One journal captures many hearts

By: Alejandra Rosas

“I’m not comfortable with myself. I secretly don’t like what I’ve become. I feel like I don’t have anyone to talk to. I feel like I can’t trust people anymore because I’ve been betrayed so many times.”

This dejected passage was written anonymously, in what students around campus are calling “the wandering journals.”

Grace “Jojo” Tabayoyong (’13), is the founder of the “the wandering journals.” She got the idea from the 1000 Journals Project that was started in 2000. The project was an experiment of 1000 journals, originated in San Francisco and was followed throughout their travels around the world about people’s experiences and heartaches—creating a link among people of various cultures and ethnicities.

Being neglected by family members, betrayed by friends and the feeling of being “unseen, unheard, misinterpreted and discredited” ignited this idea in Jojo. As an individual of society, she does not just want to remember herself as someone who never took action in helping someone out. It does not matter “how simple or how grand of a deal” the change is as long as she knows she has been able to affect someone’s life in a positive way.

The journals are passed on from one student to another, for free expression of their innermost thoughts and feelings. Its popularity stems from its anonymity—freeing students from judgment and repression. Each year brings a new journal; two are completed so far, and one remains “wandering.”

The journal entries come in various forms of poems, letters, and drawings. All aspects, from one corner to the next, hold strong opinions and perspectives that are meant to be read by others involved with the journal.

Each corner of the 9.75″ x 7.5″ composition journals are filled with students’ hate, despair, joy, and even tear stains. Surprisingly, expressing these emotions onto paper was not as difficult, considering over 60 students felt the need to add an entry into these journals.

All who take part in this journal are allowed to view what others have written or drawn. Although it is possible to keep an entry anonymous, its purpose is for students to get to know each other liberally, without the feeling of being judged.

I was given the chance to take a look at the past two journals and read certain entries, which caused chills to run down my spine, proving to my own self that these stories are real and undoubtedly powerful. Some stories made me cry while others made me laugh. Overall, I felt the bond that holds all of these people together.

Written in a black Sharpie, I found the words, “Wow, what a way to express myself!” on the cover of one journal along with “a never ending stream of hope” on the front of another.

According to Evin Shordon (’12), the journals are “anything you want it to be,” and it’s the one thing that is “always available” for students to feel comfortable with expressing themselves and “streaming” out their train of thought.

Shordon, who has personally written in the “wandering journals,” views them as “a scrapbook of a bunch of different individuals.” She has taken advantage of these journals knowing that she can rely on them for expressing herself to the fullest on its pages without being afraid of other’s opinions.

Shordon claims that it is a sense of relief for her and for others to be able to feel comfortable with themselves and their hopes, their dreams, and their hardships.

“It is a blank canvas in which I can paint a clear picture of my thoughts upon,” she said.

Those who desire to be part of the journal have the freedom to approach Jojo and ask to write in one of the journals. One of these “wandering journals” is available to the many willing hearts across this campus—sans fear and sans judgment.