You Are Here

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A senior student at our school who is applying to the University of Chicago asked me to take a quick look at some of her application essays and one of the prompts struck me: Why are you here and not somewhere else? The quote is taken from artist Jeppe Hein's neon sign, an installation piece in his current show. It made me think. As it was supposed to. God, I'm such a sucker.

But seriously, why am I here? And what is here? Geographical Here as in the United States? California? Corona? Personally My family? My marriage? My career? A mom? A blogger? A friend? A reader? A writer? Professionally A teacher? A mentor? A person who doesn't say no to committees?

Some of it is choice, some of it is not. And the things that are should be handled accordingly. If you don't want to be where you are then make the necessary changes. Super easy, right? Sure.

I think I took this more seriously than I was supposed to.