Nostalgic Gratitude: Letter to the Land

Dear Woolman

I feel like I have just started to appreciate your beauty and wisdom, but I fear it may be too late. Four or five weeks ago when I went back home for our break, I had missed you. I was surrounded by the ugly, assimilated houses that had boxed backyards that didn’t enable a simple, natural life to flourish. I had been surrounded by technology, people, and the only nature I could see were the freshly cut, plastic grass. I had missed the tall pines and oaks that had shaded me from the hot, blazing sun. I had missed the breath-taking blue Yuba, and the “Do it or your Nothing!” phrases. I had missed the long talks and laughs with my roommates who kept me company as I feel asleep. I even missed that creepy spider above my bed. As I sit now writing this letter, I cannot help but wonder, how will I survive knowing the knowledge you have taught me?  How will I go back to the world, knowing that I might fall under oblivion? When I first came here I was skeptical of whether I would actually learn something. I thought I knew everything about global and peace issues because I was an immigrant who has experienced some of the injustice. I had thought I knew about agriculture and the food I was eating . But as the school progressed, I had started to acquire new knowledge and wisdom that are shadowed or ignored in regular schools. And as I begin to discover this new activist role I want to act in my life, I have began to appreciate a human's life, and the nature that sustains us. Thank you Woolman, I would never have been able to find a voice without you!

                                                                                                                Sincerely, Hiwot Misker

                                                                                                                                         Fall 2011