For Students
Dear Students,
As we close the fall semester and welcome the new year, it seems like a good time to think about how we navigate transitions, both great and small. Our lives are all characterized by change, and while such changes can often fill us with excitement and eager anticipation, they can also give rise to stress and anxiety. Whether we like it or not, we are all creatures of habit to a certain extent, and disruptions or shifts in our daily routines require us to reorient ourselves as we seek to preserve some stable sense of our own identity even when we also want to embrace newness and transformation.
It's no surprise, then, that many cultures and traditions have developed their own rituals, practices, and even objects to provide some structure and reassurance during those transitions. Many of these transitional objects and practices have become so ingrained in our lives that we may even take them for granted, but they remain noteworthy reminders of the ebb and flow of our lives.
Rites of passage are among the most common transitional observances and they include practices associated with birth, like Christian baptism, the Jewish brit milah or circumcision, the words of the Muslim adhan whispered in the ear of a newborn, the Hindu jatakarma ceremony, and a variety of naming rituals. Puberty is another significant moment of transition marked by different traditions, including practices with which many of us are familiar like the bar or bat mitzvah, the quinceañera, confirmation, and others. And marriage offers yet another moment to navigate an important change; many cultures have developed their own ceremonies to signify this shift in status for the new couple in powerfully expressive ways. Think, for example, of the African American custom of “jumping the broom.”
These are all rather dramatic examples of change, but even in our daily lives we regularly encounter moments in which we mark, consciously or unconsciously, our transition from one time to another. The morning and evening prayers of many religious traditions mark these changes in deliberate, intentional ways. Similarly, seasonal changes often occasion rituals or practices that delineate these transitions, many of which are celebrated as holidays. And there are numerous practices that structure our movements from one space to another, navigating the liminality of the threshold: the Jewish tradition of installing a mezuzah on the doorpost is one such custom, as is the Hindu practice of placing small idols or symbols of deities near doorways, the Buddhist custom of small prayer wheels or statues near doorways, and the Muslim tradition of writing Quranic verse on the entrance of a home.
It's easy to take many of these traditions for granted but, at times of significant changes, both local and universal, I think it’s useful to acknowledge the power such moments have—and the customs that help us navigate them.
As you head off to your well-deserved winter break, transitioning from your lives in college to your lives elsewhere, I leave you with the words from Harper Pitt in her moving monologue at the end of the second part of Tony Kushner’s extraordinary Angels in America, “In this world there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we’ve left behind, and dreaming ahead.”
Have a restful and restorative break. I look forward to welcoming you back for the spring semester.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey
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Student Support
If you find yourself unable to complete a final assignment or exam by the due date, you may submit a request for an incomplete. This request will be sent to your instructor, asking for either an excused incomplete/EI (for final papers and assignments) or an excused absence/EA (final exam to be proctored by your instructor or the Registrar's Office).
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Excused incomplete (EI), requests need to be made by Friday, December 20.
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Excused absence from a final exam (EA), requests should be made before your scheduled final exam.
Your instructor will review your request and, if approved, will establish new due dates. Incomplete assignments are due by January 28, or at an earlier date determined by your instructor. Final exams may be proctored by the instructor or proctored by the Registrar's Office in January.
Please be in touch with your academic advisor or acserv@brandeis.edu if you have any questions about the incomplete request process.
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