My Complete Unedited Journal from Highlands, North Carolina, 2009: The Place That Transformed Me

By: Maggie Hess

Narrated by: Val Franco

In 2009 I lived in Highlands, North Carolina, before I became resolute to graduate or ever even started at Berea College. My internship with three other women, under the stewardship of a Unitarian nonprofit retreat center, was a time of questioning and growing more than any other time of my life. It also encouraged a raw, unique style of writing, influenced by the old-growth dwarf oak forest surrounding us and a certain Meditation Rock where we loved to sit and overlook the rolling mountain.

In this period of my life, I was moved from not being sure what I would do with my life, from the vulnerability of a college dropout or someone who withdrew many time for mental health reasons, to someone learning about my own self-empowerment, sexuality, and womanhood. My peers, the three other interns, were formative in my growth and development, taught me in ways that bent my mind, and became friends I wanted to keep forever. Maybe some day we'll have that reunion we always imagined we might have.

This writing is the journal of a struggling 26-year-old exploring deep thoughts in a wild ecosystem.

©2022 Maggie Hess (P)2022 Maggie Hess