Natalie Vermeulen
Student Writer
Name: Lydia Wittman
Year: Sophomore
Major: English with a writing concentration
Lydia Wittman is an impressive writer, a poetic thinker, and a fan of conversation, Percy Jackson, and random facts of knowledge.
Do you have a favorite quote or one you think fits with your life?
Oh, it varies greatly. Depends on the day you ask me. Today, the first thing I think of is one I have on my wall. It says, “feed the good wolf.” It’s from a story that my mom told me about. It’s an old Native American story, where there was this idea that everyone has two wolves inside of them and one is the bad wolf and one is the good wolf. It’s like a fight of good and evil inside the person, and the question was, which wolf is going to win? The man telling the story said, “whichever wolf you feed.” So that’s my favorite quote that I have on my wall, “feed the good wolf.”
How have you fed your good wolf recently?
I think for me, it’s a lot of thinking about things that bring me joy instead of letting myself be super stressed about everything because the things that bring me joy are still there even when I’m super stressed. So, a lot of times its people. I’ve discovered that even though I’m a very quiet kind of person, talking to people and building friendships with people feeds the good wolf.
What importance do you find in stories?
I tend to think stories are just kind of the fabric of the world we live in, to be perfectly honest. Everything is a story. Like when I’m talking with people, they have a story. Or history is a story. Or chemistry or science builds into the story of our world. I tend to think that understanding things is all about understanding the stories.
Do you have a favorite thing you’ve ever written?
I think some of the letters I’ve written to people have been my favorite things that I write. Those are fun because, especially if you know the person really well, they already know I’m a kook trying to come up with the prettiest way to say stuff. Like, what’s the prettiest metaphor for how I can tell them, “I miss you.” So some of those are probably my favorite.
What are some occasions you like to write letters for?
I like surprising people with them. I like to do it if there isn’t an occasion.
What’s one random fact of knowledge you’ve started a conversation with?
Did you know that when ghosts say “boo,” that’s literally the Latin verb for “I am frightening!”?