world. I can’t buy anything I want, but I don’t need any of that. I’m fine. And life can be good. You know, I mean I think in times like this when the world seems to be spiraling in so many different crazy ways, its good to know that not everything is damaged. And that the most important thing is being able to expand the number of people who experience that. To live a good life, a quality of life where you are not just working. Life should not be just about work. I mean that’s not what we are here for to do. It’s about caring for each other you know and appreciating the diversity around you. And I am one of the lucky people who have been able to get to that point. And I hope that I can be able to continue it. For me the intention is, is good things ahead. Just take care of yourself. Think of the long ride, not the short journey. Previous Next

< Back Miriam's Story Miriam describes her experience studying the Hutterite community. She reflects on their sense of community and how it has been shown in her own life. 00:00 / 05:21 When I graduated from college, which is just where you are, I was able to know about and to actually, in that summer afterwards, go to study the Hutterites. The Hutterites and live communally. But what it means to live communally is that you're not really looking at what a lot of psychology looks at, which is sort of an individual lifespan, or tradition or whatever, of self, self, self. But these are people who live in a rural area, in a farming in the Midwest or in Canada, who came from east from Europe, decades go. This is a an agrarian farm thing. And these people learned from childhood there were a few people who moved into these communities but they've had plenty of children an average of 10 to 12 children, per family. Yeah. And I was amazed by how the world can be so different if you're living in a situation where you don't have money. Nobody has things. No, you don't own a house. This there's a car. But that's because the man who was in charge of the the farming things, he has to go to town and buy some equipment that can't be made, but the shoemaker lived there, and the people who made their clothes lived there. And there was a use of health care that people thought it was necessary. Nobody lived in individual house, nobody had their own fancy kitchens, everybody ate, breakfast, lunch, dinner together. Everybody went to school, but not outside, of course, they had their own teachers, they had their own churches, and they had their own process. Everybody went to church. Everybody wore the shoes that were made there. And everybody saw themselves as very much like the others. There were, there was a family or a couple who belong to the community, and they left. And that was a terrible thing for that community. Wow. Nobody ever left these communities. Right. Right. 2:49 Do you think it helped them in a way to have this really, really intense sense of community? Or did it almost become like a, like a total lack of individualism? 3:01 That's a very difficult question. Right. Right. I think that is the basic question. 3:07 In the United States, there's been sort of this push for, like, sort of extreme individualism, and it's sort of like, you rely on yourself, you get your toes, and that's, that's kinda like, where the line is drawn. We lost a sense of community in a lot of places, I think. So I wonder how we can find that happy medium, sort of where it's like, you still like feel like your own person, and you have this autonomy, but to still feel grounded in your community, you know what I mean? 3:34 In fact, have a probably 30/40 years ago now, there were villages where older people were able to sort of join together and support each other. Because they were they really want to live in a nursing home. There's nothing about a nursing home that is desirable. And they've started it here five years ago, called Northampton neighbors, but it was for older people who and that's how come I happen to be sitting here with you. 4:10 Yes, yeah, exactly. 4:13 Could join together in some ways, but have the kind of autonomy and world of their very special interests, and biases and skills and so forth. And it has worked. Right? Right has worked amazingly well. So anybody could call and say, Ah, is it possible that somebody could get me to the doctor, you know, supposed to snow on Wednesday, and there'll be somebody who would volunteer to take the person. Previous Next

< Back Elsa's Story Elsa reflects on the lasting impact of her grandfather, who was known for his kindness, empathy, and ability to make everyone feel truly seen and valued. Rather than specific memories, what stands out most is how he made people feel and how he carried that warmth into all his relationships. After his passing, Elsa grew to appreciate him even more through shared stories and the community he touched. Inspired by his legacy, she hopes to carry forward his spirit by creating that same sense of belonging and care for others. 