the social scientist

As a social science major in college, my research projects were structured as studies of societal phenomena. I would read books and articles and analyze lots of numbers with the ultimate goal of discovering why each particular phenomenon existed... or at least coming up with one possible reason that the event may have taken place under certain conditions and given all sorts of assumptions.

It was cool stuff. I particularly enjoyed researching the relationships between the U.S. and Latin American countries - disparities of wealth, legal and illegal trade, and the cultural factors (like a history of colonization) that kept the enduring power structures in place. Those were the things I was interested in at the time, having had the privilege of participating in a summer volunteer program in Costa Rica and a semester abroad in Mexico. I saw myself living a very different life in these new places, and I wanted to understand and expose the things I had seen.

I realized recently that I still do this, but I now call it something else. I now call it art. Observing the lives of others, analyzing my own life, and telling stories that I believe to be somewhat universal, with the hope that perhaps there will be one reader who'll see their own personal history a bit more clearly - this is the goal I have for my "art".

The artists I most appreciate are those who have captured a very universal feeling in a way that helps me understand myself, and embrace my humanity. Here's a great quote that I have been mulling over in my head since I read it on a poster in Batesville, Arkansas about a month ago:

"I write because I believe poetry has the power to change our emotional lives."
- Andrea Hollander Budy