To be alone is a necessary thing. To be removed from the world, from technology, from the buzzing and the ringing and the whistling brings you back to life. Gliding through the snowy trees, with the sun warming your skin as it peers through the branches to watch you soar cannot be replaced by any video, song, text, email, or blog. When all you hear is your own laughter, the chatter of squirrels, and the scrape of skis on snow, each pressed heavy to your ears by the silence of the forest....

 

That is when you hear God, telling you that life is good.

 

To be alone is a necessary thing.

 

 

 

alaska, august 2014

by harry b williamson

 

peace and skis

 

rrw

 

 

 

 

 



There's an ice cream party that starts in an hour and all I can think about is how much I want that ice cream party to start right now. I am also contemplating when the next time I will wear makeup is, because everyone in my life knows it's been a good while since that stuff happened. Pshhh. This look was good enough in elementary school. and we all know what a babe I was in elementary school. It's good enough now.

Photos taken by him in Alaska last August. He doesn't like to smile for pictures. We're working on that.


peace and feminist writing
i'm going to have a lot of new opinions by the end of the semester

rrw

low expectations

I've been waiting for something really extraordinary to happen to me so that I could write about it and glory in my life. I was trying to keep my expectations realistic. You know, skiing under the silence of the Northern Lights with a pack of wild wolves running by my side through the dark pines, or being bitten by a snake and having my legs amputated but turning my misfortune into opportunity through paralympic participation. I was waiting for something simple.

Instead, my expectations were completely blown away. I commented on a picture on Instagram and won a $25 gift card to a local restaurant. The last time I won anything I think it was in 4th grade and I got a piece of paper that said I was a good speller. there so nise. 

So that's my life. Aren't you glad you stopped by for an update? Now you better chum up to me so I'll take you to dinner. Except for not really because I'm pretty sure I'm already taking someone else because I'm dating him and that seems like the right thing to do yeah?

See you next month.

peace and prize winners
rrw

School's out. 

The semester's ended.

We both celebrated birthdays.

And that's what's happened. 

rrw

reveling in red rock

I don't have anything creative to say. My college education is doing a spectacular job of teaching me to think analytically, and as a consequence, I have no original thought left in my mind. My life of reading, writing papers, deleted papers, rewriting papers, and midterms is not worth recording.

So, to keep up the facade that my life is actually exciting and adventurous, I post photos of only the exciting and adventurous things I participate in. And while I've been to Moab and Arches National Park more times than I can really remember, I'd say this trip counts as exciting and adventurous no, i have no similes for those two words, for it was my first time camping in a blizzard. Given, I did not sleep in a tent, but the outhouse had no roof. adventure!

And you are welcome for that tidbit of information.

If you haven't been to Delicate Arch before, change that. I mean come on, it's on our license plates and everything. My 78 year old grandparents did the hike too. So you have no excuse. 

 Companions

Perhaps the greatest result of the trip is that I can now firmly and solidly recommend paying the extra 4 dollars to explore around the slot canyons of the Fiery Furnace. I might have fractured my toe from a pathetic fall, but it was totally worth it.

Above is our favorite picture because Jordan is bringing us beef jerky.

And below is the second favorite picture because Jordan squeezed into an impossibly small area to save a Frito.

Please note the very visible and accessible permit clipped to my backpack. 

We obey the rules.

#savethesoil

So yeah, I'll just keep pretending my life is as cool as I make it seem, when in reality I am crying in the library over my dashed dreams and loss of hope. 

Fortunately, ski season is upon us.

peace and BYU football

posters are on sale in the bookstore for $1.25

rrw

look a-likes

I have been the extremely flattered recipient of a common compliment for the last nine and a half years. 2005 was the year that Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants changed the world. Girls everywhere started making bank accounts with funds to one day visit Greece and find their own Kostas. That same demographic decided that sharing anything and everything was the only way to truly show your dedication to friendship. Lice reports skyrocketed as brushes, bows, and berets made the rounds. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

It was the time of Blake Lively. And apparently I had found my doppelgänger.

Wow, even she's really excited about that.


I mean, I guess we have the same color of hair. I don't really know. But after being told that I look like her for probably the 93rd time today, I started reevaluating my appearance by reviewing old photos of myself. Because who doesn't love a good self-stalk-shesh? hashtag. abbreviations are still in.

The result of my stalk was that yes, I do often resemble figures other than myself. Are they as glamorous as the wife of Ryan Reynolds? You be the judge. Because you better believe this is about to become a list of people and things I have resembled in my lifetime.



1. When my family took a summer hiking vacation to Glacier National Park and my dad told me to go pose on a rock, I ended up looking like this flamingo about to take flight.

2. After two days of living with new girls in a new apartment my sophomore year of college, I found some gloves and a hat in the front closet. Naturally I adorned the apparel and paraded around, ultimately scaring my new roommates, who probably thought they had just moved in with The Cookie Monster.

3. Put me anywhere, anytime, and I will find a way to sleep. A bench on campus? Easy. The floor of the Kiev International Airport? More difficult. But I found a way, like unto the Pokemon Snorlax.

4. I saw a ladder. I thought I would be the epitome of grace upon climbing it. Instead, I ended up looking like the man from "Singing in the Rain." Minus the rain, plus a harness.

5. Walking down the street in Burgas, Bulgaria. A camera was pulled and I was directed to pose. In my mind I was "vogue." In reality I was "Gumby."

i mean, how does the human anatomy even allow me to do that?

6. I was in St. George and it was windy. So naturally I become the women from "The Prince of Egypt." 

that's some niiiiiiiiiice typography.

7. And lastly, Smee and me. Me and Smee. We are the same.

And there you have it. Whether you wanted it or not. Have a good weekend and go hiking.

peace and identity crises. 

that's the plural for crisis. i looked it up because i didn't know before just now. #eternalstudent

rrw