I am currently in the process of writing an autoethnographic book. I describe it to people as a series of lessons I’ve learned through my life about our relationships with ourselves and with others, and applies to much of societies’ norms. Much of the book draws upon well-reasoned philosophical concepts, from a range of schools, to explain them in accessible ways. I have been working sporadically on this book for about two years, and intend to find a publisher who may be interested when I reach the desired word count post-editing. I would work on it until it feels finished, but it never will. I was inspired to write about my life experiences in combination with the philosophical concepts to really ground these theories in humanity. To tell a story. I initially intended to write an autobiography, but believed that what people would gather from the autobiography would be difficult to convey.
The overarching message of my book is the following:
We reduce concepts, ideas, phenomena, and people to oversimplified formats so we can understand them, but people cannot be fully understood. As much as it helps to view them by specific terms, these will never capture the human experience. People are very rarely ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people, but just people.
There are many chapters to this book and to explore this idea, but if you are interested in hearing more, please email me at: eleonore.stolz@gmail.com
I also write poetry to practice a different style to writing. I find the process helps to express emotions in more thorough ways as well, rather than express ideas. The following is the poem I wrotethat inspired me to write poetry:
To look into your eyes,
You see in mine the desire
I see in yours the lack thereof
To hold your hand,
As I squeeze tighter,
You say your hand is numb
To tell you I care,
Your words feel lighter
The weight of the meaning is slim to none
To tell myself I am ready to love,
You are not.
You are caught up in this world of meaningless crap,
Wrapped in the comfort of things,
I sing a song of joy, sang a melody like strings
Of a violin under the bow of a well-versed player
You were a player
But not of this.
Not this verse, not this song, not in this key
At least not for me.
After taking Visual Arts in the MYP (GCSE-equivalent), I was inspired. In my time off of university, I began studying and practicing art in different forms and developing my own style. I have a particular fascination with portraits, and abstracting them ever so slightly. This includes different forms of pointillism.
For most of my formative years (from the age of 5 until 18), I participated in ballet and contemporary dance classes and performances. From the lighthearted school on Long Island to the rigorous and disciplined school in France, I found a happy middle at the Theater Balletschule in Basel. I participated in performances both with them, and with the International School of Basel. Continuing onto pointe shoes, I accrued many foot injuries and chose to stop performing, but my admiration of the art has yet to cease. I even read Maurice Bejart’s ‘Lettres a un jeune danseur’ (letters to a young dancer), which inspired me to write my book as well.
I have a close friend who studied philosophy and introduced me to his world. This has changed me forever. By thinking about everything while including philosophical rationales, I have learnt much about life, both mine and the concept in general. For example, upon learning of Judith Butler’s heterosexual matrix, I discovered I was non-binary. This is what led to the structure of my book, as much of the content revolves around philosophical concepts but explained in simple terms, including how to use these concepts to improve the way we interact.
Activism is a key part of advancing towards a more egalitarian society. I am a believer that within activism, the emphasis should be placed on the voices of the members of marginalised groups. Therefore, as much as I participate and advocate for equal rights on all fronts (e.g. race, gender, socioeconomic background, etc.), I focus particularly on raising the voices of such communities. I also participate as a voice for the Queer and the Disabled communities. For the disabled communities, I focus on spreading awareness of accessibility needs and the concept of equity to reduce the barriers that are placed upon us. I also address stigma and harmful language, particularly when it comes to mental health and neurodiversity. As for LGBTQ+ rights, the trans movement is one of particularly interest. As well as this, I try to reinforce the importance of intersectionality in the queer community and speak about the queer experience being very different depending on overlapping minority groups.
I try to remain well read and informed about these issues in order to take the best approach and align my views with research that I have critically analysed.
Mathematics may seem out of place with this line of interests, but it is well-deserving of its place on this list. Maths is a subject I have particular interest in, with somewhat limited but very useful overlap with neuroscience. As a result, I tutor it and am auditing an undergraduate maths course to further my knowledge. Maths has been an area where I have excelled throughout my life. I have spent a few years away from it, but over this past year, have managed to recapture my appreciation for it. Overall, it is somewhat of a hobby of mine. I intend to use mathematics in my degree as well, as I think that formulae should be used to find the relationship between different factors in neuroscience to provide a deeper understanding beyond binary (significant vs. insignificant) reporting of results.