“Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected. Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves. This is noble, righteous warfare, for it is wonderfully useful to God to have such an evil race wiped from the face of the earth."
"What giants?" Asked Sancho Panza.
"The ones you can see over there," answered his master, "with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long."
"Now look, your grace," said Sancho, "what you see over there aren't giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone."
"Obviously," replied Don Quixote, "you don't know much about adventures.”
- Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
For as long as I can remember, I've been possessed by romantic fantasies of adventure. As a child I would imagine myself amidst the sweeping scenery of some sublime setting, from the rolling dunes of the Sahara to the rugged peaks of the Himalayas. These scenes would be accompanied by the blare of brass, the song of strings, and an indomitable beat from the drums coursing through my heart. Having read too many books and watched too many films for my own good, life has never been simply a state of existence, but has always had to mean something more. I sought to cherish and celebrate all its instances of glory and mundanity in order to make for myself a grand tale of adventure.
Which is why after the first 18 years of my life, the looming monolith of college was such an exciting and terrifying prospect. Not only is it symbolic of the transition from childhood to adulthood, it is inundated with a romanticism actually grounded in reality. Our cultural consciousness is saturated with phrases like "institutes of higher education" and "the best four years of life", which left me struggling to stay afloat in a sea of fantasies concerning all that I would learn, all the people I would meet, all the places I would go, and all that I would accomplish.
However, these prospects revealed a certain quixotic naivety or ignorance of another aspect of college: all that I would become. Ironically enough, although I envisioned my life an epic, I overlooked the most critical aspect of the narrative: the character. Sure, I knew I would emerge a “college graduate” within four years, but I did not stop to consider the process this would entail. The most interesting and meaningful tales are ones where the greatest obstacle the hero encounters is finding and facing himself. Before this can happen however, heroes have to be challenged, conflicted, and sometimes even broken.
This portfolio is a collection of all that I have observed, experienced, and accomplished in my four years at the University of Washington, but I invite you to consider that which links it all together, that which provides those moments power, that which truly matters: the story of a boy struggling to become a man.
We begin on a bright autumn day in the year 2012. Our hero peers up at the stern statue of George Washington, guarding the gateway to Red Square and to his destiny. Brimming with fantasies of splendor to come, he strides by George with a fierce determination.
Was he a delusional fool? Were his giants windmills?
I invite you to discover for yourself.
However, these prospects revealed a certain quixotic naivety or ignorance of another aspect of college: all that I would become. Ironically enough, although I envisioned my life an epic, I overlooked the most critical aspect of the narrative: the character. Sure, I knew I would emerge a “college graduate” within four years, but I did not stop to consider the process this would entail. The most interesting and meaningful tales are ones where the greatest obstacle the hero encounters is finding and facing himself. Before this can happen however, heroes have to be challenged, conflicted, and sometimes even broken.
This portfolio is a collection of all that I have observed, experienced, and accomplished in my four years at the University of Washington, but I invite you to consider that which links it all together, that which provides those moments power, that which truly matters: the story of a boy struggling to become a man.
We begin on a bright autumn day in the year 2012. Our hero peers up at the stern statue of George Washington, guarding the gateway to Red Square and to his destiny. Brimming with fantasies of splendor to come, he strides by George with a fierce determination.
Was he a delusional fool? Were his giants windmills?
I invite you to discover for yourself.