A guest blog by college student Chloe Sariego
 Chloe Sariego |
Halfway through my freshman year at Sarah Lawrence College I was told investing my education in creative arts wasn’t a realistic idea. My confusion and misguided embarrassment over my naiveté turned into a resentment toward poetry. This resentment only grew over the summer. I worked for a non-profit, and when I wasn’t at the office, I toiled at a burger restaurant. I had somehow stumbled into a very costly and tiny New York City apartment. The summer was expensive, hot, and exhausting. I had turned to writing again, but felt frustrated and confused about whether it was a waste of time. I hated the city, but mostly, I hated myself. When I got to the 2014 Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, I felt for the first time in months that I had space to breathe. I was given the opportunity to work with Sharon Doubiago, a beautiful poet, mentor, and kindred spirit, as well as with my poetry workshop group, where I met supportive and brilliant poets, whom I still keep in touch with today. I felt inspired to unpack stories I had been holding inside me. These stories produced poems, and I began to cope with how harsh I was being with the self who struggled in New York. The conference gave me the space to experience the pain and confusion from the pressure of school and living alone. I will be spending my junior year abroad in one of the most competitive schools for economics and social sciences, The London School of Economics. I know, regardless of school pressure or whether I find myself “successful,” there will always be an underlying current of my true purpose. This is what Sharon really taught me in that short weekend. For the tender-souled, all of our experiences are waiting to be opened and shared. Mendocino has always been a place of tenderness for me, with its cool weather and plains of beautiful flowers. It’s the place where, in years past, I took solace in summers away from my home. It is a place where I can be alone. But unlike New York, the alone-ness of Mendocino allowed me to re-connect last summer with what is most essential to myself, the creative spirit. I don’t think that I would have been able to continue writing without my time at the conference. Surrounded by other writers, I found, once again, my breath. TO COMMENT, click on "Comments" above or below the post, then fill in the form, or click on "Reply" of another comment to add to that comment. SHARE on your Facebook or Twitter, hit the buttons: |
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