00:00 / 04:08 My grandfather's name was Sumner Savadman, but we called him “Bipa”. He was always our Bipa. Um, he passed in October 2021 when I was a freshman in college. I don't remember specific stories about him, but I remember, like, how he made you feel, and how he made you feel like you were always, like, welcomed and always, like, he was so kind and genuinely, like, wanted to know how your day was. Like a lot of people ask, like, “Oh, like, you know, how's it going? How are you?” But he genuinely really wanted to know and would give you his full attention to, um, what you had to say in, in about your life. He, um, was very empathetic and caring. And even if it wasn't even just towards, like, his family, it was towards, like, everybody that he knew. He just made them feel like they were welcomed and wanted to, you know, get to know them. And he did this throughout his entire life. When my grandparents retired, they went on, like, a bunch travels and traveled around the world and everything like that. But they, like, met friends in every single place that they knew. They, um, would even, like, invite them, like, back, like, to the US. They were, like, in Australia, and they were talking with, like, their tour guide and some of their other friends, and they came and, like, visited them on Cape Cod down the Cape. He was always very calm and gentle, and just being, like, meet you where you were and, you know, figure out things with you and how he could help you in any way that he could. But, you know along those things, he also had his subtle dry humor. He would always, you know, never make fun of people. He never wanted to talk badly about people or never, you know, said an unkind thing about anyone, really. Um, he would always just have his subtle dry humor and brighten other people's days. Um, he's also a big coach. Another big thing about him was it the, was sports. He loves sports. From when I remember him best is I would, like, come up the stairs of, like, their loft, and he would just be sitting there with his goldfish next to him and, like, the big box of it, he's just sitting there eating and watching the Red Sox game or watching the Celtics or anything like that. He had a blanket for every single, like, Boston sports team, and we still have them to this day. I don't really remember the story exactly, but basically he was, like, really good at baseball, and he was asked to be on one of the major league teams, but he was like, “Uh, like sounds amazing, but I have to support my family and I'm gonna go, you know be this engineer over here in Ohio.” He always put his family first. He always wanted us to feel welcomed, but he truly cared about other people, too. He's one of a kind. I think there were so many, like, kind qualities about him. And when he passed, we had his Celebration of Life. It really brought the community people together, and everybody really shared how much love he had for other people and how much he really made them feel. It's not really about, you know the specific memories or specific things that he did. It was more, you know, the general feeling and appreciation that you had for other people. So I think, as I, you know, move forward in my life, I wanna do those same things and meet and, you know, make people feel like they have a space and they have, you know, a place. I never really, like, thought about, like, my relationship with him before that. It only wasn’t until after he passed that I really was like, “Oh, like, this was my grandfather.” I guess I never really thought much about it because I was like 18, and I was just doing my own thing, living my own life. And then it wasn't really until – I’m 22 now. And I've learned more things about him every single time that we talk about him. Every single time that we talk about him, it's a new story. It's a new feeling that he gave somebody. It's a new, you know, experience. I feel like even after he's passed, I've grown more close to him because I really cherished the person that he was. Previous Next

< Back Charlie's Story, 2021 Charlie reflects on how he values his experiences with people who he met through his jobs throughout the course of his life. 00:00 / 03:34 Charlie: But the thing that life has taught me is that life is about people. So, everything you do is an opportunity to meet someone. And I've never met anyone who didn't have something to offer. Some more than others. I don't know that I met anyone who had a dramatic effect on my life's path. But because of my role as a newspaper publisher, I got to meet lots of folks, people who were extraordinary people and some of them were presidents of colleges in the valley of five college communities. One of my favorites was Mary Maples down at Smith College, who I would work with. But she was just wonderful to get to know and to work with. At one point I was talking with somebody at and I don't know a meeting at the newspaper and we were talking about going fishing and she said, “what about me? Aren't you gonna take me?” And so in those days I flew with a small plane and we flew down the road island, got on a boat and went out and fished and my deal was I had to deliver her, she had to speak at an alumni group in New York city. So I had to drop her off from New York on my way home. So she was very special. But wherever you are people, as I say, I've never met somebody who didn't have something to offer and whether it's somebody driving a cab or doesn't make any difference. You know, you meet important people and not so important people. And one of my favorite important people stories has to do with Silvio Conte, who was a representative in Washington from this area. I got to know him through the newspaper and I would go to him for things that needed to be done in Washington. I would lobby him, for instance, when I was at the local hospital board, I would ask him to try and be helpful to the hospital. And he called me one day. He says “I helped you. I want you to help me.” And I said, “what?” He said, “my daughter lives here in Washington who works here, and it breaks my heart because she has this wonderful dog. But the dog sits in an apartment all day long and I'm trying to get her to get rid of the dog.” So my wife Kelly and I flew down to Washington, picked up the Brittany spaniel and his daughter would come and visit from time to time. So we had the best of both worlds. The key for me has always been you get far more out of helping people than the time and energy that it takes. So it's a win-win situation. Previous Next

