This Is The End.

Cue Adele coming in and singing "Skyfall" - but really, this is so surreal to think that this is (most likely) the last blogpost I will make as a student at Saint Michael's College. It's hard not to get emotional about all of the amazing times I've had being a student here, all of the friends I've made, all the unique experiences that I wouldn't have been able to get anywhere else. Working my way up from Ryan Hall to a townhouse in the 1's, I've regretfully climbed the ranks to a cap and gown in just a couple of weeks.

As a lot of you may know, I've been working on my book Seeing Change so much this semester that I've lost track of time a lot of the time. Some days felt so long working on this project, like the semester would never really end, but now that I'm here, it's unreal just how quickly time has passed. I experienced my senior year P-Day, which was incredible. I got inducted into four different honors societies. I will be graduating (hopefully) with a 3.9 GPA. I'm just so proud of the person I've become because of Saint Michael's, and I hope to take all of the knowledge, experience, and friendships I've gained here into the future.

Speaking of that, I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with my future...which is totally okay! For those of you who may be reading this and thinking you need a plan immediately after college, please don't stress if you don't end up having one immediately. I was so busy working on other stuff this semester that revamping my resume and applying for jobs were the last things on my mind, but there's always time for that. And who knows, maybe by waiting I'll have stumbled onto a new and more beneficial path for the future. You never know! But just in case, I did end up revamping my resume a couple of days ago.

But that's enough sad and adult things for one post. To top off this final post, I wanted to share some awesome times I've had this semester with all of you through pictures. I hope all of you are making the most out of what you have left in your semester. I know I'm going to miss Saint Michael's way too much when I graduate.

Free Cone Day! It was gorgeous out and I got to go with some great friends.

Of course, my book. This became my entire life very quickly, and although it was written for a class, I would write it over and over again. The LGBTQ community means so much to me, and I'm glad I put the time and effort into this that I did.

My friends Erin, Maya, and I on P-Day! P-Day was a tradition that I didn't really partake in my freshman and sophomore years because I was so antisocial, but I regret it deeply. It was such a blast coming out of my shell at Saint Michael's, and with great friends and friendly people everywhere, I found myself becoming more outgoing every day.

Take care, readers! It's been a blast writing for Saint Michael's, and I hope you've enjoyed following my crazy, hectic, and amazing life!

Spreading My Roots.

Happy Monday (technically)! And more importantly, happy first official warm weekend in Vermont this year! It's been a long time coming, I know. Trust me, I've been just as sick of the cold that wouldn't seem to go away as I'm sure most of you have been. I'm excited to finally be able to wear shorts outside, sleep with my window open, and just enjoy some nicer weather!

I wanted to take some time today to talk to you all about a course that I feel like I don't talk about enough that I'm taking this semester - Global Communication and Culture. It's a 200-level MJD course taught by Professor Hyde about various aspects of the world, ranging from communication to music to food. It's been an eye-opening class for me because I've never taken such a multi-faceted class at Saint Mike's while learning so much about different parts of the world and other cultures. I'm always interested and engaged in class, and it always goes by so quick!

Now I know what some of you may be thinking - if you've explored the MJD major a bit and talked to some students who major or minor in it, you've probably heard about Global Comm. being challenging and a lot of work. That's not a lie, it definitely is. Taking it at the same time as my senior seminar has been anything but easy, but it's also been such a rewarding experience. For a big project in the class, you have to design a website using either Adobe Dreamweaver or Adobe Flash about a country in the world that is randomly assigned to you. Not only do you design this website, but you also research a ton of information on it ranging from political and ethnic tensions to dominant forms of media use.

For my country, I got Myanmar - a quickly developing country in southeast Asia that has had its fair share of struggles in its lifetime. I never thought I could learn so much about another country in the world so quickly - sometimes I think I know more about Myanmar now than I do about the U.S. because of this project! Myanmar has been ruled by a militaristic government for a number of years, but has recently fought for democracy with some success (and I mean recently as in the last decade or so). Furthermore, Myanmar is battling religious tensions between Buddhists and Muslims as well as huge class and economic tensions between rural areas and more rapidly evolving urban areas like Yangon and Mandalay. 

