Opinion

Solo-Pilgrimage in Norway: Bee Stings, Solitude, and Connection

Emma Lopez

Jul 244 min read

Solo-Pilgrimage in Norway: Bee Stings, Solitude, and Connection

My hand swells up to twice its size, oozing clear liquid, and i've never felt better. About four days prior, I was traversing the notable...

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Emma Lopez

Jun 145 min read

Kauai, Hawaii: Can a Place Change Us?

Kauai, the oldest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, is known as the “Garden Isle.” Its lush tropical rainforests and mystical mountains...

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Emma Lopez

Jun 25 min read

A Slow Life

I returned from Hawaii a couple months ago and sat down to write about it. I didn't get very far, and left the words to marinate in an...

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Colorful World of Vibrant and Dull Extremes: Finding Balance

Emma Lopez

Jan 284 min read

Colorful World of Vibrant and Dull Extremes: Finding Balance

When I arrived in Wyoming, I fancied vibrant yellows and then deep rusty oranges - the colors of aspen leaves in the fall. For the first...

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To Dwell or Not to Dwell: How Do We Deal with the Emotions of Nostalgia?

Emma Lopez

Jan 24 min read

To Dwell or Not to Dwell: How Do We Deal with the Emotions of Nostalgia?

Nostalgia creeps in like the cold of winter. Slow at first, then one day the icy wall shows up with full force, impossible to ignore....

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How to Become Confident: Through Experience

Emma Lopez

Nov 10, 20224 min read

How to Become Confident: Through Experience

Many people want confidence. Many people wonder why they don’t have it. There are things that I am very confident in, such as leading...

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Get Uncomfortable: How to Get Into Your Growth Zone and Out of Fear

Emma Lopez

Oct 24, 20224 min read

Get Uncomfortable: How to Get Into Your Growth Zone and Out of Fear

There are a lot of things that are scary about life. Everyone has their own personal anxieties, and oftentimes avoidance is how many...

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Can Our Younger Selves Predict Who We Will Become?

Emma Lopez

Aug 20, 20224 min read

Can Our Younger Selves Predict Who We Will Become?

In college one of my friend groups used to play board games nearly every night we got together. Not chess, or monopoly, but more abstract...

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Catering for the Rich & Glamorous: An Eye Opening Night

Emma Lopez

Jul 27, 20227 min read

Catering for the Rich & Glamorous: An Eye Opening Night

"Do you have clothes?" Jennifer, the woman who just hired me asks. I am momentarily confused. Jennifer has on a sleek sleeveless white...

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Emma Lopez

May 14, 20225 min read

Kids and Screens: A Reason to Scream

I am walking through the forest with some 6th graders when one exclaims, Wait, these spruce don't look anything like the ones on...

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Be a Man: How Gender Norms Shape Today's Kids

Emma Lopez

May 9, 20224 min read

Be a Man: How Gender Norms Shape Today's Kids

I walk back from an evening program with a school group, and four kids are crying. That's how I know it's been a good night. I take them...

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Living and Teaching in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Emma Lopez

Mar 12, 20224 min read

Living and Teaching in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

A red shape flashes in the corner of my vision. I turn away from my students, and see a red fox lightly pitter pattering across fresh...

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The Nuances of Cultural Appropriation in Spirituality: Expanding Compassion

Emma Lopez

Feb 1, 20229 min read

The Nuances of Cultural Appropriation in Spirituality: Expanding Compassion

Recently, I started reading a book about spirituality called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I first discovered this book when I saw a...

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New England Suburbia vs. Western Small Town

Emma Lopez

Dec 30, 20216 min read

New England Suburbia vs. Western Small Town

On the drive back from the airport in Boston I stare out the window at all the trees zipping by out the window. On long car rides I used...

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The Materialistic World of the Outdoor Industry

Emma Lopez

Nov 30, 20216 min read

The Materialistic World of the Outdoor Industry

Gear. Gear. Gear! You have it, or you don't. The word itself is so subjective - It can be valued at $5 or $5,000, depending on where you...

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A Park Ranger's Experience Visiting Yellowstone National Park in the Summer

Emma Lopez

Jun 3, 20216 min read

A Park Ranger's Experience Visiting Yellowstone National Park in the Summer

There is a Mott's fruit snack wrapper floating sadly in a bubbling thermal pool. I find myself staring at it longer than the geyser...

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The Fate of Relationships for Young Vagabonds

Emma Lopez

Feb 26, 20214 min read

The Fate of Relationships for Young Vagabonds

As a young adult, I am on the move quite a bit. Everywhere my feet land, I am unsure if I will make this plot of earth my home, or if I...

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Emma Lopez

Feb 4, 20214 min read

I Love Aging

I love aging. I don't know if I will still be feeling that way when I hit 40, but right now I am in love with it. I love the way my body...

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Emma Lopez

Jan 20, 202111 min read

Why I am Vegan (essay)

It is easy to live your life following societal norms, but harder to entertain the idea that perhaps our entire ideology is skewed. I can...

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