< Back Freeman's Story Freeman remarks on his decision to retire and how retiring has allowed him to grow as a person and start new things after his career. He later elaborates on the ultimate goals and appreciations he has for his life and his message for others when considering the path of their own life: “think of the long ride, not the short journey.” 00:00 / 04:39 I’ve been retired amazingly since 2013. It was really easy for me, I mean the part that was. First of all, I was really ready to retire. I turned 65. I was going to retire. Principal asked if I would stay another year just to help with transition. I was happy to do that. But I knew that I wanted to do other things. I loved what I was doing. I loved the students. Great way to end my career. But I was ready. I wanted to try other things because my father died at the age I am now. You know you never know how long you have. I was healthy and I wanted to take advantage of that. So fortunately as a teacher in a public school you have a pension. And that made it possible for me to retire. It was easy, and I had a long list of things that I wanted to do. So I started to study Yiddish. I started to teach myself guitar. I started playing chess. I started playing tennis indoors which I had never done before. And I was doing some consulting. So I was plenty busy and I joined the Northampton Arts Council, cause I wanted to contribute to the community in which I lived, not just the community which I had previously worked. And when I was looking at possibilities and things to volunteer for, I was looking at different committees and councils. I noticed that the head of the arts and culture department was a guy named Brian Foot and Brian Foot was a student that I had when I was teaching at Chestnut Middle School in Springfield in the 6th grade. And so that made it even more appealing to get to connect with Brian who was a wonderful young man in 6th grade and now has contributed a great deal to Northampton Arts Scene. It was good to be a part of that for a few years. I am still doing similar kinds of work because I joined an organization called Friends of Northampton Trails and part of the work that we are doing is to promote arts in the neighborhoods in Northampton so that feels good. Right now, I am the secretary, so one of the things I do is take minutes which in some ways is a good thing because taking minutes at least for me means I can’t talk as much so I have to listen better. So that always is a good thing to practice. What I am aware of is that this is a good time for me to spend more time listening. You know I think the most important thing is just being more attentive to what’s around me. Just having an awareness of my environment and not always being active but sometimes just being an observer, just appreciating, just being able to slow down instead of waking up at 5:45 and getting to work by 6:30 or just living more slowly. Looking at the news, playing chess puzzles, and then being able to just have the days evolve. You know that’s such a privilege to be able to do that. And really of all the things that upset me, the fact that I am aware that so many people don’t have this. And I have health, you know so. Being healthy. Having a loving partner. Having loving children who want to be involved in our lives. There’s not that much that I really need. You know I am one of the fortunate people, I mean its crazy that people who are not wealthy, like we are not wealthy, but I have, I had a pension. Its crazy that people don’t have that, and can live a reasonable life. I can’t do whatever I want. I can’t travel the world. I can’t buy anything I want, but I don’t need any of that. I’m fine. And life can be good. You know, I mean I think in times like this when the world seems to be spiraling in so many different crazy ways, its good to know that not everything is damaged. And that the most important thing is being able to expand the number of people who experience that. To live a good life, a quality of life where you are not just working. Life should not be just about work. I mean that’s not what we are here for to do. It’s about caring for each other you know and appreciating the diversity around you. And I am one of the lucky people who have been able to get to that point. And I hope that I can be able to continue it. For me the intention is, is good things ahead. Just take care of yourself. Think of the long ride, not the short journey. Previous Next

