“I don’t regret anything. It’s weird, I’m very happy with the way my life has turned out. And maybe me saying that is actually evidence that I’m not very happy with how my life has turned out. But we’ll see.”
Such is the worldview of Matias Lozano, a CHS senior who has been involved with classes in medieval studies, French Club, languages, and above all absorption of the philosophy and literature of thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze, Miguel Hernández, and Edmund Husserl. The ability to focus on connections and jump from history to literature to language is one of the things that Lozano stands out for, with knowledge spanning from folk music to the origins of calculus at his fingertips. With a passion for literature and foreign cultures, Lozano applied and was accepted early decision to Macalester College, a liberal arts college located in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Macalester is known for its emphasis on a multicultural curriculum, and its location in the Midwest stood out to Lozano for many reasons, ranging from the urban environment and the weather to its hub of languages and cultures. The Twin Cities have many opportunities for curious language learners to branch out into Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Somali, and German, something Lozano intends to take advantage of.
Lozano has pursued his interest in languages for years now, being known around campus for his proficiency in French, while also wanting to find a deeper connection to his heritage through languages, especially Italian. One of his most life-changing experiences was when he was first introduced to Italian literature in middle school, and he has also been influenced by his family when intensifying his love for worldly texts — for example, studying Arabic, in part because his mother studied it in college.
Lozano hopes to add himself to the more than 60% of Macalester students who study abroad, pursuing his passions by studying in Lebanon or Morocco. Being extremely excited about college, Lozano is looking forward to what he can accomplish in the future. While leaning towards religious studies as a major, focusing in particular on historical figures such as Suhrawardi and Ramon Llull, his long-term plans are to get his BA from Macalester, work as a foreign aid worker after college in the Levant to help refugees, and eventually go back to academia and get a PhD. Another item on his list: become a writer.
“I’d like to go in the direction of histoire des idées,” Lozano said. “I’d like to become an intellectual historian — not a historian who is an intellectual, but rather a person who does historical work on the evolution of ideas across centuries.”
While reading literature is something that takes up a lot of Lozano’s time, something else he enjoys is listening to folk music from the mid-20th century, mostly from Latin America but also from the Middle East. Some artists brought to mind were Atahualpa Yupanqui, an Argentine folk musician, as well as Warda Al-Jazairia, a noted Algerian singer from the 1960s. This type of music, especially politically oriented music, inspires Lozano to look deeper into his passions.
Ranking in Lozano’s list of recommendations is to read the works of Baruch Spinoza, Gilles Deleuze, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. While it may not be possible for everyone, each work has something he believes anyone can find interest in.
As he prepares to leave for Macalester and St. Paul, Lozano would like to shout out French Club for being there. With new adventures and new studies waiting, we can only hope to see what Lozano will find out next.
