Where I am: Currently, I live in the Midwest. I spend most of my time in Champaign. I love watching the seasons change here, the way the leaves turn red and orange. And how everything turns green after Winter. The sky is so expansive with different shades of blue. It's something I still can't get over. I could do without the tornadoes.
What I study: I am a PhD Candidate in Rhetoric & Composition at Illinois State University. My research focuses on technology's impact on writing, culture and texts. I'm interested in digital rhetoric, fluency and theory as well as cultural studies, narrative theory and theories of class.
What I love: dancing alone to 80's music and singing particularly and obnoxiously loud to Bon Jovi. The smell of rain, surprises like a phone call or letter from a friend just when you need it, daisies, the sound of laughter, car washes--the kind you drive through, gummi worms, blue raspberry icees--especially from the gas station, hershey kisses, Mexican food, Dr. Pepper, soft well worn t-shirts, leaving the windows open when it's Spring before the heat sets in, road trips, the sound of the ocean, strawberries, my family and friends and almost everything about my life.
Music:, Southern rock, jazz and moody singer/songwriter stuff, specifically: Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Foo Fighters, Aqualung, The Cure, Joe Purdy, The Postal Service, Ryan Adams, Pete Yorn, Belle and Sebastian, Black Crowes, Joe Firstman, Citizen Cope, the Fray, Augustana, Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Dishwalla, Drive by Truckers, Elliot Smith, Esthero, Garbage, Gorillaz, Jem, Howie Day, The Jayhawks, Joss Stone, John Gold, Keane, Tegan and Sara, Leona Naess, Anna Nalick, Matchbox 20, The Movies, My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, Blondie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rilo Kiley, Rufus Wainwright, the Rolling Stones, Sarah McLachlan, Saul Williams, Stereophonics, Tahiti 80, Basement Jaxx, Tom Petty
Books: Since I'm an English Major this list could get long. These are some of my favorites. The Sun Also Rises, Tender is the Night, The Great Gatsby, The Awakening, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Time Machine, The Year of Magical Thinking, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, The Handmaid's Tale, The Lovely Bones
Movies: The Big Lebowski, Orange County, Old School, Punch Drunk Love, Hackers, Crash (2005), Secretary, Donnie Darko, The Life of David Gale, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lovely and Amazing, Lost in Translation, Kill Bill (1 & 2), The Virgin Suicides, LA Confidential, Requiem for a Dream, Magnolia, Big Fish, Jesus' Son, Zoolander, Amelie, Fight Club, Dead Poets' Society, Shrek (1, 2 & 3), Chicken Little, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc. Toy Story (1 &2), Dark City, The Island, Minority Report, I Robot, In Her Shoes, Bridget Jones Diary & Edge of Reason, About a Boy, The Sixth Sense, Halloween, Saw, King Kong, Silence of the Lambs, The Village, Gattaca, Hotel Rwanda, Mystic River
Television: Weeds, Veronica Mars, The L Word, Six Feet Under, Entourage, Sex and the City, the Family Guy, Supernatural, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls, Survivor, CSI, Without a Trace, Forensic Files, Law and Order (all of them), Women's Murder Club, Top Chef, Project Runway, Monk, Psych, Grey's Anatomy
Video Games: SSX Tricky, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Tiger Woods Golf, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Karaoke Revolution