These two images compare and contrast what you would see in more rural parts of Myanmar versus what you would typically find in a tourism website or popular magazine of some sort promoting Myanmar, just to give you a perspective of how radically different life is in certain parts of the country.

The point of this post is to not believe everything you see in popular media, especially tourism and marketing campaigns, about certain countries. These sorts of campaigns aim specifically at westerners much of the time in order to get them to visit the country, so of course they're going to show you what you want to see, but the reality is that much of Myanmar is not like the pretty photoshopped pictures. Don't get me wrong, Myanmar is a beautiful place with some really amazing people from all different backgrounds, but it's time that we acknowledged the realities of a place over what we want to see. This goes for any country. Please do your research before going anywhere and never take what you see off of tourism websites to be the whole truth.

For those of you who are interested in this class from what I've said, I highly recommend you take it! It's required for both MJD majors and minors, but even if you're not either of those, you could try to talk to Professor Hyde and see what he thinks! He's a great professor and it's one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken at Saint Mike's hands down.

Mission Complete!

So, it's official - I'm a published author!

It feels so amazing to finally be done with my book. It's been such a crazy and hectic and rewarding experience, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Check it out!

It's tangible! It's in my hand! It's done!

Throughout the book, my partner and co-author Tara Keady and I covered a variety of topics ranging from LGBTQ people in the American military to a new take on gender nonconformity. We got to interview a bunch of amazing people who had incredible stories about their involvement in the LGBTQ community, how they have been involved in policies and activism concerning the LGBTQ community, and even how they have combatted and overcome oppression in various parts of the world.

It was so awesome to be able to include all of these great people while simultaneously analyzing a facet of life I'm not only personally involved in, but very fascinated by. I got to discuss shows like Orange Is the New Black and Empire while also going into my background as an openly gender fluid male in the American military. It was an experience that would have been wildly out of my comfort zone to do just three years ago, but I'm so glad I did it now.

I'll keep you all posted on ordering details if you're interested in reading it! I'm excited to share it with all of you. :)

I'm Alive, I Swear.

Okay, so first off I know I've been absent from blogging for almost two weeks...life has been beyond hectic lately with senior seminar. My book is due a week from tomorrow and I've been going to town on it lately, spending my spring break at the lab instead of the beach (it killed me a little bit each day). In the end, I'm glad I spent the time on this project though - I can't imagine getting it done in time and putting an honest effort into it and actually having a spring break at the same time. It wouldn't have been possible.

I'm happy to say that my partner Tara Keady and I are done 9 out of 14 chapters of it and we've formatted over half of it for publishing though! It's been a long process, but as any MJD major can tell you, it's worth it. A week from tomorrow, I'll officially be a published author! It's such a weird feeling, but also the best thing ever at the same time.

I designed the back cover photo today of Tara and I and I love how it came out!

I wanted it to match the cover picture with the rainbow, and look at those intense faces!

Seriously, I think I'm getting too into this, but I can't believe it's almost done at the same time. A project I've been working on for nearly eight months finally coming to fruition.

But of course it's not over once the actual book is done - then it's presentation time! Presentations to our class, presentations to the two MJD senior seminar classes combined, and public presentations! I get to dress all spiffy and talk about the LGBTQ community - what could be better?

For real though, I'm hoping that this book will allow me to further myself in a future career someday, lord knows what I actually want to end up committing to for the rest of my life as a career though. If anything, I'm glad I focused on the LGBTQ community because not only is it a community that I'm a part of, but the fight that the LGBTQ community has been putting up for what feels like forever for equality is one that I had to take a stance on and support. I hope this book can show all who read it that there are still some massive changes that need to happen around the world in order for the LGBTQ community to ever reach true equality, and it's going to take every last one of us to get it there.

Recent Happenings.

Spring break is just around the corner! I've been hard at work chugging away at my book project for my MJD senior seminar, my partner Tara and I are already three chapters in! It's unreal to see something that I've thought about so distantly for so long finally coming to life. For as much work as it's been, I know the final product in hand will be worth it.

