A postcard with handwritten blue and gray text, whimsical doodles, and Studio Ghibli branding. It features campus poetry, sketches of a caterpillar, cloud, heart, Totoro, and a note: “Treasure it or pass it on!.
A postcard with handwritten blue and gray text, whimsical doodles, and Studio Ghibli branding. It features campus poetry, sketches of a caterpillar, cloud, heart, Totoro, and a note: "Treasure it or pass it on!.
One UW student’s journey towards self-improvement has meant connecting with the university community through unexpected ways.
The graduate student, who asked to remain anonymous, has struggled with social anxiety and stuttering. As a means of working on these challenges, developed a community initiative he decided to title The shy caterpillar says hi! The initiative combines poetry and art onto postcards. and he has been sharing his creative postcards with different offices and departments on-campus.
Asked why he chose poetry as a means of expression, he shared that he has always enjoyed poetry, particularly erasure poems, as he “love[s] to cross out negative emotions [in a poem] and put something positive over top of it.”
Many of the poems he has developed thus far have nature and mental health themed. He decided on integrating nature themes given how outdoor activities, such as hiking, have always been soothing for him and he believes that culturally, we associate nature and forests as places of peace.
Perhaps one of the most uplifting aspects of this student’s community initiative has been the genuine outpouring of care and connection he has felt while reaching out to different offices and departments of our UW community. The student expressed, “The one thing I didn’t realize is how supportive so many people at the university are. The amount of support, the amount of nice messages, the amount of encouragement was surprising to me.”
Thus far, he has reached out to and visited many offices on-campus to share the initiative, such as the Office of Research, the Career Centre, the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office, the Centre for Career Development, Counselling Services, and the Writing Centre, to name a few. Both the Office of Research and the Career Centre have taken the postcards and made displays in their offices for students and visitors to view. Moving forward and as his confidence builds, he hopes to share his work with student clubs and expand his reach.
He also posts a postcard on the r/uwaterloo Reddit page nearly once a week, as another means of sharing his poetry with the student community.
Asked what advice he would give to any student also looking to step outside of their comfort zone, he offered, “You have to find something that you’re interested in apart from school. I feel like you need one nook or cranny of happiness.” He expressed how his own transition to university in first year proved challenging, though he grew more comfortable through the exciting experiences (such as a leadership course and India trip) he participated in during his studies.
Moving forward, he hopes to see the initiative he started continue to grow and perhaps see students exchange postcards they’ve collected as a means of building community.
