Abstract
I transplanted to Burlington, Vermont. from California in 2010. As one of three Asian Paci c Islander (API) students in my graduate program, I battled continuous homesickness, self-doubt, and emotional and physical pain, while also ndingas well as immense growth as a lifelong student. The impacts of racism, racial battle fatigue, and ste- reotype threat during my time in New England eventually accumulated to posttraumatic stress disorder. As a student affairs administrator, I had navigated supporting and challenging students, but failed to engage in methods of radical-self care and put into practice the advice I have often given to students: “Take time for yourself. How can you support others if you aren’t doing that for yourself?”
Through years of therapy, developing boundaries, reconciling the harm of violence, and radical self-care through visual arts, I have learned to embrace health and wellness in higher education. “a single crane” represents the ways I have navigated power, privilege, and oppression in higher education, as well as the womxn of color resistance in colonial spaces. In the spirit of Anzaldua’s (1981) “Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to 3rd World Women Writers,” this piece demands for the decolonization of educational spaces and redenition of legitimate knowledge in colonial institutions (Anzaldua, 1981).
Recommended Citation
Lou, H. C. (2016). a single crane. The Vermont Connection, 37(1). https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/tvc/vol37/iss1/11