The document is a photo essay by Lily Simon reflecting on the past 8 months of changes in her living situation and growth. She has experienced challenges but also learned about herself. The photos showcase small moments of peace and beauty that make life worthwhile, such as spending time with her mother, landscapes she lived in, friends, traveling by train, her dorm room, and scenes from Chicago. Through it all, she has learned to appreciate little moments of beauty and knows she will continue experiencing exciting changes and learning from new experiences in the coming year.

1. Photo Essay
Lily Simon
WRD 103

2. Introduction
The past 8 months have been a time of growth
for me. I have experienced many changes in
my living situation throughout this time and
been challenged in unusual ways. I have
learned a lot about myself and gained
invaluable perspective on the world. I’ve
definitely gained the most knowledge from all
the periods of struggle that I’ve gone through.
However, these photos showcase small
moments of peace in between all of the
organized chaos that’s apart of daily life. I think
that these tidbits of serenity, where you pause
to recognize beauty in unusual places, are
what makes life worth living.

3. My mother,
thinking about
the future on
one of the few
summer days I
got to spend
with her.

4. The sun wanes
on over a
landscape of
drab commerce
in Northern
Wisconsin. The
place in which I
spent the
summer of
2017.

5. The frizzy hair of
my friends
frames a blanket
of clouds pulling
across the sky in
rural Wisconsin.

6. My view through
the window of a
train car as I
travel from one
place I call home
to another- the
northwest
suburbs to the
heart of Chicago.

7. Soft light pours
in through my
dorm room
window
beckoning me
towards the day
ahead.

8. I peer over the railing of a bridge on Michigan
avenue- across the shattered surface of the
Chicago River enveloped by velvet night.

9. A half-moon
hangs over
Jackson
Boulevard, as I
make my way to
class.

10. The bathroom
of a venue has
it’s own guest
book- its
aesthetic is
somehow gross
and
magnetizing all
at once.

11. Conclusion
Each of the photos in this essay
remind me of everything I’ve seen and
done this year. So much has changed
for me. Yet, I’ve truly learned to stop
and appreciate the little moments of
beauty in my life, because that’s what
makes all the hard work and
difficulties worth it for me. I know
that these past few months were just
the beginning. I have so many more
exciting changes in store and I can’t
wait to learn from the new
experiences that will come with them.
I wont be in America for the majority
of the coming year. Because of this,
I’m glad that I got to appreciate the
beauty of the places that I’ve lived in
my whole life in a new way
throughout the duration of these past
months.
Lily Simon