This is my fourth post for this summer, where I will provide an update on the exciting things happening on my end here in Cambridge!

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel with some of the undergraduate summer interns here at Harvard to Yale for a conference. This conference, sponsored by the Leadership Alliance Mellon Initiative (LAMI), was a conference aimed at undergraduates in the humanities and social sciences to increase diversity in academia within these broad disciplines. I had the immense privilege of meeting incredible undergraduate students from across the nation and, in some cases, other parts of the world. Surprisingly, I found I wasn’t the only student interested in studying theology and divinity at the graduate level. A small contingent of students––three other students!––and I headed to check out the divinity school at Yale, which happened to be quite the walk away from where we were on campus. There was also great fear over it raining while we had set out, which kept us wondering if we could make it back (after not having brought any rain gear) without being rained on; we did, which we partly speculate was due to some earnest prayers said in the divinity chapel… 😉

 

 

Along with this incredible conference, I also have been hard at work scheduling and holding interviews with a number of military chaplains in the Unitarian Universalist tradition. It has been really impactful and humbling for me to speak with people who are some of the most selfless and caring out there. I have been met with immense support and kindness, with chaplains readily making themselves available to participate in my project. I am excited to finish up some of my final interviews next week (my final week at Harvard Divinity School for the summer!) and organize a set of qualitative data showing some common themes and threads across the interviews.

 

 

I am partly embarrassed to mention that, while I have been in the Boston area for about two months or so, I had only made it to Boston this last weekend, where I went with one of my friends who is starting her program at Harvard Divinity School this coming fall. Yes, it took me a long time to get out of the library and visit some of the incredible historic sites! It was really wonderful to get to go to Boston and do neat things, like walk the Freedom Trail or sit in a pew of the Old North Church, where you find yourself literally in the midst of history. It is an amazing feeling to be in an area where so much has happened in the fairly short history of the United States. It was really restorative for me to also bring my camera along and take some neat photos. I thoroughly enjoyed traveling across Boston, walking somewhere in the range of eleven miles in the process!

 

 

Right now, I am gearing up for my final week in Cambridge. I find myself growing sad to think about leaving because I have really grown to love living here. I do, however, miss aspects of California. I miss Californian Mexican food, weather ranges, and wilderness! I am eager to be back in the Monterey area to start my final year at CSUMB this fall. I have a long week ahead of me, with my final paper due this coming Tuesday in a semi-final draft format, a couple of my mentor’s projects for me also due Tuesday, Summer Seminary programming that I am assisting with this coming Friday, my flight back to California this coming Saturday, and my move back to CSUMB this Sunday (which also cues the commencement of RA training for the fall!). I know I will finish strongly and that I will get through all of this work. In the end, this has been a very transformational experience for me and has really shaped my own personal confidence in research and scholarship. I am sad to leave but, at the same time, so excited for things to come!

Stay tuned for my fifth and final post for this summer in the coming weeks. Take care and may you enjoy a wonderful weekend :).

I apologize in advance for the lateness of this post; I had intended to release it last Friday but had many other things to attend to. Nevertheless, here is an update on what’s been going on:

Almost two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to take a trip to Germany. This was an awesome trip, where I was able to visit Berlin and see sights around the area. It was impactful to see important landmarks, like the Brandenburg Gate and the Bundestag, as well as visit more harrowing sites, like the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. It was a nice break in my research and allowed me to think about other things and feel refreshed in getting a change of scenery.

These coming weeks, I’ve been conducting interviews with current and former Unitarian Universalist military chaplains to explore ways in which they have aided service members with their moral injuries and discuss typical ways in which chaplains do and should respond to instances of moral injury in the individuals they serve. It has been powerful and meaningful to hear from absolutely amazing people who are so selfless in their work to serve others. I have also been blessed with having so many chaplains respond enthusiastically to my call for interviews; I am excited this week to talk to more chaplains about their experiences.

Last week was also the week of July 4th. I understand that for some this date is not a date worthy of celebrating or commemorating, as it has certain harmful political, social, and cultural implications. Authentically speaking, I enjoyed witnessing the beautiful and colorful fireworks above Boston, as viewed from the fifteenth floor of William James Hall on Harvard’s campus. It was a stunning sight and lasted for about thirty minutes. The other Harvard research interns and I were pleased to see the event conclude around 11:00 PM, which we happily celebrated as an opportunity to get to bed shortly after to rest up for the days ahead; I guess we really aren’t much of a party crowd! All in all, I really enjoyed spending time with the other interns at Harvard over the summer.

