Field Journal

Date: April 14th

Day of the Week: Friday

Location: The Indian Tower, West High Street Nazareth Pennsylvania 18064

Time:  9:34 pm

Observer: My friends, Ryan, Randy, Nando, Davinder and I

Habitat: There is a circle of rocks that we have to climb over. In the middle of these rocks is a tower, and a huge rock that has a plaque explaining the history of the tower. The tower has a spiral staircase which we climbed up. It reminds me of a lighthouse. When we get to the top you can see a view of the whole city. To the left of the Indian Tower there is a cemetery.

Weather: The weather is partly cloudy. It is 61 degrees. The precipitation is 20%, The humidity is 60% and the wind is 15 mph

Remarks: I look at the view and I feel content. I feel really happy to be in such a beautiful place with such amazing people. I also feel really hungry and cold because we didn't get food and I forgot a jacket. It is really cool to be in a place that has such history. I am also a little freaked out because Davinder keeps telling me this place is haunted and that its a cursed burial ground. So I was ready to get out of there.

Comments: I have such a deep appreciation for my friends. I feel like we are infinite right now. I love this place and these people and I feel like I will remember this moment for a long time.

Personal Account:
4/17/2017
It is very hard for me to explain this moment because I feel like this is a moment I have been waiting for my whole life. I feel a sense of utter belonging. I feel like I am on top of the world. I have had to make some very difficult choices lately and I feel very unsure about everything. I don't know if I made the right choice and it upsets me because my choice affects other people but here I am looking at this beautiful view with amazing people and I'm not thinking about all the bad things going on. I'm thinking about how I feel so infinite. The stars are shining, I'm looking down at the city below me. I have got my guy with me and our friends. I have spent so much of my life in hospitals and shut away from the world and in this moment it is like none of that has ever happened to me.  At this moment I'm not my past. That's not who I am anymore. All I see is the potential for a great future. There is a movie called Perks of Being A Wallflower and there is a scene where the characters are riding in a tunnel and listening to a song called Heroes and they say how they have never felt more infinite  and that's how I felt in that moment. I have searched for a moment like that my whole life, I have dreamt of it so I feel like the pieces of the puzzle are coming together.


Date: April 14th

Day of the Week: Friday

Location: Lehigh Lookout, At the Lehigh University campus in Bethlehem Pa

Time: 11:47

Observers: I am with Ryan, Nando and Jess

Habitat:  Nando, Jess and I are smoking a cigarette. We are sitting on a wall looking at the view. Jess and I are  practicing songs for out audition of Chicago which are coming up soon. Ryan is just sitting looking at the sky. There are other people here and I am  pretty sure we are annoying them because we are singing so loudly

Weather: The weather is partly cloudy. It is 61 degrees. The precipitation is 20%, The humidity is 60% and the wind is 15 mph

Remarks: I feel good. I am still with great people and nothing makes me happier than looking at the sky and the constellations and identifying them.

Comments: I came to the decision that I am going to focus on myself. I decided that I need to focus on myself and that I need to date myself for a little. This scenery gives me clarity. Things are starting to make sense to me and I feel like I am understanding myself on a deeper level

Personal Account: 4/ 17/ 2017
I have recently had to go through something traumatic and instead of  dealing with it I walked away from it and threw myself into helping other people. I have spent so much of my energy caring for them and not for myself and I am killing myself. The time I spent here looking at the sky has led me to the conclusion that I am not okay and that I need to help myself. This was something I was almost blind to before. The aftermath of this night led me to seek out counseling so that I can do what's best for me and I am totally okay with that. This night has made me remember a night a long time ago where I sat on the roof with my friends and we talked about things that we never talked about with anyone else before. I am proud of myself that I have come to a conclusion that I needed to reach.  I know that I am going to be okay now which is a great thing to know because before I was so unsure. I am going to better myself and I am so excited for that moment. I have my friends and family on my side and the most important person myself. I love this place. I love being surrounded by such good vibes and I don't want this night to end. This has truly been such a crucial moment in my adult life and I feel like I am finally on the high way.

