Meditation of the Week: Erin Chen
By EVAN CHEN, EMI SOUTHGATE, and SERENA YUE
On Wednesday, Feb. 5, senior Erin Chen shared a beautiful story reflecting the difficulties of family and the connections we hold with those we love at her meditation. A Bancroft Hall proctor, captain of the girls’ squash team, and a friendly face often seen on the Exeter paths, Chen is known and respected by many. Standing before the audience at Phillips Church, she described her mother, who in her words, is a complicated woman who helped craft Chen and her six siblings into the people they are today.
Chen, when reflecting on her meditation journey, described it as “fulfilling. I felt like I was flourishing as some Greek philosophers might say. That I’d read it over so many times before, talked about it to so many people, and I was just very ready to give it.” The work done to produce such a moving piece for Chen was “very long and hard.
I spent a lot of hours revising it. Originally getting the material down was super easy for me. I had been thinking about it for a long time throughout my life.”
She added, “I wanted to write about [my family] and to give them credit for where I am in my life; and as I said in my meditation, my life always seems to come back to my mom, so I’ve known forever that my meditation would be about my mom. I actually realized during the writing process that I talked about her less than I thought I would, it ended up being more of a figurative imagination of my exploration through the world and trying to dissect what it means to live.”
The reception to her words was very positive, and hearing this contemplation on such a complex family dynamic had an impact that echoed throughout those who were in attendance.
Prep Maddie Barrett, a resident of Bancroft Hall, enjoyed Chen’s meditation. “It was so amazing to hear about her experiences not just from a proctor and mentor point of view, but as her just like telling it and writing it in a story form,” Barrett reflected.
This same sentiment was shared by Lower Nina Fazal, who knows Chen as her squash captain: “I learned a lot about what Erin cares the most for and a lot of other little details about her life through the years that I would not have learned if I didn’t listen to her meditation. I think it was really moving to hear about her identity and how she feels about this fact of how her mother collects every marker of her and her siblings’s accomplishments.”
She continued, “My favorite part of her meditation was all of the references to mythology! I didn’t know that she had such an interest in it so it was really neat to see how she twined that in with a story from her life.”
Upper Asha Masoudi, a teammate and roommate of Erin’s, added, “I loved hearing about Saturn Devouring his Son. Erin and I talked about this painting a lot and it was so incredible getting to hear the way she viewed it in a more detailed and personalized way.”
Chen explained her use of Greek mythology in her meditation, “Well, I’ve always been a huge Greek mythology buff. It’s always been close to my heart and it’s something that’s always inspired me and motivated me. I knew I wanted there to be a figurative world in my meditation, and I found Greek mythology was the best proxy for that world.”
She continued, “I’ve been taking notes ever since prep year whenever something really struck me and so I’ve had a lot of thoughts piled up. My prep year, I wrote down how my mom reminded me of Zeus, and so that’s kind of where the idea of Greek mythology was born from.”
Masoudi concluded, “Erin is one of the most thoughtful people I know. Chen looks at everything through such a complex lens and I love talking with her about anything because she always has something insightful to say. She’s an incredible leader and always makes everyone feel heard and included. She always has the right thing to say.”
No matter if she’s reading her meditation, on the squash courts, or proctoring in Bancroft, Chen always manages to inspire people around her. Her legacy lives on, just like her mother’s piles of keepsakes.