< Back Peter's Story 00:00 / 03:31 My name is Peter Nelson. My next question is, what has been a milestone or achievement in your life that you want to be remembered for? Well, probably the number one thing, and a lot of people will say that would be having a child. I mean, I guess that's your legacy, and you're pretty much guaranteed at least one person will remember you. So, I'd say that was that was one. You know? I published a novel, and I published a lot. I've written and published 30 books. And of those 30, I've, you know, some were collaborations. A lot were nonfiction. I wrote four series of young adult books. And so those were fiction, but they weren't really novels. But I did sell one, novel called I Thought You Were Dead about a man with a talking dog. And I because I had this dog named Stella when I moved to town here. And, and it was really, you know, her the loss of her, that made me kinda wanna write this book. But it's about a dog, you know, that can talk, and the dog helps this guy straighten his life out. And they have they have, my I think one of my favorite scenes in that in that book, they're talking about Darwinian evolution and survival of the fittest. And the guy, he's a he's a writer, and he's talking about how wolves are, you know, are the highest evolution of canine behavior. And she said, excuse me. Can you just stop it with all this wolf stuff? Because frankly, I'm a little tired of hearing it. He said, well, you know, they live in more, you know, l you know, complex societies, and they she's let me just ask you a question. Survival of the fittest means that you adapt, and you have behaviors and traits that allow you to procreate, more than people who other species animals that don't have them. He said, yeah. That's it. Alright. How many wolves are there alive in the world today? How many wolves are there? And he says, I don't know. 300,000. And then she says, how many dogs? And he says, 50,000,000. And she says, so which one of us do you think is more evolved? Well, wolf? Yeah. I could wolves could hunt deer. Why would I wanna hunt deer? You just gave me half your pizza. You know? So, they have the arguments like that. And then and then there's a there's a very sad moment, I I warn people, where the dog he's sitting on his porch, and the dog comes up to him and says, it's time. And he says, time for what? She says, you know what I mean. It's time to go to that and to be put down. Because they don't tell you it's time. You have to make that call. But, you know, I so I wrote that book, and I think when I published that, I kinda had this feeling of, okay. I could die. Not like I wanted to, but I could. Like, I've left something lasting and important. And, you know, we're still trying to get it made into a screen clip so that it may not be just over yet. But if it was over yet, I would feel like that's kind of the crowning achievement of my writing life. You know? And Previous Next

< Back Obi's Story Obi discusses the influence of one teacher in his life, and how that teacher influenced not only his future career goals, but also his work ethic. 00:00 / 03:14 Obi: So when I was a kid, gonna say sixth, seventh grade, I was definitely in the wrong crowd. Did not work hard, played too much, skipped classes. It was all slowly accumulating and it really hit seventh grade. Seventh grade is when I stopped caring about school, it was when, um, I was emailing professors - teachers at the time - “How can I bring my F to a C? Or how can I bring my D to a B?” two weeks before the semester ended. So, and I didn’t really think of my future like that. Like if someone asked me, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I wouldn’t know what to say. Eighth grade hit, the beginning of eighth grade, I had an engineering teacher, named Mr. Dawes. And I really liked engineering class for some reason. It just made sense to me. And, there was one time during lunch, mind you I was in the rambunctious group, you know. So in lunchtime we’d be making noises, you know, throwing stuff, all that stuff. And I was in lunch with my friends, and Mr. Dawes came out of nowhere and was like, “Obi, can I talk to you?” I was like, “Sure, yeah, what’s up?” So he pulled me aside in the hallway and was like, “Obi, if I could be - you want me to be completely honest with you, I could see you as a really great engineer in the future.” And in my mind, I'm like, “Is he serious right now? Like, is he - you’re telling me this?” I come from a place that’s predominantly white and doesn’t really give any second thoughts to African-American kids, other than sports. You know, the only compliments I had growing up was football-related, or sports-related. Never academic. And the other kids that looked like me never had any compliments academics-wise. It was only sports. So this was the first time in a school setting where a teacher approached me and said, “You can do this.” And it wasn’t had to do with sports. It doesn’t have to do with a game I had last weekend. It has to do with academics. So that really changed my perspective on life, honestly. He said, like, “Yo, I want you to be connected with me for the next couple of years, and we can talk about this. I can hook you up with people.” And I’m like - I was starstruck. I was starstruck because a person that’s older than me, who’s not my immediate family, who looks different than me, who’s a teacher in my school, really genuinely thinks I can make it in academics. My life really changed academics-wise to like - I gotta kill it. Not just for myself, but for the people that believed in me. My parents, this engineering teacher, who really took the time and told me - you can do this. So for the past like - for the next two years, I wanted to be an engineer. Like, engineer, engineer, engineer. I don’t care what I’m doing. You know, then I fell in love with biology. And that faith that my engineering teacher instilled in me, it carried on to my new profound love for medicine and my goal to become a doctor. And I’ve been riding that ever since. Of course I’ve found multiple reasons and multiple passions and multiple motives of why I want to become a doctor after that, but that one moment in the lunchroom. That one interaction I had with that engineering teacher, really propelled me to be great in this. Previous Next