This week, I am thrilled to travel with some of the undergraduate interns to the LAMI Social Sciences/Humanities Day at Yale University. This will be a neat opportunity to network with other researchers and visit Yale’s campus. Aside from that, business as usual :). Thank you for taking the time to read my post and stay tuned for further updates, should updates interest you! I wish you a bright week ahead.

It’s been two weeks since my last blog post and a lot of progress has been made in the way of my research and the research project of my mentor. In addition, I have had the opportunity to participate in some really neat events over these weeks.

On Sunday of last week, I had the fun of going on one of Boston’s world famous “Duck Tours” with some of the other research interns at Harvard. The vehicles we were on are called “duck boats” because of their history; these vehicles are replicas of the Word War II era DUKW boats, called “ducks” because of their ability to be both on land in the water. Needless to say, we got a really neat tour of Boston driving on the streets and diving straight into the Charles River! It was a really unique way to see a lot of the historic sites.

That same Sunday, I was lucky to also participate in an annual service in the Unitarian Universalist tradition called the Flower Communion. This service symbolizes the individuality each person brings to the community, shown in each person bringing a flower of their choosing and then leaving the service with a flower different from the one they brought. This ceremony is also to show how we take different ideas and pieces from the community with us as we worship together each week. To my luck, The First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist, was the first place this ceremony was celebrated amongst Unitarian congregations in the United States after it was brought from the Czechoslovakian Unitarian tradition that created this ceremony to give liberal religion a communal celebration (much like Communion/Eucharist is celebrated in many other Christian traditions) with some form of a sacred ceremony, yet still retaining our liberal identities and theologies. This was also the first Sunday service I participated in on the East Coast, so it was really wonderful to be welcomed so openly by other Unitarian Universalists in the Cambridge area (First Parish is also right across the street from Harvard Yard, so its proximity is really close to where I am staying).

With regards to research, this past week I have been able to use a digital microfilm reader to view and scan previous editions of The Christian Register, the old Unitarian monthly publication full of church news, prominent figures of the church, and points of discussion. I have been scanning these editions from 1936 to 1960, looking for figures my mentor has asked me to keep an eye out for, for his own research. I have also been scanning these publications for discussions of the military, chaplaincy, or any potential aspects of moral injury that might be discoverable (as this timespan also coincides with World War II). It has been a really neat experience, with my finishing scanning of the final microfilm reel today (phew, lots of scanning spanning decades this past week).

 

As I write this, I am also excited about an upcoming trip to Germany for a week with my mom. My flight to Germany leaves tomorrow evening and I am excited to have this opportunity to travel and see another part of the world. I will be sure to take pictures and post updates of any neat things I see during this trip. Until then, I wish you well. Thank you for reading this post and stay tuned for more updates to follow :).

It’s been about two weeks since I started my research at Harvard Divinity School for the summer. In that time, a lot has happened; some things quite interesting and other things quite eventful! Here’s a post to catch you up on what’s been happening.

Leaving at 5:30 AM on a Saturday from San Jose International Airport on a flight to Boston Logan Airport, I arrived in Boston around 8:00 PM local time. After several hours of flights, I was tired, but still very eager to get from the airport to a place with a nice warm bed. After a short car ride to Somerville (one of the neighboring communities surrounding the Cambridge area), I arrived around 9:00 PM on the front porch of an apartment building that was listed to be my interim stay for the week; the dormitories at Lesley University were not open until the following Sunday. A little confused, I knocked on the door and rang each of the three doorbells (each floor had its own bell to alert people living in the building to greet their guests at the main door of the entrance) hoping to reach someone in order to check into my room. After five minutes of no response, I got the sense that something was wrong.

