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I'd always been slightly jealous of my friends who recall stories about their special secret spaces - places they would run away to after a fight with their parents or places they would go to when they just wanted some time to be alone with their own thoughts. By the time my friends left for college their special secret spaces had gathered years upon years of memories! I didn't really have a permanent special secret space growing up because every 3 years I'd find myself packing up all my stuff and moving to a new country, to a new school, and to a new home. So when I arrived at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, knowing that I would be staying here for the longest time I've ever stayed in any single place, I went on a mission to make my own special secret spaces! Now they might not all be secret, but they all sure are magical! So for my first blog post, I wanted to share one of my special secret spaces: my Pocahontas Tree (also known as Beacon Arbor)!

I love sitting on the benches under the canopy on a beautiful day and taking some time to draw or read by myself. Some books on my current reading list include: The Everyday Language of White Racism by Jane Hill (for Intro to Linguistic Anthropology), 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (for the love of Murakami), my Neuroscience textbook (for the wicked pictures of all the cool stuff our bodies can do!), my Psychology textbook (for all the scary data of all the nutso stuff our minds can do), and On Beauty by Zadie Smith (simply for the soul). As a Visual Art major, it's also lovely to escape to for a breather after spending hours working away in the studio. My Pocahontas Tree is the best place to go to when you want to slow life down for a little bit. There's something about being enveloped by the leaves and branches of a 59 year old tree that can be so comforting and so meditative. Also, take out from Aladdin's tastes best under its warm beech leaves. And my Pocahontas tree is very nice to tree-climbers. I love finding the perfect little nook, the one that fits my body perfectly, and sitting there for hours while talking to a friend. If you've been there, you know what I mean. And if you haven't, come by and check out my Pocahontas Tree and make it yours as well!