Olivia Gleason '26

by Olivia Gleason '26 on November 13, 2025

Hi Cowl readers! I hope you are enjoying these fleeting fall days and are getting excited for the holiday season. This past week, I have made it my mission to get into the holiday spirit, and for me, this almost always begins with either rereading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women or rewatching the 2019 film adaptation. Although the story spans across all four seasons, to me, some of its most precious moments take place in the late fall and early winter—the point in time we find ourselves in today. 

The novel opens with the March sisters in their youth, anticipating Christmas day as they lament over what they wish they could get for Christmas and complain about their everyday tasks and responsibilities that they must do in the meantime. These groanings are interrupted, however, by their mother Marmee’s entrance with a letter from their father who is serving in the Union army during the Civil War. He writes to remind his “little women” to be good, love each other, and do their duties gladly in his absence. This moment shifts the girls’ perspectives, humbling them and quieting their complaints as they feel the weight of their father’s sacrifice and the importance of being grateful for what they have. 

To me, the lesson that can be gleaned from this opening scene is a perfect one to keep in mind as a college student in the final weeks of the fall semester. Assignments are piling up, the weather is getting colder, the days are getting shorter, and it is becoming harder to stay motivated without complaint as we anticipate the holiday break—in many ways, we find ourselves in a similar position to that of the March sisters in that opening scene. 

In times like these, I think it is all the more important to focus on what Mr. March reminded his daughters to do: to practice gratitude and enjoy what we have in the here and now. For the March sisters, this was largely artistic expression; performing plays together, writing, playing the piano, and painting, for example. For college students at Providence College, this can look like a multitude of things. Maybe it’s meetings with your favorite club or organization (shoutout Cowl Wednesdays), or listening to Christmas music as you get ahead on assignments, or quiet afternoons spent with your roommates, or calling your family to catch up. Whatever it is, I think it is important to recognize that although there is much we can find to complain about, there is also so much to enjoy and be grateful for in these weeks leading up to the break. So take Mr. March’s advice, and maybe even take mine when I tell you that watching or reading Little Women is the best way to prepare for the holiday season.