MENTORSHIP RECIPIENT

Mentorship Recipient: "Conversations at the End of the World"

Mentor Commentary:
​Matt Weinkam

On the Revision Process for "Conversations at the End of the World"

by ​​Jena Vallina

I had written “Conversations at the End of the World” while considering the catastrophic outcomes of the climate change crisis, which despite the overabundance of scientific evidence to the contrary still felt relatively detached from my sheltered life as a college student. In writing my essay, I hoped to explore how change occurred on all levels: environmental, sociocultural, and personal. In particular, I was thinking about our refusal to make the “necessary changes” referenced by the legal concept of mutatis mutandis when considering our own behavior, even though everybody will eventually pay the price of our malfeasance in the future.
 
Writing as I am now amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been made all the more aware of how the collective refusal to change our behavior during a time of crisis can have grave consequences. In editing “Conversations,” I wanted to fine-tune my thesis and make it more specific while keeping in mind these recent revelations. The original draft was initially quite cynical regarding humans and their capacity to change for the better; this was in part a response to what I considered to be a mass pandemic (if I am still allowed to use that word metaphorically) of apathy, which has undoubtedly been strengthened by the last presidential election but has been growing within our nation for a long time. It was also a response to my own inaction facing these major crises, which at the time I thought was a “natural” side effect of adulthood. It is perhaps uncomfortably understandable to consider growing older as a “kind of cutting-down,” with the circle of things we care about in the world tightening over time to just ourselves and maybe our closest kin. However, I now realize how dangerous it is to consider something natural that does not have to be. Accepting the worst possible outcome as inevitable is akin to guaranteeing that very outcome, which is why we must resist this pressure to give into nihilism.
 
While revising, I had certain fears that my message might come across as nihilist, and indeed it came from a time when my personal ideology was far from optimistic about humankind and our future. At the same time, I wanted to be realistic to the all-too-imminent consequences of our present inaction. I am not sure if I accomplished that altogether, but I do hope I was able to convey that even though the world will inevitably outlast us all, it doesn’t have to be a battle. Our insolence will always condemn us to the losing side—but a different way is possible, and in my opinion, abundantly visible when we witness how so many communities have come together right now to combat this other universal crisis. Even though the infighting and the ignorance still persist, and indeed may never go away, I am ultimately hopeful that we will recognize the urgent need for collective action and start making the necessary changes to our individual lifestyles whether it involves the pandemic or climate change.
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​Jena Vallina

Jena Vallina is a writer and student at the University of Michigan, where she has been the recipient of four Hopwood Awards. In her writing, she seeks to expose the most uncomfortable, vulnerable parts of ourselves. Among other things, she is inspired by the confessional writing of Sylvia Plath, the films of Agnès Varda, the music of Fiona Apple, and her dog Dahlia whose ability to love everything in spite of everything is the biggest inspiration of all. "Conversations at the End of the World" is her first publication. ​​