Ten interesting things about me. It’s an odd thing to ask an ambivert sometimes. There are days that I think that I am the simplest person I know and others when I amaze myself with what I can accomplish. So…I’ll try to lean on the latter side today.

1. I am a published Tolkien scholar. This summer, I had the immense privilege to be published in Myth Ink Books’ Forgotten Leaves: Essays from a Smial, an anthology of writings on Tolkien’s masterpieces.
2. I am not a fan of the process of baking. I LOVE to watch “The Great British Baking Show” and eat confections and baked goods but, unless it’s pre-packaged and such, I am not that great of a baker.
3. When I entered my first writing contest, the judges didn’t believe that I had written it. I had to put together an appeal file of past and current writings in order to convince them that I was not trying to cheat by having my parents write the story for me. I won first place.
4.  One of my happiest memories is of my ride being late to pick me up from horseback-riding lessons. Because I was in the last class, one of the instructors taught me how to untack and groom the horses. I knew all of this, of course; I had read about it. But being physically taught how and then being able to do it several that afternoon was wonderful and thrilling for me. I love horses and that experience was the stuff of dreams.
5. When I was teaching, I used Taylor Mali’s poems to teach my students poetic interpretation and analysis. At the end of the unit, they would work on analyzing poems in groups and then I would send those analyses off to Mr. Mali. More than once he wrote back to my classes and sent them gifts acknowledging their hard work.
6. I am not a great seamstress but I do enjoy the quiet calm of stitching a seam or taking up a hem.
7. I am a huge nerd for comic-to-television crossovers. I have just started the second season of “Gotham” and I am still very much in love with the nods (little and big) to the Gotham City and its denizens that I grew up with as a kid through the animated series.
8. I fall into deep sleep/dream state almost immediately upon going to sleep. Thoughts melt into dreams almost seamlessly at times.
9. When I took a semester vocal class in college, I received the highest grade (jury and professor) of anyone else in that particular studio, including students who were in the theatre/music program.
10. As a sophomore, I won best actress in an amateur musical competition/fundraiser held on my college campus.