Written by: Laura Sierra Rodriguez, Staff Writer
As the nights deepen into the cold of winter, and the ice starts to freeze beneath your feet, and you hear the hefty hum of the train brakes through the icy air, and as DePaul starts to slowly come to life filling up with warm bodies once again, the question strikes through any conversation and blinks within every running mind: “So what did you do over break?”
Ah yes, what did I do? From haywire adventures and rough, unwelcoming mornings to peaceful bliss and simple joys, a number of TTS students have been kind enough to share some highlights from their break.
In appreciation of the past, I took the time to reflect on my winter break a bit as I settled back into the comfort of my dorm, so that I could look forward to the rewards that Chicago gives me with every waking day. Coming back to Chicago was a melancholic concoction of bitterness, sweetness, frustration, excitement, fear, and longing, as this winter break was my very first of the many to come in my life during and after college. I had to re-adapt to my hometown environment, accepting the chaos of family gatherings, messy houses full of children’s laughter and lots of tears and screams, long work hours, lots of food to make, lots of needed care and attention, low to no privacy, “we got puppies!” “can’t drive today, she’s got the car,” “can you go to the store and pick this up for me?” “I have to set up an appointment,” “oh wait, I have an assignment due for my December Session course,” “Monday we move, so we have to pack this up and remember you have to call this number to fix whatever is going on with your loans…” etc.
I found my break to be not very much a break at all; however, as I unpacked and cleaned, made a cup of coffee every morning, and looked out the windows of my empty dorm, I questioned the reason for me even being here in Chicago—at DePaul while simultaneously wondering why I even chose to return home. These awful thoughts began to stack into catastrophic towering giants in my mind. When the dreaded question of “so, what did you do over the break?” came up, I’d respond with “I made money,” which seemed like a reasonable answer for the Capricorn in me. Truth is, among the chaos, I was granted the privilege to be with my amazing family who will always be a handful, but always make me laugh and smile and can fill my heart with just one word. I did make money, albeit not that much, but in the process I gained experience and made new friends. I did do a December session course and it did not kick me to the curb. I did help my mom move to a new home which is only cause for another celebration of new beginnings and cherished memories. With all the terrible, no-good, not-so-fun moments, I was able to reflect and recall that there were shining moments and those bad moments are just reminders of choices in my life that I do not want commit at any time or again and why my living in Chicago and learning at TTS is setting me up for the best I can desire for my future.
Much of my time for the last two weeks was spent dreading the wrongs of the past and stressing about what is to come of the future, leading me to finding the dark pockets of my mind and seeping into the dark sheets of my heart. It was not until I chose to appreciate the right and wrong of the past, and allowed myself to get excited about the now that I could build bravery for the future’s gifts and obstacles. If winter break offered you the gift of recharging or the burden of long hours, days and weeks - no matter the circumstances, we are once again joined to learn, to create, to share, to work, and to be young artists in a world that stops for no one. Now that classes have begun in person once more for another quarter of late-night studying or rehearsals, a building of the coffee addiction, and not-so-good-not-so-bad habits that come with the price of school, it is important to absorb the moments of now. Although “live in the now” is another cliché for the books, it doesn’t make the reminder any less true. Living in the now leaves time to appreciate the past and keep a steady head and open heart for the future.
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Special thanks to Josie Moore and Liz Bazzoli for letting us use their pictures!
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