Barbara S's Story Barbara discusses a life changing event from her childhood and again, in her younger years that ultimately, led her to find her love for the Pioneer Valley. Scroll to Listen Barbara S's Story 00:00 / 03:10 Eden: “Was there a turning point in your life where you made a major life change that has brought you to where you are today?” Barbara: “Being 69 years old, there are quite a few but I think the one that brought me up here to the Pioneer Valley is the most changing for the positive… so the train is moving along and we jumped off with our backpacks but it was higher than I thought and it was gravel. Something felt wrong after that so to speed forward a little bit, from that Summer on I could not lie flat. Every once in a while I would have a spasm. I found myself in the mid-70s working and managed a news bookshop in New Haven, Connecticut called ‘whitlocks’. We were changing the whole format of the shop over and what I remember is there were these big old fashioned desks. We were trying to put one on top of the other to try to make more room and as I did this I felt something– all I can say is– go. I ended up in bed for five months. During that time, I had a lot of time to think and a lot of time to read all these books on natural history from the bookshop and I had decided to apply to go to college. I graduated in 1970 and hadn’t gone so I applied to a few places that had wildlife biology. UMass in Amherst accepted me quite quickly and gave me a scholarship for the first year. So I moved up here and I went up the highway and there’s a place where you can see the hills that’s actually a bit obscured by trees now but you can see it's the Holyoke Range and I love mountains. I belt at them and experience that feeling of coming home. It’s been wonderful living up here in the valley. 10 years I’ve been in Amherst and the last 35 years I’ve been on the other side of the river in Northampton. It was a good move for me, a very good move. And for the last 35 years I’ve been an antiquarian bookseller. That’s where it finds me now, I’ve been selling old books, old postcards, etc.. Eden: “That’s awesome!”

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Sunny shares a story about how her relationship with the fine arts has developed and strengthened over the course of her life. She has a passion for art that follows her everywhere. Sunny's Story Sunny shares a story about how her relationship with the fine arts has developed and strengthened over the course of her life. She has a passion for art that follows her everywhere. Sunny's Story 00:00 / 03:31 I would say my passion is art, and specifically fine arts. But I recently have branched out to other forms like dancing, and I do embrace this a lot. I have done fine arts competitively since the second grade. And I’ve actually been an annual gold key recipient of the Scholastic arts and writing award since 2013. And in college, I stopped doing it. Just because it took a lot of time and effort, and a lot of money and space to even continue to do fine arts so it wasn’t very possible to do it in college with a limited amount of space, and a limited amount of money, and just resources in general for myself. But I did end up joining an organization called the Korean Student Association, KSA, on campus. And the first year I joined, I was a photographer so I was still able to get that creative side out that way. And then the second year that I joined, I’m co-publicist right now, which means that I make graphics for this organization and post it on Instagram and any other social media platforms to just get our organization out there. And I continue to do digital art and post on my instagram hobby page. So these are different ways that I decided to continue my fine arts journey. Then, aside from that, I decided to branch out and I joined a dance ward on campus called DBJ. And then I also decided to start a small jewelry business for a little bit during COVID in order to fund different donation sites in order to help find relief for other families. This was my way to really use my creativity and, like, passion in art to give back to the community basically. And I honestly didn’t appreciate fine arts or any type of art until high school. I think even though I did this since second grade, and middle school, and elementary school, it felt more like a chore and like a class because I did go to art classes and academies after school. And in high school I switched to a smaller, studio-based art program that one of my favorite art instructors had founded and was leading and I really liked her teaching style, I think that other art teachers in the past would sometimes take my place as the artist and make changes to my art to fit more their style than my style and respecting my boundaries and my artistic visions. And this art instructor actually helped me find my style and let me be as creative as I wanted while also teaching me valuable art skills and the technical skills that come into art. So since high school, I realized that art was my place of comfort and consistency. And this was very valuable to me because I moved around so frequently throughout my life that my environment was constantly changing and I felt like it was the only thing I could always go back to, and it would be the same. How much I improved would really only depend on me and how much time I put in. so this new peace that I found in art kind of stuck with me and it never went away and I think that's why I really find art as my passion, and I think that’s where I’m at in the journey right now. Previous Next