01 ː Pilot

Sunday, June 20, 2021

Introductions

Hello, reader! However you stumbled upon this blog, I’m glad you’re here. My name is Joel Broberg (IPA: [d͡ʒoᶷɫ ˈbɹobə˞g]). I grew up in the Black Hills—the sacred land of the Oceti Sakowin—of South Dakota. I am currently a junior honors student at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul, an evangelical Christian liberal arts school in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. I'm studying Bible, linguistics, and a handful of languages: English, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, and music.

Inception of “In Retɻoflect”

This fall semester of 2021 I will be living abroad in San José, Costa Rica, studying Spanish grammar, Spanish literature, and Latin American cultures. A friend of mine in the Spanish program at UNW recently asked to be on my mailing list for my Costa Rica newsletter; after assuring her that she’d be on my list, I went back to my dorm and figured that I should probably think about starting a newsletter!

As I ruminated on the details of my new periodical, I thought that the benefits of such a newsletter (namely, communicating back home and keeping myself accountable for reflecting on my learning, reading, and discoveries) would not only be advantageous for my upcoming aventura, but also for my journey as a student in general. I’m baffled to think that I have as much of my undergraduate career ahead of me as behind me. So, this project has become at once a line of communication to my family, friends, and affiliates and a personal exercise in extended reflection beyond my short-term journal entries.

At “In Retɻoflect,” I plan on writing about the unfolding details in my undergrad ventures, yes, but primarily expounding upon the ideas and themes that manifest themselves along the way—whether intriguing, provocative, difficult, humorous, or encouraging. Some topics that you should expect to find? Well, language, for one. But beyond linguistics and language learning, my spheres of interest include theology, music (specifically bassoonery!), Indigenous cultures, biblical sexuality, and interdisciplinarity, among others.

With the aforementioned motives as my guide, I’m looking forward to how this project may unfold. Thanks for accompanying me, and I’ll do my best to keep things spicy and engaging.

Features from the fortnight

Along with the latest and greatest about schooling, I’ll be highlighting different media I’ve found particularly important or engrossing. Here are my picks from the last two weeksː

Book: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (Dee Brown)

Podcast: Life on Side B (Josh Proctor)

Album: Sentimental Creatures (Jess Ray)

Be well,

jcb