What are you doing here out by the lake?
“I am actually writing for W&M Speaks. It’s officially up and running, and we’re excited to see people start sharing their stories. It’s weird to have to now turn and share mine, and sort of put myself out there as well.
“I joined the Mental Health Branch [of HOPE] both for the desire to answer a lot of needs I saw firstly on campus but also needs I saw in myself. I don’t know, I think shattering the misconception that those of us who are part of these organizations or who speak out, we do so from a place of experience. We do so because we are not perfect either. I don’t know is that makes sense.
“I think we [in the Mental Health Branch of HOPE] all come from a place of wanting to create change and wanting to empower other people to create change in their own lives. It has been really interesting seeing the way in which we all sort of bring different things to the table, but having that same base core desire enables us to use our different skills and talents in a much larger way than we would be able to individually. So, that’s been amazing to see come to fruition. ”
Can I ask why you came down here to Lake Matoaka to work?
“I am a writer, and I have always loved water. It’s a huge thing for me. It’s actually sort of weird that you would ask that, though. I actually came down here for a very specific reason in that my favorite band broke up five days ago – Dry the River, there obscure. It’s awful, but all the same they had this really tangible effect on me. They had a habit of releasing albums when I felt like I needed something new in my life. So they broke up. One of their songs is called ‘Vessel,’ and I ended up getting it tattooed almost a year ago today. It felt right to come down here. You know – vessel, water, boats and everything – to just sort of see that and work through those feelings. Think about time passing, a lot of pretentious writer stuff.”
Humans of William & Mary 