by Emily Neelon |
When Emily Fitzgerald was 11, her parents let her loose in a Barnes & Noble with the promise of any book she wanted. She chose the entire works of William Shakespeare.
“They were looking at me like, ‘Really, you really want the entire works of William Shakespeare?’” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald’s curious tastes have carried over into adulthood. With twin passions for food and travel, Fitzgerald considered going to culinary school before settling on University of Portland. She spent her sophomore year in Salzburg, Austria soaking up European culture.
Now 21, the Hillsboro, Ore., native is finishing up her English degree at UP, checking a lengthy senior thesis off her to-do list. Fitzgerald’s thesis culminated in a collection of five essays exploring debilitating mental health. These personal and external anecdotes consider experiences of anxiety and depression in a stigmatizing culture.
“In all honesty, I didn’t talk about it at all until the conversation started on campus,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s very isolating.”
For Fitzgerald, who first began experiencing anxiety and depression her freshman year of college, the increasing visibility of mental health issues on campus is hopeful.
Organized in 2015, UP’s chapter of Active Minds has created a place for individuals to share their stories and offer support to other students. Although Fitzgerald does not participate in Active Minds, the process of writing her thesis has given her a space to contribute to the broader conversation surrounding mental health.
“It’s kind of a public issue that I’ve taken and made something positive,” she says, “by telling my own story and connecting with other people with mental illness.”
From reading Shakespeare to writing her own stories, literature has given Fitzgerald a space to channel her curious spirit. Perhaps one day she will return the favor, another bookworm picking up her work off the shelf of their local bookstore.
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