Laura

Hi! Hello! And welcome!! To the story of me, Laura Bryan.

I grew up not too far from Augusta, in the Bay Area. Childhood was comforting and exciting, with some parts of my summers spent at Augusta with my friends. In fact, I recently found this photo of me circa 2010 eating Lazy Dog ice cream!

Children sit on outdoor chairs, eating ice cream cones. The child in the foreground wears a blue tie-dye shirt and looks down at an ice cream cone with sprinkles. Others around them also hold ice cream.

A smiling woman wearing a straw hat and braids gives two thumbs up while standing behind a counter with metal containers and napkins in a café or coffee shop.

Growing up, I valued the things that I am still very passionate about, including food (beyond the greatness of Lazy Dog), seeing new things through traveling, and cultivating new friendships.

← I’ve had nearly seven jobs at various food & beverage places. One of my favorites was working as a barista at a pour-over only cafe in Berkeley. It was there that I learned my love for funky hats and occasionally wearing very bright colors!

After years of working in the service industry, I ventured off to Thailand where I volunteered for a month, working with kids. Here is an unrelated picture of me hanging off a songtowe in Thailand on the way to Pai. (I got the wrong bus tickets, so a 2 hour long open-air taxi was the way to go 🙂 →

A person wearing a beige bucket hat, white t-shirt, and black pants leans out of the back of a vehicle on a sunny road, holding onto metal bars, with trees and power lines in the background.

A person wearing all yellow clothing, including a hat, jacket, t-shirt, shorts, and Crocs, stands in a kitchen striking a playful, arms-outstretched pose.

My love of the color yellow shone through this past summer while working as a camp counselor for a day camp in Oakland. Every Friday was greeted with this yellow monochrome outfit, topped with a Lipton iced tea hat that I found in my old apartment when living with five art students in Chicago 🙂

After two years “off” I finally started college this year in New York, where I study Interdisciplinary Science and Food Studies (and maybe Psychology too – only time will tell). I love studying science at a liberal arts college that is connected to a great art school, as it tells science in a way that is as creative as any art. I am so excited to be back at Augusta this summer, and bring all the creative energy from my science and food studies classes into the Augustan magic.

Overall, I believe the best way to describe my transition from childhood to adolescence to early adulthood can most easily be described in the form of a poem by Maude Latour, a Philosophy major at Columbia University. And so, here is that poem:

“All I’ve ever wanted is to save the planet. It started with the polar bears, and the ice caps, then it turned into fighting the mean girls in the cafeteria. I told everyone in third grade I wanted to be president. In middle school I only wore rainbow. I cut my hair short. I swore to myself I’d never grow up.

A young child with curly blond hair smiles while holding a blue snack bag in their mouth, sitting at an outdoor table with colorful items and a blue-patterned plate. Trees and greenery are visible in the background.

When I was a kid I had black holes in my head – they’d suck up the world and leave it empty. For a few seconds I would understand nothingness. It would scare me and keep me awake in bed at night.

Now I wonder if those black holes were a whisper from god, telling me there’s another dimension all around us, holding up this world.

A person in a yellow cap, blue tank top, and yellow shorts stands on a rooftop with arms outstretched, smiling at sunset. Urban skyline and soft clouds appear in the background.

A person wearing a helmet and climbing gear ascends a rugged, vertical rock face outdoors, secured by a rope. Trees and sunlight are visible in the background.

We just have to be ready to see it.

A woman wearing a light hat smiles and gestures towards a dusky leaf monkey sitting on a ledge surrounded by green foliage on a sunny day.

A person wearing a wide-brimmed hat, backpack, and hiking gear walks with trekking poles on a sunlit forest trail surrounded by tall trees.

I’ve spent these past few years backpacking through the universe, living in galaxies in the clouds, gathering data on broken hearts and un-conversation. Trying to find a cure to save the planet, trying to find the secret code to save the earth!

There’s a revolution coming! People are tired of feeling lovesick, people are done with small talk. I feel it in the air – there’s a new religion coming. A consciousness revolution and nothing will ever be the same again! I see a planet with ice caps and polar bears, wind energy and solar power. Love is the message, love is the answer!

A smiling woman wearing blue glasses and a blue jacket gives two thumbs up in front of a colorful, leafy wall mural.

But for now, we are dancing.

A woman with long hair and sunglasses sits smiling on the grass in a backyard, with wooden chairs and a table behind her. A book and a can are on the ground nearby. It’s a sunny day.

Two people smiling while riding a motorbike on a rural dirt road, with one adjusting a helmet. Green hills and scattered houses are visible under a clear blue sky in the background. Shadows of the riders are cast on the road.

For now, we are starsick.”
– Maude Latour

A person in a blue jacket and orange hat walks along a paved path in a park with leafless trees, grassy areas, and a small pond on a cloudy day.

A smiling woman wearing pink sunglasses and a black Good Love t-shirt sits on a rooftop with houses and trees in the background on a sunny day.