Oberlin Diaries 1*: Forging Adjacencies
I’m living on an island. Surrounded by fields instead of water, the small Ohio town of some 8000 residents to which I’ve temporarily relocated is still an island. It’s quiet, pastoral, isolated, and yet connected to the other islands, and eventually the Cleveland-area mainland, by causeways extending in several directions across the fertile moat.
The Point of the Question
I was curious. In light of national political developments last January, what did our 5 enterprising undergraduate interns feel like they needed? Their responses to my open-ended question included some common themes: guidance, clarity, and reassurance. The purpose of the inquiry, however, wasn’t to elicit definitive answers, but rather to introduce this as mantra for ongoing contemplation.