Street: So you’re the co–chair of Natives at Penn. Tell us about that.
Caroline Kee: Natives at Penn is a really diverse group of people. It’s kind of like a small family. We do different cultural events, different Native American pow–wows. Everyone is different in terms of their heritage and how connected they were growing up.
Street: Do you have any Native American heritage?
CK: Yes! My grandmother is a tribal artist for the Choctaw. I’m really close to my grandmother.
Street: Can you tell us about the curation of the Native American Voices exhibit?
CK: After my sophomore year, I got a CURF humanities
internship, one of the research ones. I was at the Penn Museum and I did two weird things: I help repatriate human remains to tribes, but on the side, also helped curate the Native American Voices exhibit.
Street: What’s the weirdest thing at the Penn Museum?
CK: I was working in the sub–basement, so the basement below the basement. It’s really scary. I was looking for different things that could be repatriated, and I was down there alone all of the time for hours. And on the wall was written: “This place is haunted, get out now!”
Street: Speaking of spooky shit, can you tell us about your role as Elmo house psychic and witch?
CK: Sometimes I’ll just sense things. I guess I’ve always been kind of weird and into spooky things. If you walk into my room, I have all sorts of weird trinkets hanging and bundles of sage to smudge—that’s a Native thing.
Street: Can you define 'witch'?
CK: I always just think Stevie Nicks. She’s my role model.
Street: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
CK: For a long time I experienced sleep paralysis. It started when I would take naps and I would wake up and my eyes would open, but I couldn’t move the rest of my body.
Street: Do you have a theory about the sleep paralysis?
CK: I think it’s my house. I think my house is haunted. I believe in ghosts. I live in the Elmo basement now, which is really weird.
Street: Have you ever tried to talk to ghosts?
CK: No, it’s more like I feel a presence. I felt it in the Elmo room before. I felt it in my
bedroom.
Street: What does the presence feel like?
CK: The Elmo one? It’s dark, it’s not good. It’s a little more scary, like negative. The one at home? She’s really nice.
Street: Can you explain your experience in India in one sentence?
CK: I did medical research, and I ended up contracting five parasites.
Street: What was the best part of India? Obviously not the parasites.
CK: Just being in the Himalayas. It’s a very unique, spiritual place. People were so welcoming and friendly. My host mother really spoke no English. I felt so welcome, even though I’m this 6–foot–tall blonde monster.
Street: So you got along with your family?
CK: Want to know what’s really funny about India? You realize how universal human
expression is, like laughing and happiness. Even when you can’t communicate, it’s really weird because you can still laugh at each other.
Street: Someone told us about your “spider legs.” What’s that?
CK: Spider legs is when I’m wearing heels. When you have really long limbs and you’re trying to dance, you look like a daddy longlegs. I think it’s really funny the way girls walk when they’re wobbling around in heels, myself included. I cannot walk in heels. I just can’t do it.
Street: Fill in the blank: There are two kinds of people at Penn.
CK: There are people who use air fresheners and Yankee Candles. And there are people who burn sage and incense.
Street: Describe yourself in three words.
CK: Hedonistic, spacey, creature.
Street: If you are what you eat, what would you be?
CK: Miso soup.
Street: What do you love most about Penn?
CK: I love how supportive Penn is of independent learning. I never thought my independent projects and ideas would be so doable—not that an HSOC thesis was easy, by any means. I think the passionate faculty is wonderful.
Street: What do you hate most about Penn?
CK: The pre–professional pressure, the streamlined track. I’ve changed my mind so much, and it made me feel completely inadequate. Especially right now being a senior being like ‘I don’t know what I’m doing next year.’ I find the churning hamster wheel of OCR puts an enormous amount of pressure on people who are not meant for those type of careers.
Street: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
CK: Working abroad in global health, probably in women’s health. I’d like to be a doctor and specialize in infectious disease. I really like STIs. That sounds so weird.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