Campus Resources

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I went to see Collison by Lyle Kessler at NCC. The play was directed by Bill Mutimer and targets the issue of guns on campus. It was a 90 minute play with no intermission. The storyline of Collison focuses on charecters Grange, Doe, Professor Denton and Bromley. The play follows the progression of these four and what leads them to eventually shoot up a school campus. I thought the play was extremely well done every detail from the set to the clothes of the characters held information about what was going to happen. I thought the actors were incredibly talented and I can tell you me and my friends all left thinking deeply about what we saw on stage. The theatre department will be putting on a production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot April 19th to 22nd in the Lipkin Theatre. There will also be a directing showcase on May 3rd and 4th in Lipkin Theatre ( I will be in two of the ten minute plays)! Come out and support your local theatre!

Home is Where the Heart is

Home to me has always been more than one place. It's multiple places. It doesn't even have to be a physical place, It's wherever my family is or when I'm out with my friends. The sense of belonging I feel is what makes a place home to me. There are a few specific places that stand out to me when I think of home. The first being the house I live in with my family. Any place that my family is I could make into a home. However the house we live in now is so unique it fits our personality so well. Our house has doorbells all over the inside. I'm not actually sure what the purpose of the doorbells are because when you press them they don't do anything. In my room there are four little doors that lead to little rooms and they are just a super cool little space. It's a space that we've made into our own.

Another place I consider home is the stage. It doesn't matter what stage although I do have a deep fondness for the stage at Saucon Valley High School. I've always said that being on the stage is the closest thing I've ever felt to magic. I get such an incredible feeling being on stage and It's so hard to describe it with words. When I'm surrounded by people I love that feels like home to me. When we are sitting by the fire singing together looking at the sky and the stars that is home. When ever I'm in nature that is what I consider home. There is a certain feeling I get in all of these places and in all these experiences . I can't explain the feeling but I feel infinite and happy and like nothing can bring me down. It's those times I feel like I'm home.

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My Education

I don't remember much of my elementary school education. In elementary school I went to Saucon Valley. I don't remember much of my time there. I do remember everything about 2nd grade.  In 2nd grade I had a teacher names Mrs. Singer. She is the best teacher I have ever had. She had these two bears named Barnabas and Flowers and at night these bears would come to life and cause all sorts of trouble. They would hid our homework assignments and we would have to go on a scavenger hunt to find them. One day we came in and the room was covered in silly string. I learned so much from her. Imagination was always first. Her approach to learning was that if it was fun you would be more willing to learn. This made it very hard for me when I transferred to Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School.  LVA was a school where education was first. We wore uniforms and because LVA is an IB school the standards for our work was incredibly high. Which makes my school experience very different than the experiences we read about in class. I had a very wide array of knowledge taught to me and much more available to me if I wanted. They pushed me when I needed it. I am so grateful for my education however I think that it was too much for me. LVA is set up so that four years of high school is finished in the first two years. Then the next two years is college and DP work. It was very rigorous and stressful. I noticed a physical difference in my self. My hair was always frizzy, I was always in pain. I was just anxious every day. There was no balance in LVA. There was nothing fun offered. It was all work and I feel like a school should be balanced in that way. You can't expect the best work out of a student who is stressed all the time and you can't expect a student to do well if all they do is play. There needs to be a common balance.

If you are curious about IB & DP I've included a link to the website as it is very hard for me to explain! IB WEBSITE  LVA

Introducing Janet!

Janet was born May 23rd and is a graduate from Freedom High School. She is born and raised in PA and if she ever moved it would be down south. Janet is a nursing major and works at LVPP. Her goal is to become a nurse. She really wants to be able to help people and is specifically interested in helping patients who have suffered from trauma. Janet spends most of her time at school and at work which is okay with her because she really enjoys it! Janet loves to learn and gain knowledge. She thinks that "College always has something to teach you!"

Janet's most embarrassing moment is when a patient ran into a wall because he was too busy looking at her! Once a patient came into her work because he couldn't breath and every time a nurse or doctor would come in he would try to punch them! Despite this Janet finds her job to be very rewarding and talks about it with so much passion. If she had to choose another career choice she would be a teacher but she is happy helping people.

Janet's favorite show is Greys Anatomy. She has two brothers and values her friends and family above everything else. In fact if you walked into her room her walls are covered in pictures of her nieces, nephews and friends. She loves minions from Despicable Me. She listens to all types of music except for rock and country. Her pet peeve is when people chew really loud. She has multiple piercings and her celebrity crush is Bradley Cooper. If she could go anywhere right now she would go to Florida and lay on the beach. When asked what her advice for life is Janet said " Do what makes you happy. If you aren't happy you aren't living."