Jennifer Lowe

A Second Chance to Shine - The Before and After Lives of Mount Holyoke's Older Learners
Vista, Summer 1997, by Emily Harrison Weir

From Confusion to Cambridge

Jennifer Lowe '95 dropped out of two colleges before applying to MHC. "I vacillated between being an astrophysicist, a ballet dancer, a cowgirl, and a zookeeper; in short, I had no realistic idea of my own abilities or proclivities," she admits. "I always wanted to return to the academy, but I wanted to know precisely why." The answer came during a reading by Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky at the bookstore where she worked. Lowe knew she wanted to be a poet too and "add to that body of creative knowledge."

She won a fistful of poetry and academic awards at MHC and went to study for a master's degree in English literature at the University of Cambridge. She describes her MHC metamorphosis in typically poetic fashion: "I have learned to respect the shadow; I know more about the powerful cultures that have created me; I am over $35,000 in debt; I am pushing thirty, my gums are receding, and I am almost completely sedentary; I have many more interesting friends and much more interesting conversations; I vote quite differently; I laugh a lot more; and I never have to work in a restaurant or bookstore again unless I want to."