Packing while unpacking

Since google is rapidly taking over the internet galaxy, I figured that I would switch over to blogger at the same time as I switch to gmail, that way I can manage everything from my email account.

The title of this blog comes from a Japanese proverb that we had hanging on the door to our apartment this past semester:
"We're fools whether or not we dance, so we might as well dance."

There comes a point where what people think of you really doesn't hold a lot of sway anymore; when you stop worrying about what others think about you and just go at your own pace, dance when you hear a dancing rhythm, laugh spontaneously, speak the truth and do your own thing. Who you are is complete, not rotating around opinions of others, even those you esteem and hold dear. I'm not sure how this fits in with being in community, which I also value and seek to create. I don't believe that individualism and community are mutually exclusive, though. How does one hold tightly to both? Maybe by letting community be an evolving term, growing with us as we change and move on.

Graduating means moving on and leaving a lot of friends. We are all off to do exciting things in exciting places, but we won't be together again in the unique collegiate greenhouse. This realization brings mixed emotions: happiness for future plans coming into reality; sadness that the faces around the table won't be the same; worry about having folks to talk about "big ideas" with; apprehension of leaving what is comfortable and what we've learned to do well (be students, that's who we are!); a few regrets mixed in with the overwhelming feeling of being ready. Ready for what? I don't know. I don't know the next time I"ll be in a classroom taking lecture notes in top spiral bound notebooks, but this whole learning endeavor is far from over. My bookcases filling up the perimeter of my room remind me that there is still much to learn, discover and puzzle over.