After a few more minutes of waiting, a man appeared from inside the building carrying a couple of bags of garbage. Still worried and confused, I asked him if he knew anything about the housing listed online. Sadly, he didn’t know anything of the sort and was about as confused as I was. After examining the images of the listing (according to him, the bathroom and bedroom photos didn’t look anything like the rooms offered in the apartment) and the name of the person listing the option, we determined that the listing had been an unfortunate scam. Distressed, I frantically called numbers of people I knew to see what support I could gather.

During this time, the man’s girlfriend came down to check up on what was happening. Welcomingly, both of them explained that they were headed to a local Indian restaurant to pick up food for their visiting families. One of them had just graduated from a Masters program at Harvard and both sides of the family had flown in from England and Pakistan to celebrate the commencement. The couple invited me to leave my heavy luggage locked inside their apartment while I traveled with them to the local restaurant, minutes down the street. During this time, I left my luggage safely locked away and made some emergency phone calls to receive accommodations for the night.

After my securing a hotel room at the Harvard Faculty Club (this was the only option available, as all of the other hotels in the area were booked up for not only commencement weekend but Memorial Day weekend!) and their purchasing food from the local eatery, the couple and I walked back to the apartment. The two of them treated me with such kindness, inviting me to have dinner with their family; I was a total stranger, yet they wouldn’t take no for an answer and had me climb the floors to meet their relatives. They had also explained to me that this was the first night of Ramadan and that they were more than happy to share their meal with a stranger. Mothers on both sides of the family assured me that I reminded them of their son/daughter and said that I was now a member of their family. I was touched with so much grace in this time of panic. After a delicious meal and lots of laughter about the whole incident, I finally gathered my things, grabbed the mandatory dessert I just had to try for the road, and headed to the hotel’s location. It had been a long night, and I was glad to finally be in bed resting. The next day I was able to call for support from the online listing service and received a booking for an alternate listing that wasn’t a scam! Everything seemed to work out.

I am now writing this from the comfort of one of Lesley University’s dorm rooms. After two full weeks of research, I’ve been exposed to some really incredible things. At Andover-Harvard Theological Library, I am given the privilege of using the library’s historic archives and special collections to find primary source documents for my research. The current trajectory for this summer is to explore the concept of moral injury, as I previously compiled a literature review and conducted interviews with representatives of veterans organizations last summer, and how military chaplains, particularly Unitarian Universalists, work and historically have worked to address the moral injuries of those they serve. While in the archives, I am able to leaf through extensive files of chaplain letters and correspondences, as well as hold yellowing letters from the time of the US Civil War in my hands. It’s really both incredible and chilling.

While new to the Cambridge area, I have been able to walk around quite a bit and explore the surrounding areas. As a campus, Harvard is absolutely mesmerizing. There is so much history packed into a short area of campus. The surrounding area is also full of a lot of history; one can hardly walk down the sidewalk without coming upon an old tombstone or historic monument of some sort! Overall, everything has been really wonderful since arriving here in Cambridge. I am very excited for all that lies ahead.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some words that have spoken to me recently:

“The practice of prayer was not intended for the times when everything is going smoothly with us, though prayer is of inestimable value at all times. Prayer is really intended most of all, however, for just those times when we are surrounded by difficulties, when the problems and dangers of life are most threatening. When doubts and perplexities arise, then is exactly the time when prayer ought to be most easy and natural, for it is those times of distress that make most clear our need of divine help. Instead of ceasing to pray when we find difficulties in the way, we ought to seek the presence and guidance of God with all the more earnestness.”

—The Rev. Dr. Frederick May Eliot, 1918

I came across these words in a sermon I uncovered in the archives. Although I do not hold prayer in the same theological meaning as Eliot (he was a Unitarian minister with a different, yet still similar, theology to Unitarian Universalists today), this has served as a reminder to me that it’s okay to ask for help when things get rough. While amazing in almost every aspect, this trip so far away from CSUMB has been overwhelming too, with all of the research ahead of me and the intense internal pressure I place on myself to do this research to the absolute best of my ability. The unexpected dinner with the family upon my arrival taught me this simple truth: in being connected to aspects greater than myself in times of greatest difficulty, I can find a wider sense of community and peace.

I send this gentle reminder to all of my fellow researchers from UROC at CSUMB; remember that you are not alone and that even though we are far away, we remain a closely connected community. I wish you all well with this summer’s research and I look forward to hearing all about it the next time we reconnect.