Being a freshman, moving from my relatively quaint hometown in South Carolina to the big, bad city of Washington, D.C., I was obviously anxious about finding exactly where my niche in college would be. I feel like this is a common fear of most college freshman...who am I going to be, what am I going to do, will I make friends? I definitely had all of these questions and more, but slowly and surely people tend to find their way. Back in Charleston, land of the churches, capital of the Bible belt, I always felt I had a unique upbringing being Jewish with parents from the Tri-State area. Being Jewish in this predominantly Christian community gave me a really unique opportunity to become pretty in touch and involved with Judaism and what it means to me. “Pretty in-touch” might be a bit of an understatement considering my senior superlative, senior prediction, and general aesthetic always *screamed* Jewish. So, coming to college I knew I would need to find where my Jewish involvement will lie, but little did I know how important it would be.
Last Wednesday, GW had Israel Fest, an extremely Jewish event sponsored by all of the Jewish orgs on campus. I wasn’t involved in any of the planning and wasn’t even supposed to be volunteering but when I walked into Kogan on Wednesday I clearly got swept up in the Israel fest vibe. I was swirling hummus like they do in Jerusalem, dancing from one table to the next, taking pictures of people with the camel, and encouraging all of the strangers around me to enjoy the culture of a really cool place. I was obviously enjoying the moment and friends of mine and people I kind-of knew would shout my name and wave as they walked through the festival, tell me everything looked awesome or just dance with me for the moment our paths intersected. I kept laughing and waving and dancing back and loved every second of it but was also confused why people were giving me so much energy. Finally, I figured it out. I bumped into a really good friend and she said, “Pose for me! I have to capture a pic of Lexi in her element.” I kind of laughed for a second, obviously posed for the pic, and then asked her something or other about what she meant. Apparently no one knew (besides my Jewish homies) exactly how I acted when I was fully immersed in something I love.
I still am chuckling that “Jewish Stuff” is my element, but honestly, I don't think anyone is surprised. It just took that moment of realizing my joy, energy and ridiculousness was turned up in the moment of Israel Fest, revealing my “true colors.” I don’t know… I'm not trying to make a philosophical statement of any sort or anything, I just think it's interesting how something you love so much and do so often can be a side of you that your closest friends have never seen. I guess what I'm trying to say is "share your passions!"
It's dumb that we live in a society that is based on “niche markets,” even in the sense of social settings. So from now on, I’m going to bring something to every day that gives me the comfort and excitement to always be in “my element.” No, I’m not going to suddenly become extremely religious and preach that everyone should be like me (if this is you, you do you, mad respect) but I definitely want to find ways for people to share what I love, because I really do think everyone is the best self when they are acting on their passions. Mine is Judaism, but maybe you love to run, singing in the shower is your jam, you’re secretly obsessed with Dragon Ball Z or you spend your free time watching those cooking videos on Facebook. Whatever it is, your friends should know the you that you know when you do these things, and that's how I think more joy can happen.