Aside from this project, I've been keeping pretty busy of course. In my Global Communication and Culture class, I got assigned my country to make a website on - Myanmar. For those of you who may not know, Myanmar is right near Thailand and under China in southern Asia. I don't know much of anything about Myanmar, so I think it'll be awesome to learn more about it through making this website - I even get to talk to locals for it! How cool is that?

But it hasn't been all school work of course - this past weekend I had drill for the Air National Guard, and I was promoted to Senior Airman! It was awesome to finally see all my hard work over the last two and a half years finally paying off in a promotion, and I feel totally ready to take on more responsibility.

Senior Airman stripes on my sleeve now! Unreal.

I also found some time for fun too - last Thursday, Higher Ground hosted ODESZA! I feel in love with ODESZA last semester when a friend showed them to me, so naturally I knew I had to go see them live. ODESZA is an electronic band that's been on the scene for a couple of years now, and their songs are sort of trance sounding, often times featuring a female singer with a beautiful voice. Their songs range from slower more chill sounds to upbeat dance anthems, and I loved having that variety at the concert because you could see how the crowd moved with the sound.

Crappy photo I know, but ODESZA!

At one point I was right in the middle of the crowd about five rows back from the stage, and although it was hard to move, it was totally worth it. There's something about just letting music take you over and setting yourself free that is unbelievably amazing.

If you're curious about ODESZA, you should check them out! You can find their music on Spotify or read about them here!

I will be doing the brunt of my writing for the book over spring break, so expect an update about that within the next week or so as well. Can't wait to share it with you guys, enjoy the break!

Fiction Writing Happens.

Hey everyone! Happy first day of March - it's so weird that it's March already. I'm kind of excited, kind of scared, kind of want to curl up into a ball and disappear. But on the bright side, I think we're finally out of the tremendously cold part of winter and ready to see some warmer days here in the arctic tundra that is Vermont!

Since my life hasn't been terribly exciting lately, I wanted to use this blog post to share some of my fiction writing with you guys! I'm only going to share the first page or so because some of it gets a little explicit, but also because I want to get you all as excited about this class as I am!

Enjoy, it's called "Search and Destroy."

November 28, 2014.

He knows her from work. Chelsea. She has long brown hair that dips down her back in a perfect U-shape when she wears it down, but she usually has it up in a bun or a ponytail. Blue eyes slanted down slightly with teeth that are just a little yellow and a little crowded. Her forehead is peppered with a few pimples. Her hips hug her jeans. Her breasts perk up in everything from t-shirts to blouses.

He has known Chelsea for a couple of years now, joining her for the occasional lunch date or catching up about classes – they both attend Florida State University. She is bright with a little too much cynicism. Not a bad girl, but not a great one either.

Chelsea

→ Are you going out later?

                                                                                Probably. What about you?←

→ I was hoping to.

Wanna meet up somewhere?

                                                                                    Sure. Frat house raging?←

→ You know it.

                                                                             Cool, I'll be there around 11.←

He tucks the phone into his jeans and eyes his wrist – 10:17 p.m. The drunken screams of college kids tear through the cracks in his bedroom window like the bitter cold in winter, ringing in the back of his ears. The night has already begun for them. He decides what he's wearing isn't suitable for a frat party, subbing out dull black jeans and a blue t-shirt for a pair of beige khakis and a crimson button-up.

 He takes a few shots of vodka with his roommates. The bitter taste wafts into his nostrils with a sharp sting, burning his esophagus. He doesn't know what to do with his hands. He runs them through his hair and rests them on his thighs, where they stay planted like trees for uncomfortable periods of time. His face struggles in gashes of red to break free from the unbearable alcoholic heat.

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with it yet and of course there's more to it, but if you're interested just let me know and I can share it with you! I've found that I love writing over the years and this class has helped me to develop my creative writing skills more and focus on aspects of writing I never used to think about as much such as small details and what tense/perspective a story is being told from.

Let me know if you have any suggestions or comments as well, I'd love to get feedback!

Global Eyes!

