a meditation on dna suspended in ethanol
Dear Taspers,
I am about to lie down in bed and close my eyes on the final day of one chapter of my life: I have completed high school. Today was a strange mixture of things. We seniors did not know what to do with ourselves. How would we spend our final lunch? Our last day in Calculus? Our last 45 minutes? Most people simply wandered the halls and talked. In Biology, we isolated DNA from cheek cells and put it inside necklaces. It was strange to watch the feathery white trail of DNA float up from the cell-lysing solution into the ethanol. I knew that that clump of white was, in some peculiar sense, me.
For the past two months, my two best friends and I have been preparing a three man performance of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)". Tonight, we played to a crowd of nearly three hundred for what would be our final theater performance of high school. The experience was profoundly beautiful. The crowd was made up mostly of our family and friends and other people who cared deeply. With every laugh and clap, we felt their absolute and unwavering support. A small group had given so much to this play. Even after, I still feel the impression of their given pieces. When we left stage for the final time, our doublets and tights drenched with the sweat of a job passionately done, my friends and I faced each other and sighed. I know what true love is.
In the final hour of the day, the school tv station aired a special show dedicated to the class of 2005. In it was a montage of "Remember When?" clips in which I was shown reading the school announcements as a sophomore, a sophomore 6 inches shorter and 40 pounds heavier. Some people asked if it was me in there. Others told me that they had forgotten how I was before. As my biology teacher so philosophically stated, "things change."
As I drove home from the play, I got to thinking about my high school years and how I would assess them in years to come. My acending cloud of DNA came to mind.
Perhaps I am not completely defined yet. But I am still able to look back at where I was and what I have become and be tickled to watch my individuality rise out of the ether. I am becoming and have become, as I'm sure all of you are as well. May you all ascend as far as the sky will let you until you exist, defined and shining peacefully against the varied landscapes of your lives.
Much love as always. You are the shine of my eyes.
que se sigan subiendo,
josh
I am about to lie down in bed and close my eyes on the final day of one chapter of my life: I have completed high school. Today was a strange mixture of things. We seniors did not know what to do with ourselves. How would we spend our final lunch? Our last day in Calculus? Our last 45 minutes? Most people simply wandered the halls and talked. In Biology, we isolated DNA from cheek cells and put it inside necklaces. It was strange to watch the feathery white trail of DNA float up from the cell-lysing solution into the ethanol. I knew that that clump of white was, in some peculiar sense, me.
For the past two months, my two best friends and I have been preparing a three man performance of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)". Tonight, we played to a crowd of nearly three hundred for what would be our final theater performance of high school. The experience was profoundly beautiful. The crowd was made up mostly of our family and friends and other people who cared deeply. With every laugh and clap, we felt their absolute and unwavering support. A small group had given so much to this play. Even after, I still feel the impression of their given pieces. When we left stage for the final time, our doublets and tights drenched with the sweat of a job passionately done, my friends and I faced each other and sighed. I know what true love is.
In the final hour of the day, the school tv station aired a special show dedicated to the class of 2005. In it was a montage of "Remember When?" clips in which I was shown reading the school announcements as a sophomore, a sophomore 6 inches shorter and 40 pounds heavier. Some people asked if it was me in there. Others told me that they had forgotten how I was before. As my biology teacher so philosophically stated, "things change."
As I drove home from the play, I got to thinking about my high school years and how I would assess them in years to come. My acending cloud of DNA came to mind.
Perhaps I am not completely defined yet. But I am still able to look back at where I was and what I have become and be tickled to watch my individuality rise out of the ether. I am becoming and have become, as I'm sure all of you are as well. May you all ascend as far as the sky will let you until you exist, defined and shining peacefully against the varied landscapes of your lives.
Much love as always. You are the shine of my eyes.
que se sigan subiendo,
josh
posted by Josh at 12:15 AM
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