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| Gorgeous view from the park! |
I got up much earlier that I should have today. We were hosting a leadership panel in class, consisting of Tory, our TA, Dean Gail Cohee, the director of the Sarah Doyle Women's Center and associate Dean of the college, Shane Lloyd and Joshua Segur, the Assistant Directors for First Year and Sophomore Programs and Co-Curricular initiatives respectively. I was very excited to have the opportunity to speak with such accomplished leaders and have the opportunity to learn from them.
We did some introductions, going around saying our names, where we are from, and our favorite foods (mines, if you are curious, are lamb chops). We took some time to personally introduce ourselves and grab a bite of some delicious snacks Mary Grace had provided. The panelists talked about things like ally-ship and how it is a verb and not a noun, as well as how to deal with people who are not as socially aware as you. I got to talk with Shane, who was speaking about being first gen. Although my parents did technically go to college, it just wasn't in America and their degrees do not count for much here. Though most institutions define being first gen differently, in Brown I would be considered first gen.
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| Our guide, Stephanie! |
Gabi and I popped into the Ratty and then visited the Science Library where she took a quick nap and I did the homework for tomorrow. We were assigned articles by Monica Potts and Greta LaFleur both of them talking about their very different opinions on the inclusion of trans and gender queer applicants at women's colleges such as Bryn Mawr. I also worked on doing the citations for my Action Plan. We returned to class where people were working on their AP's and Tory was answering questions. I was able to finish my Action Plan and send it in! Cindy, Gabi, and I hung out for a bit before I decided to get back to Perkins and they wanted to get some fro-yo toppings.
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| Doug the Dog |
Back at Perkins I sat with Esme, Diana, and Wendy for a while and then headed upstairs to my room. I talked to my parents, took a quick shower, and finally got some time to relax. One Netflix binge-session later, we grabbed lunch at the V-dub and then split up. Diana and I went window shopping on Thayer before walking to a nearby park around 8 PM for something I have been very excited about since the beginning of the trip, The Providence Ghost Tour! Once we arrived at the park we saw a woman standing in front of a very large statue, dressed in all-black and carrying a lantern and umbrella. This was our tour guide, Stephanie. We talked for a bit, she was super nice and really comfortable to be around. Two other groups joined us, a family of three and a mother and daughter. I got to meet Doug, a super sweet rescue dog.
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| Stephanie's awesome lantern |
We went all around the neighborhood, our first stop being H.P Lovecraft's final home outside of which a young man got shot and is rumored to haunt the intersection around. We also visited some RISD dorms, which are haunted by poltergeists who move around furniture and push people down the stairs, We saw John Hay Library witch contains around 13 books bound in human skin before proceeding into Brown and the Main Green. We learned that University Hall was the beginning of Brown and was used as a makeshift hospital for soldiers in World War 2. If you were placed in a room to the right it meant you were likely to survive, the closer to the left you were placed the worse your condition. Because of how much death and decay happened in the building they had to gut out the wood to get rid of the smell.
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| The John Hay Library |
We visited the Annmary Brown memorial celebrates the affection between Annmary and her husband Rush Hawkins. After Annmary's death, as a final act of love, Hawkins decided a fresh wreath of flowers would be placed on her grave on her birthday and remain untouched till the next year. He also said the memorial would be closed after 4 PM so that their spirits could mingle and that the doors inside musts be left unlocked. Strange occurrences have been witnessed when these requests were not followed.
We saw the Providence Athenaeum, where Edgar Allen Poe courted Sarah Helen Whitman. Though their affair was short and tragic, locals believe their souls remain behind.
We toured some more beautiful buildings, hearing stories both odd and gory. I loved the experience, Stephanie was witty and interesting and I am so glad I got to do this! It was truly one of the highlights of my already pretty lit-up summer. We returned to the park where Stephanie read us part of Poe's "The Raven". I returned to Perkins feeling full of energy, with a lot more appreciation for Providence and so much more knowledge. I think it's easy to get caught up in work and things like this help us enjoy the moment.
Mahi, Glad to hear you visited some of the College Hill setting of Brown. That park with the overlook is Prospect Terrace. Since there are only a couple of evenings left, you should take the ILC cohort there. The statue is Roger Williams, who founded the Colony of Rhode Island in 1636. He's an important figure in political philosophy. He believed in the separation of church and state and founded Rhode Island as an asylum place for free-thinkers, the first of its kind in the New World. He also believed in reimbursing Native Americans for land that the English colonists settled on. And he wrote the first dictionary of a Native American language, which was published in 1643. There's a copy in the John Carter Brown Library on the Main Green. At the Atheneum there are books with Edgar Allan Poe's love notes to Sarah Helen Whitman in the margins. If you had time you could visit Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetary and see all the weird stuff people from around the world leave on his tombstone.
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