Happy Sunday! After a weekend of a little fun and lots of homework, I find myself here not wanting to do anymore. Go figure. I can't believe the semester is basically halfway over already! Time has been flying by and it's been kind of scary/kind of awesome/kind of off-putting. In eight weeks, I'll no longer be a college student...how does one "real life"?

Let's drop that scary thought. The original intent of this post was to talk to you all about the Global Eyes competition that Saint Michael's has every year. It's a competition where students who have studied abroad submit up to three photos that Saint Mike's will display around the school if they are selected! The various categories of photos that they choose from range from artistic to photos that show the politics and political tensions of another country. It's an awesome opportunity to share your study abroad experience through photos with the greater campus community!

For my study abroad experience, I took a short three-week trip to England last summer through a course offered by the college on Shakespeare. It was an amazing experience, and I believe that Saint Mike's is planning to offer it again for anyone interested! It was taught by Professor Clary in the English Department for those interested.

So of course I decided to submit a few photos to the competition. Fingers crossed. Take a look!

This is a window in a crypt under St. Edmund's Hall at the University of Oxford. It was a surreal experience to be in there because it's not open to the public very often!

Believe it or not, I actually experienced more good weather than bad when I was in England, which led to this amazing shot of the London Eye!

This is a picture of Wroxton College, the school I stayed at during my time in England. It was a giant castle that was so much fun to explore and call home.

Although the deadline for this year's Global Eyes competition has already passed, it's a good thing to keep in mind for next year! If you want to know more about it, click here. Also, I would highly recommend studying abroad in England. The locals were always friendly and it was better than I could've imagined before going there.

Senior Seminar Adventures.

Hey everyone! I hope you've been getting through this ridiculous cold weather and staying warm. I'm definitely ready for winter to be over.

But anyway, onto other stuff - so I realized that I've neglected to tell you all about how my senior seminar project is going now that it's the semester that I'm going to see the finished product. My partner Tara Keady and I are writing about perceptions of gender and sexuality on a global scale through various subtopics such as law, gayborhoods, travel, and the military. So far it's been such a rewarding and informative experience! We're in the stages right now where we're finishing up interviews, putting down our ideas for how we're going to break the book up, and then we're going to start writing in just a couple of weeks!

I think the most interesting part of this project so far has been how social media has had such a huge impact on it. Seriously, I don't think we would be able to do a project like this if social media didn't exist. It's been paramount in landing us interviews with people from other countries, such as England, Spain, and South Africa, and I think the global perspective on this project is what makes it so intriguing. For example, do you think that the U.S. is the most accepting country of LGBTQ people? Think again - it's actually Spain!

These are a couple of the visual graphs Tara and I made for the book - we got feedback from some of our classmates that these would be some of the figures they would be interested in seeing in our book. Our working title is Glorious Gray: Finding Your Color in A Black and White World. We're even planning out trips to New York City and Provincetown in Massachusetts to compare the gay cultures and gayborhoods there. I'm so pumped!

I'll keep you all posted as it's coming along - the finished product will be done by April 1st! In the mean time, I'd love to hear what any of you think about it in terms of what you'd be interested in seeing, pictures, graphs, etc. All suggestions are welcome!

New Project!

So I know I've been MIA for the past few days (I actually don't know how long it's been since the last time I posted, but I don't think it's been longer than a week...let's hope). Anyway, things are moving quickly as usual and I got an interesting offer to do a project for Saint Michael's that will hopefully last for years to come, so I figured now was the time to tell you all about it...

I'm going to be making a video for the college about the MOVE program!

For those of you who don't know what the MOVE program is, it stands for the Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts, and it covers everything from extended service on a volunteer basis for students over breaks to working with youth. Events are happening all the time throughout the year through MOVE, and I think it's awesome that the school reached out to me and asked me to put a video together for it for future students to see!

Students volunteering! Photo courtesy of Saint Michael's College.

There's always little kids running around campus, and that's because of the awesome students that volunteer to work with them! Photo courtesy of Saint Michael's College.

I should be recording and taking photographs of my first event within the next week or two, and the video should be done around June. Keep your eyes peeled for it!

In the mean time, if you want to check out more about the MOVE program, click here!

Rottweiler Appreciation Post.

