Hi Everyone!

I’m your professor and colleague, Caroline Chamberlin Hellman, and my preferred pronouns are she/her. Here is my official welcome and greeting! Please check it out.

I’d like to share a space–or a sliver of a space–that has been important to me these past months. This is the window adjacent to the chair where I write and work, and it is my window onto the world (Red Hook, Brooklyn). Gazing out, you see people’s homes on the block and the church steeple in the distance.

The first photograph is the sunrise on March 10, one day before the college closed, and shortly before the pandemic fully bombarded the city. It reminds me of the reach of the cosmos and the natural world– as well as the beauty of New York–before the onslaught of sirens and loss. The second photo is the window a year later. During this challenging time, I endeavored to add serenity, life, and peace to my space– paperwhite and amaryllis bulbs, a topiary from the grocery store. Each day I watched these fellows progress; their stalwart determination offers hope. I also like the idea that we’re all in this together; the apartments across the street hold folks who are probably looking for some hope, too, folks with their own valuable stories.