For my capstone I decided to work with a young and inexperienced thoroughbred horse named Rakia who is one of the horses owned by Northwestern Stables. Rakia is a four year old gelding who previously wasn’t being worked with frequently which resulted in a lack of exercise. A lack of exercise and activeness in horses has the potential to lead to health complications and behavioral issues, so my goal was to provide a higher quality of life for him. I chose to do this for my capstone because of my passion for horses as well as my many years of experience as an equestrian, so this was an exciting opportunity to do something I love while making a positive impact on my community!

The process involved many training sessions where I had Rakia practice exercises to improve his ground manners and behavior. My goal was to have him become more tuned into his body and the space he takes up, as well as getting him to have more respect for my space as his handler. The final event of my capstone involved my participation with Rakia in Northwestern Stables’ annual spring horse show on May 17th. We competed in the Grooming and Showmanship class where the significant improvements to Rakia’s movement, attentiveness, and condition as a whole were demonstrated at the walk and trot. In the end, our efforts won the two us won a fourth place ribbon in the class! Overall, my capstone really helped me understand how important consistency is to progression, and how even small victories can prove to be very rewarding.

Back to Me - The Marias The song “Back to Me” by the Marias is a song that represents the yearning for a past lover that has since moved on from the relationship and is now interested in other people. In the song, the lead singer María Zardoya, sings about her longing for them to return. In chapter 15 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” Offred and Moira secretly chat in the bathroom about Moira’s escape plan. Offred tries to convince Moira to stay, and not to risk escape, but Moira doesn’t listen. Offred thinks to herself, “I couldn’t stand the thought of her not being here, with me. For me.” (89) Offred’s thoughts show her strong friendship with Moira and the emotional support they provide for each other in Gilead which strongly connects to a moment in “Back to Me”, where Zardoya sings the words “Is she all that you want? Is she all that you need? I’ll be there in a hurry, baby come back to me.” In this case “She” can refer to the action of escaping Gilead and getting a taste of freedom. We can gather that Offred likely feels scared for Moira, but also upset that Moira would choose to leave Offred to get a taste of freedom.

About You - The 1975 This song describes the emotional turmoil that can be present in relationships as well as strong themes of longing, followed by slivers of hope in a realm of uncertainty and pain. These themes are shown well in the lyrics, ‘Do you think I have forgotten about you?”, and “Hold on and hope that we’ll find our way back in the end”. This connects greatly with Offred and Luke’s relationship. The two characters haven’t seen each other in a long time and we often see Offred thinking about Luke and reminiscing about their past. Offred anticipates a message from Luke, recognizing that, “It’s this message, which may never arrive, that keeps me alive. I believe in this message.”(106). She wonders, “Does Luke hope?”(106). We can see that Offred feels deeply for Luke, but his feelings about her are unclear. Offred clings to the hope she has left, represented in the song, to keep propelling herself forward in life to keep from giving up. Let Loose - Mt. Joy A song about the desire for connection and breaking free from something holding one back, “Let Loose” by Mt. Joy can be used to describe the scene on page 81 where Offred plays footsies with Nick in secret. Gilead’s society differs greatly from ours. In Gilead, there is a different interpretation of what is considered exciting and rebellious than what is to us, including acts of romance. While more intimate things for us are devoid of real emotional connection in Gilead, simpler things for us seem rebellious for them. For example, while Offred and Nick play footsies in secret, Offred recites, “I feel my shoe soften, blood flows into it, it grows warm, it becomes a skin.” (81) In this moment Offred feels excitement, something that is unusual to her at this time. We can link this to the lyric, “I wanna get lost, I wanna get loud with you” in “Let Loose”. This describes the feeling of wanting excitement or a sort of adventure.

Saturn - SZA This song is about the longing for a purpose and a better life. Over the course of the song SZA contemplates her emotional state and the realities of her life. SZA sings, “Stuck in this paradise, don’t believe in paradise” expressing her dissatisfaction with her life and disappointment with “paradise” which could be interpreted as an idea of happiness from the perspective of society. We can connect this to Serena Joy’s state specifically in the first few chapters of the book. In chapter 3 Offred comments on Serena Joy in her garden. Upon noticing her she states, “From a distance it looks like peace” (12) and “Maybe it’s just something to keep the Wives busy, to give them a sense of purpose.” (13) From this we can see that Serena Joy likely is in a similar situation to SZA. She appears to be in paradise due to her minimal responsibilities, but instead Serena doesn’t enjoy this life at all, and wishes she had more of a purpose.

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