Dear Reader,

There are two things I feel you should know about me. 

1. I am a person with questions.

Questions  about my future, past, the person I am, and who I am becoming. I have questions about the process one takes to become. I have questions about my questions. Am I  the only one questioning these questions? Do these questions only exist within me?

Or do they reside in others?

In this world that is so vast, so diverse, and intersectional, I have a hunch that I am not the only one, past, present, or future, that ponders these ponderings. 

Is this  belief correct? 

2. The best way to answer questions is through conversation. 

I believe that we learn the most  from the stories of others, from people who wore similar shoes to  ours, and of those who wear shoes that we do not fully understand. 

This is the reason for this project.

 This letter that you are reading now is only one of many. One of many that I have written but also one of many that others have written. Letters written from non-male people like myself who decided to pursue a liberal arts education, particularly  a liberal arts education, here at Hampshire College. 

 I have asked for stories from people who have attended this college in its 50-year run, who have been here before me, and who are working beside me. I asked them for their story of how they got to Hampshire, what life was like at Hampshire, and most importantly

 How they made life work after Hampshire. 

How did people who have faced a vast array of challenges related to aspects like sexuality, gender, ability, class, race, ethnicity, along with other societal differences, make their past, present, and future work? How did they or do they, plan to build a life for themselves once they left college? How did people like myself pursue their passions in a society where many passions struggle to support life? 

How did they do it?

How do they continue to do it? 

Can I learn from their way of doing?

I asked my past and present peers to write letters to some version of their younger self. I hoped to find patterns of advice that could help find resolutions to my questions. After reading, analyzing, and discussing the content with the writers of these letters, I confidently say that there are patterns of advice in these letters. In the links to the side, I have organized these patterns into different categories.

I encourage you to explore! The advice and commentary found in these letters and conversations were helpful for me to read and hear. I hope the description of others “becoming” will aid you in whoever you are becoming.  

Or possibly this will all be a way to see the world through the eyes of others.. Who knows. If there is anything I have learned in my own endeavor of becoming, nothing is promised as certain.

Sincerely, 

Molly Marie