I think living on campus changes the types of choices that we make, especially during Covid because there aren’t that many opportunities to interact with a wider range of people. For example, I don’t go grocery shopping or pick out exactly what I eat each day. Nor do I drive a car and stop to fill it up at gas stations. However I think that limited choices due to living on a college campus in combination with the further restrictions because of Covid make it much easier to understand the concept of interdependence in my daily life. Since I live in a dorm, our housekeeper helps us keep our shared bathroom and common areas clean. Since I’m on a meal plan at the college, I rely on the dining hall team to create menus, order and recieve food, and cook for me. Because of the partnership between the dining hall and the farm, students need to work at the farm to produce some of the food that they eat. I also work together with other students in my classes to complete projects and review essays. I rely on them just as much as they rely on me and we all need to do our part to help the others succeed.
All of the examples I just listed are from within the Dickinson community, but of course the college relies on outside resources too. I can’t help but see myself and everything around me as a product of interdependence. Like we discussed in the workshop, people often talk about themselves as if they are independent. In reality, it is systems set up by our interdependence that allow individuals the freedom to make individualistic choices.
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