Hello, and welcome to Pillow Talk! My name is Levi Lebovitz, and I am Stanford’s self-appointed resident unlicensed dream analyst. To those who clicked on “Pillow Talk” expecting smut rather than dream analysis — my sincerest apologies. Unfortunately, the only stimulation you’ll be getting here is intellectual. With that being said, let’s look at some dreams!
Fall is a special season. The trees are dying, leaves are beginning to litter the streets and there’s a palpable sense of renewal in the air. The seniors — iconic as they were — have left us for good, and the lanyard-toting frosh — 12-years-old as they look — have begun to find their place on The Farm. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that classes begin in the midst of this seasonal shift. It’s a time where, like trees, we humans also shed parts of ourselves and undergo our own process of growth and renewal. I want to suggest that dreams play a crucial role in this process, heralding change before we are consciously aware of it.
This brings me to the main dream of today’s column, brought to us by Dani ’27. She reports:
“The dream took place in my freshman dorm, but half the people there were from Stanford and the other half were from my high school. There was a lot going on, and the vibe was pretty chaotic since me and a group of people were preparing to go on an organized international trip for Jewish culture. One of my best friends from home, Charlotte, was trying to come on the trip, but one of our old middle school teachers was blocking her from coming since she wasn’t Jewish. Charlotte tried to scheme her way around the teacher, claiming that she is atheist and wants to come for journalism and to explore Judaism (but in reality she’s not atheist, she’s Greek Orthodox). At the end of the dream, Charlotte and I had gotten around our old teacher and found a new administrator (this time from Stanford) to get around the administrative control of our old teacher. We were really excited and sure that our plan would work, but then this new admin said the same thing as our old teacher and did not allow her to join the trip.”
In analyzing this dream, let’s begin with the setting. The freshman dorm may be symbolically understood as the place of a new transition, where one assumes the role of “Stanford student” yet clings to parts of their high school self. I don’t think it’s random, then, that her dream was also populated by both high school and college friends. Perhaps this dream illuminates some clash between the person who Dani was in high school (personified by her high school friends) and the person she is becoming at Stanford (symbolized by the presence of Stanford friends).
Next, we can turn our attention to the main desire of the dream: attending a Jewish trip to another country. There are two main symbols I wish to explore here: the international trip aspect and the Jewish aspect. To go abroad, literally, is to visit a completely foreign culture and wholly immerse oneself in the unfamiliar. Thus, symbolically, we could interpret Dani’s plan to attend this trip as an impulse to break from what she knows — potentially the self she had become so comfortable with in high school. However, not only is this trip to a foreign place, it also concerns the exploration of Jewish culture — the culture of Dani, who is Jewish. In this sense, her wish to explore beyond her own familiarity is strangely paradoxical: by diving (as Elsa from Frozen 2 would say) “into the unknown,” she seeks to explore a crucial part of her identity — her religion — a part which also imbues the world with meaning.
From here, we arrive at the core conflict of the dream: Charlotte, Dani’s high school best friend, is not allowed on the trip. No matter how many valid excuses she can muster, she is still not Jewish and thus cannot go. Symbolically, we might interpret Charlotte as representing Dani’s high school self. It is crucial that Charlotte is not Jewish. She doesn’t align with the identity Dani plans to explore, and thus, she is relegated to stay behind. It is important to note that this rejection comes from both an old teacher and a new Stanford administrator. Thus, voices from both sides of herself (past and present) reassure Dani that she must leave Charlotte (symbolizing her high school self) behind in order to really find the meaning she seeks.
The dream, to me, presents a fairly clear moral: Dani needs to let go of her high school self in order to delve completely into a new quest of self-discovery. As we can see in the dream, this change is hard! Dani wants to bring her friend along, but ultimately, she has to go on the trip without her. In real life, Dani is still extremely tied to her high school community. Perhaps her dream is urging some sort of transition, difficult as it may be.
As I’m sure every frosh knows by now (only a week into CS 106a), change is tough. It doesn’t always go how we want it to. Sometimes, though, as Dani’s dream suggests, in order to grow as people, we just have to take a deep breath, let go of the past and embark on an international trip to learn about Jewish culture.
Until next time, sweet dreams!