Dear Red Lions,
The “breaking” news this past week has been hard. Part of my job as your Head of College is to listen. I hear so many of you saying that you feel broken, or like our world is broken beyond repair.
So I want simply to say this: If you feel that way, I see you. AND (not “but”): In TD, even when the world seems to be breaking all around us, we can pursue wholeness, together. In TD, we can feel devastated AND we can choose to embrace the rebellious, muscular spirit that humans have always chosen when seeking change: hope.
Our Spring 2025 Chubb Fellow, Krista Tippett (be sure to register for her visit on Feb. 12) wrote this in her On Being newsletter this week: “The news that is ‘breaking’ is never seeing things whole.”
Here’s the thing about stories: they’re partial. They’re perspectival. They’re inflected, inevitably, by where we stand when tell them, and by where we stand when we hear them. The “breaking news” story is never the full story. Usually, there’s something we’re missing, something that requires curiosity to uncover, something that can give us hope if we take the time to ask … and to listen - to each other and to ourselves.
The stories we tell have the power to shape our lives, at Yale and beyond. Choose your stories wisely, Red Lions.
And know that I always want to hear your stories - of brokenness, of hope, of both. Reach out to me any time at timothydwight.hoc@gmail.com.
Àshe!
Head Dinkler
P.S. Don’t forget to check out TD’s News and Announcements page, the TD calendar, and TD’s Instagram account for upcoming events here and around campus!
