Carilyn Brandt’s “Inheritance”

October 23, 2024

Carilyn Brandt’s “Inheritance”

Monsanto

We
Mighty,
eternal
In the beginning
only loved the land, our mother
Sustained with her lifeblood. we,
The forgetters of gratitude
Changed the vital seed
we shaped it for a profit
and with it our soul was changed
We forgot our mother
we forgot our mother
and with it our soul was changed,
we shaped it for a profit
Changed the vital seed
The forgetters of gratitude,
Sustained with her lifeblood.
we only loved the land,
our mother
In the beginning.
eternal
mighty
We

– Carilyn Brandt, from her 2024 chapbook: “Inheritance”

Carilyn Brandt, an English major and Interdisciplinary Honors Husky, knows a good thing when she sees it. She immediately applied for the summer program “Biobehavioral Health Lopez Island: Reconnecting Food Roots, Community and Well Being” led by Kerry Reding from the UW’s School of Nursing in Honors announcements, where it was listed as a great opportunity for ad hoc Honors credits.

Advising staff often work with faculty to advertise a “non Honors” course as an ad hoc option for students. “We immediately knew this exciting course would be very appealing to our students as it matched up with so many Honors values and goals,” said Aley Mills Willis, Assistant Director of the UW Honors Program. “It offered a place-based, experiential and interdisciplinary study of food roots. It was a special opportunity for meaningful community collaboration and hands-on experience with harvesting one’s own food. The course focused on the themes of land, air, and sea, and brought students together with farmers, food producers, and fishermen to explore the interconnectedness of environmental health, community health and human health through the lens of food.” 

Professor Reding sought to involve students from a broad range of disciplines, so including space for ad hoc projects was a natural fit. Reding mentioned that Brandt was “highly engaged in the program overall,” and she’s pleased to see her student’s creative project finding a wider audience.

Learning can be beautiful

photo of Carilyn Brandt on Lopez Island

Brandt jumped at the special opportunity and proposed an ad hoc project combining two passions: a poetry collection centered around themes of land and culture. She explained: “As an English major at the UW, I am deeply interested in the connection between environmental studies and the written arts. I believe that art has great power to raise awareness about environmental issues and climate change, as well as to act as an emotional outlet for climate grief.”

Her finished chapbook, “Inheritance,” presents 12 poems of different styles and subjects, each evoking its own emotions, cognitions and imagery.

“I aim to write about the ways in which the environment and climate change impact me, personally, as well as the cultural and emotional wellbeing of so many communities. I hope to develop a greater appreciation for the importance, and necessity, of arts in the face of the climate crisis and to share that awareness with readers.” 

What will YOU do with ad hoc as an option?

Expand your opportunities to learn and grow by using non-Honors courses to satisfy some elective requirements. This curricular flexibility encourages students to seek out courses of personal interest or to apply ongoing coursework that fulfills other requirements toward their Honors core.