Mantras

“Don't spend your precious time asking 'Why isn't the world a better place?' It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is "How can I make it better?" To that there is an answer.” -Leo Buscaglia

I found this quote in a box my friend Jordan keeps on her desk, a square little thing that allows you to switch out a quote whenever the mood strikes. Buscaglia's quote, the first one I came across, really struck me. A part of it is recent events in my life, but also after seeing the Cinderella movie last Saturday.

"Have courage, and be kind" is the mantra of the movie, the words Cinderella lives her life by. Yet they seem to fail her, causing her to let others bully her around while she just waits for something to happen. Instead of working to better her predicament, she just accepts it in order to remain "kind" and "courageous."

When I first left the theater, I wished I was more like Cinderella- always kind and never letting others affect my character. Which is fine, but I've realized since then that you have to be more than that. Wishing is not enough; you have to act to get what you want.

That's why I like Buscaglia's quote. Constantly when I'm faced with horrible things, whether they're happening to the world or to my friends or to me, I feel helpless. What can I, just an almost 21-year-old in Indiana, do to help? Frequently that little voice in my head says, "nothing."

That's where mantras come in. Cinderella's might work out for her in the end, but it doesn't help me to understand why the world can be so cruel sometimes. I've been trying to find the right one, something that reminds me that all is not lost. I don't have to lose a positive attitude in order to care about all the hurt that happens. I still haven't found something yet, the perfect mantra. The perfect solution to an impossible problem.

But there's something about the thought "how can I make it better?" that I like. One of the most important things I've learned in college is to ask "how can I fix this?" whenever I'm stressed or have a problem. It allows me to handle the problems in a tangible way, and almost always makes me feel better. And even if the problem is "everyone is starving" and not "I have a paper and a presentation due the same day," this idea can still work.

It's going to take some time. It's going to take some effort. But I hope that, with that time and effort, I'll be able to create a solution all my own. One that allows me to create a mantra that's personalized, memorable, and, most importantly, mine.

On Location | Indiana State Library

For the past couple of weeks, I've been researching and editing a history paper about Indiana Quakers and slavery I wrote last semester for an upcoming competition. My research led me to the Indiana State Library last Thursday, where I sat down with a letter from Levi Coffin and every Indiana Yearly Meeting Minutes record I could ever want. For three and a half hours I sat in a hard-backed wooden chair and poured over those minutes, thinking about the people who created them 180 years ago. A man across the aisle from me looked at several large maps intently, and stacks of other documents waited in the wings inside climate controlled rooms and drawers.

It's a beautiful thing, hundreds of documents waiting to be read by some twenty-first century person who prefers paper to pixels.

#DearMe | International Women's Day

Dear Me,

Sweet, beautiful, 13-year-old Leeann. You are so smart, and so clever. You have a big heart for a teenager, and that's why those girls pick on you. They don't understand what it means to have empathy, or to defy peer pressure and be who you want to me.

I know it doesn't feel like it now, but you will be so strong because of them, because of this swirling mist of doom they call junior high. You will never let people tell you how to feel or who to be again, because it doesn't make you happy. And walking around miserable all the time isn't doing you any good. You have so much potential, so much talent. Mom and Dad see it. I see it.

Life is not junior high, thank goodness. And although you'll love it, life is not high school either. Or college. Life is what you decide it will be. Right now, life is words. It's writing them, reading them, shaping them into something completely new. Life is taking control over what you say and what you do, and most importantly how you feel.

Don't let the bad stuff become you. Do not become the bad stuff. Soak in the good, let it enter your soul like an endless stream, flowing into your mind until you can't remember why you were upset or what discouraged you. Surround yourself with people who make you feel special. Walk away from the people who don't. Taste the content on your tongue, sing it out to the world, for that is what life is. A song to be sung, and only you can sing it.

As Walt Whitman wrote:

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                    Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

In that powerful play we call life, what will our verse be? In that powerful play we call our life, what will your verse be?

For each thought we have and action we do (or don't) take shapes us into who we are. Every word we say slides into a slot of the bookshelves of our lives and becomes our verse in the world.

"Life exists, and identity." It's the power we gain from our life, our identity, that can change us.

That can change you.

name

The Bookish Side of Valentine's

Full disclaimer: I don't get Valentine's Day. I don't see the reason for a day devoted to expressing your love for someone/some people, when you should be doing that every day. Yet I have a tradition with my family where we have a Valentine's dinner every year, and even when I'm at college we find a way to make it work. I love sitting down at a fancy meal with my parents and sister, with candles and candy as our centerpiece, and switching up our daily dinners. Valentine's Day doesn't have to be about romantic love; it can by family and friend love too.

To support expressing that kind of love, I've complied a list of books I feel do a good job of celebrating family and friend bonds. Good Valentine's reads that explore friendship and family, and leave you feeling good!

A Bookish Valentine's | Different kinds of books to read on Valentine's Day

• The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. An unexpected love story about a dog's devotion to his owner that explores the connection humans feel to their pets from a fresh perspective. It will get you thinking about how we relate to animals and just what we mean to them.

• "Tenth of December" in Tenth of December by George Saunders. This short story creates unlikely friends, but demonstrates how love can come suddenly to even strangers, and lead us to do the most powerful things. (While you're at it, read the whole collection of weird but awesome short stories.)

• Little Women by Lousia May Alcott. If you feel like digging into a longer story, reach for this classic about the love of four sisters for each other, their mother, and their father. Sure, some significant others show up, but they never seem to compare to the connections this family feels for each other.

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This book almost makes me like Steinbeck (if you've ever read The Red Pony, you'll understand my dislike). Another classic that explores just how far friendships will stretch us, it approaches an impossible situation about love and makes us resolve it.

• Holes by Louis Sachar. It seems like it's just a book about a boy who wrongfully is sent to prison camp because of a family curse, but the family ties are a continuous theme throughout this book. Without his supportive parents, Stanley could have been in a way worse situation. Even though the Yelnats are constantly thrown into unsavory situations, they stay together and love each other, no matter what.

What are your favorite books to read on Valentine's Day?