After a nice evening home last night, I felt obligated to do a post about my favorite boy - my Rottweiler, Duncan. I've had him for over 10 years now, and he's a huge part of my life that I often forget about when I'm going through the day-to-day minutia of college life (as I'm sure many of you all do as well when it comes to pets). So, instead of talking about classes or campus events or anything like that, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to give the spotlight to someone in my life who definitely doesn't get it enough.

When I'm home for the summer, sitting outside with my boy is one of my favorite things to do.

Look at that beard!

But really, I don't know where I'd be without this guy.

What's interesting to me is how often the topic of pets has been coming up this week for me. Whether it's in one of my writing workshops or because I'm home for the night and giving Duncan all my attention, pets have been everywhere this week and it's kind of strange.

Now to debunk the rumors you all might have heard about Rottweilers if you've never owned or seen one - yes, they do get a bit territorial. Duncan just growls at people he doesn't know, but once you let him sniff you and be around you for a minute or two, he warms up pretty quick. Rottweilers are fantastic because of how territorial they get in my opinion - they always bark when someone is coming (which can get annoying, but it beats putting in a security system), and they will probably attack if a stranger comes and is anything but friendly to them. Duncan's getting a little too old for that now, but you know what I mean.

In short, I hope you all are thinking about your pets often (if you have any) or if you live close enough, I hope you're taking some time to see them every now and again. Pets, especially dogs, are probably the only things on this planet that care more about you than they do about themselves, and that's a kind of connection you don't really find with anyone or anything else.

Always Writing.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Sundays are usually my homework days after a weekend of (attempting) relaxation and seeing friends, and that's still the true today. Still, as I was working on some assignments, I got to the homework for my favorite class this semester that I figured would make a great topic to tell you all about - Fiction Writing.

It's weird being back in a creative writing class here at Saint Michael's because I don't think I've taken one since I was a sophomore, but putting my Creative Writing minor on the back burner for a while does have its perks. Now I get to repeat this class with the same Professor Marquess, who is exceptional, that I took it with my freshman year. That's one of the beauties of the creative writing courses at Saint Michael's - they're repeatable!

I found that in my writing career, I personally enjoy fiction over any other genre. I love being able to just think of something in your head that's completely fabricated and roll with it, making it into a lengthy story that you can't anticipate, you just have to write and see where it goes.

This is the textbook for the class this year - it's the same book I used three years ago, but it's the newest addition with different short fiction stories and a new editor. It's a fantastic book for those interested in short fiction stories!

So far, I've had to write a 40-page autobiography that's completely free form and entirely private. I know that sounds like a lot, but it comes really easily once you just get on a writing kick and let it all out! Professor Marquess assigns this to us just to get us used to writing often and writing a lot, which will be all the more useful when we begin to brainstorm fiction stories in the coming weeks.

If you're a writing enthusiast or you just want to give fiction writing a try, I would highly recommend this course! If you want to look at the Creative Writing minor as well, here is a link to it! I'm not the world's best writer by any means, but I think the Creative Writing minor has helped me to hone in on my style of writing while teaching me some popular methods for writing and new vocabulary!

Cooking Life.

So this semester, I decided it would be best to be off the meal plan. As much as I miss going to Alliot every day and seeing all my friends, it's been an interesting and challenging experience that's also super rewarding. I'm not a cook by any means, but going off the meal plan has helped me to hone in on some cooking skills I never knew I had and divvy up my meals in my own way.

If you live in a townhouse at any point in your Saint Michael's career, you'll automatically be taken off the meal plan, but you can put yourself back on if you want. Last semester I did, but this semester I decided to try making my own food, and the results have actually been more yummy than expected!

My roommate Danny and I aren't on the meal plan, so we usually make meals together and combine ingredients. This is a sweet and sour stir fry we made a few days ago! It was delicious.

And on days when I don't feel like making food, I go out. Applebee's Shrimp Cavatappi!

I'm excited to see what new recipes Danny and I come up with and make this semester. Of course I've been scheduling my Alliot time accordingly with my 40 swipes as well, and who could forget about Sloane! We try to go to Sloane as a house every week for a family dinner - the food is always great and it's a nice atmosphere to just relax and talk.

