An Informal Introduction

I guess I should start by introducing myself.

Hi, my name is Lauren, and I am English major. Thus, the blog. Thus, the use of the word "thus."
Only an English major would use that word.

Before you start making any more assumptions about me based solely on my major, let me also tell you that I originally came into college undecided. I was torn between my passion for English and my love for Biology. Surprised? Yeah, so was I. Why did I choose English, in which the job market is much more unstable? Probably because I loved only Biology-- Math, Physics and Chemistry would have been torture to endure alongside the Biology classes. What I really loved was the information, not so much the lab application. I found that I did not quite fit the biology major stereotype.

Then again, I don't really fit the English stereotype quite that well either. I don't go off and write long flowing eloquent poems. Pleasure reading used to be a great past-time...until I got to college. There is no "the next Hunger Games"novel in the works, and as you can tell, this is only my first blog.

Why then English? Like any other artist, (at least, as I imagine it must be for them as well), I love the process of crafting my work and admiring the finished product. As Anne Lammott so eloquently put, we get through our shitty first drafts, and then work and rewrite them again and again, until something truly beautiful emerges. Writing holds the power, like other art forms, to move someone, to be persuasive, and to capture a snapshot of reality. It can even compel someone to action. In addition to all these inspirational factors, I have been told by a few that I can write rather well.

So I am an English major. I own a type-writer, I keep a journal, and I love walking through Office Depot.

But I am so much more than my major. I am an optimist, a people-pleaser, a slightly introverted extrovert (or vice versa?), a sister, a daughter.


But as pertains to my blog, you should know that I like to find connections in my life, and craft stories reflecting on those links, those themes running throughout my experiences. And those connections continually point me towards hope.

In this blog, I hope that you, my reader, find reason to take heart. I hope that you see that life is meaningful, that there are good people in this world who are combating evil and depravity, and that there is reason to hope that those people, and everything that is good, will win out in the end.