I've also been obsessed with broccoli lately, as you can probably tell by the two pictures above. I would highly recommend trying out making a meal for yourself if you never cook - it's been a fantastic experience, and now I get to add my recent obsession to every meal in new and different ways!

Making the Most of Winter.

So, it's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of winter. I know what you're thinking - that's ironic because I go to school in Vermont and have lived here all my life. What can I say, the things I love about Vermont and Saint Mike's just outweigh my strong dislike of living in the cold. And that's just it - I love the look of snow and I'm a huge fan of sledding, but the cold is really what does me in.

However, instead of being negative about it like I have been for many years, I want to try to make the most of it. I took the opportunity to make this happen over the break since I had nothing to do for the first time in a long time, and I think I did a pretty solid job. Two major pro-winter events happened over break.

1. Driving

As I'm sure all of you know without reading this, Vermont has one of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen. It looks good in pretty much every season (but especially fall of course with all of the foliage), but a sheet of white looks gorgeous on Vermont forests.

This is on a road right near my house in Fairfax, Vermont after a fresh snow - it's so pretty!

This road was only one of the many roads I got to see driving across Vermont over break to see friends and go places. I know most people would never think it was a privilege to drive in the snow, but I think it was good for me to really appreciate my surroundings and look for the positive in times where all I'm seeing is negative.

2. Ice Skating

Disclaimer: I'm awful at ice skating. Like, really really bad, but luckily I had some friends who are phenomenal at ice skating that went with me and tried their best to show me the ropes. By the end of the nearly two hours we spent there, I was halfway decent, but I'm always too afraid of falling to actually get better. Gotta fall before you fly.

Jessica, Dana and I.

Tim rocking the Santa hat!

Mike, Jessica, Tim and I!

Although it was cold at Cairns Arena in South Burlington, I had an awesome time. For those of you who might be interested in ice skating around the area, I definitely recommend going there! It's super cheap to rent skates and get a ticket to skate at open rink times. Saint Mike's used to do a trip every month last Spring semester to go ice skating there for free too! I'm unsure if they're doing it again, but keep your eyes peeled.

I can truly say that after this break, I like winter at least a little bit more. I'm sure many of you like winter much more than me, but even if you do, I hope that after reading this, you try to find more positive in negative situations too.

Winter Break Shenanigans.

Welcome back everyone! If your break was anything like mine, those three weeks went by in the blink of an eye and you kept busy hanging out with friends and family. Since I live about 30 minutes north of Saint Mike's, I was around a lot, but it was also nice to be free of the obligations of class and work for a little bit to catch up with people and enjoy the night life of Church Street now that I'm 21. I did more than I thought I did over break, so I thought I'd share some of that with you guys!

A gorgeous winter night on Church Street!

I ended up going downtown a few nights over break with friends from the Air Force, high school, and even some new friends I made over break! New Years Eve downtown was probably the most memorable night - I went on a bar crawl with some great friends and everywhere we went it was so packed, but still a ton of fun. If you're ever around Burlington for the holidays, I would recommend you go down to church street on New Years, it's a blast!

Made these from scratch!

I also found myself doing things I don't usually do over break since I had a ton of free time, which included baking oddly enough. I am definitely not a good cook, but the sudden urge to look up a recipe and make chocolate chip cookies from scratch came over me one day and I went at it! Luckily I didn't burn them and they were actually pretty good.

Four Year Strong at Higher Ground

Finally, I ended my break by going to a concert at Higher Ground in Burlington for a band called Four Year Strong a few days ago. They play rock and punk music and they were incredible! They were a band I listened to a lot in high school and I hadn't heard any of their recent stuff, but once I found out they were coming to Vermont, I spent a whole night listening to everything they've ever written to get hyped for their concert. If you've never been to a concert at Higher Ground, even if rock or punk music isn't your thing, you should go sometime! They always manage to get some great bands to come and play.

Overall, my break was whimsical and care free and a much needed de-stressor. What did you all do over break? I hope you had as much of a fun and relaxing time as I did!

Cheers to another great semester, which also happens to be my last one...help?