From the Motor City to the Windy City

Six hours in a truck.

Six hours in a truck pulling a trailer.

Funny how my whole life can fit in an 5 x 8 U-haul. Yet, it does. And my life and I were cruising from Detroit to Chicago to start...what was I starting?

I'm quickly learning that adulthood does not have the nice neat deadlines of student-life. There are no hard and fast expectations, no tried and true structure, no guidance whatsoever. There is no four-year plan. This is life. Sure, now I have freedom: the freedom to pursue my career goals, to take on personally fulfilling projects, to decide what my next choices will be without the limitations of school schedules or assignment obligations. And the idea of being free to work, travel, and live as I had envisioned I could in college is still alive and well--I know I can get to that point eventually. But the vastness that is choice and potential is overwhelming until you find a little foothold in reality you can work with.

So, here's my foot...smack dab in the middle of Chicago's door jamb.

But before I could get my career-starting shoes even so much as scuffed, I had to get myself to Chicago. 

Being a Zink means you inherit many different qualities, like the distinguished Zink nose, the cringe-worthy Zink sense of humor, but most importantly, you inherit a great big group of people willing to help you however they can. This last one came in handy when the clan found out I was moving to Chicago. Not one, not two, but a whopping total of eight family members all signed on to the road-trip.

The Moving Crew

Mostly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we all set out for Chicago in two cars early on a Saturday morning. And quite frankly, the first third of the trip went off without a hitch. That is, until we tried to cross out of Michigan. As we approached the Indiana state border, my home state suddenly decided to bestow on me a very Michigan-esque going-away gift: a random sleet storm. That's right. Last week of September, still as warm and breezy as can be, and a sudden slushing surrounds our cars and provides a thin sheet of ice for our driving pleasure. Luckily, it only lasted 20 minutes or so before the sun poked its head out of the clouds and dried everything up again. Leave it to my home state to throw in one last stunt of crazy Michigan-weather before I change zip codes. It was pretty smooth sailing until we were an hour outside of Chicago when our second car picked up a nail somewhere and got a flat tire. Because the truck and trailer were leading the way, we pulled over into the Skyway's McDonald's to wait for my other relatives. But this was no ordinary McDonald's. It was a mere wedge of parking lot and restaurant perched between on-coming traffic in both directions--not exactly an ideal location for a Ford F-150 and a U-Haul. Yet there we parked, most likely infuriating ever single driver to come within 5 feet of our vehicle blocking half the drive. But luckily, the flat was fixed quickly and we were on our way again. After battling the infamous Chicago traffic...

I couldn't believe the sheer volume of cars on the road.  I thought London would have
prepared me for the busy-ness, but I was wrong!  Chicago is much more congested!

...we finally pulled onto my new home street. This is when my eight family members really came in handy. We unloaded and unpacked essentials in only a couple of hours. By all other moving accounts, I couldn't have asked for a better transition.

Ta Da!  All done!

That evening, we went out for some Chicago pizza--it only seemed appropriate--and the following morning, most of my aunts and uncles returned to Michigan for their own jobs. My immediate family stayed with me an extra day and we did a bit of the tourist scene at Shedd Aquarium, then later when just my Mom was still in the city, we further unpacked my studio and scouted out the nearby shops. By the end of my first week, I was very much settled into my apartment and ready to start work at my internship.

So, what am I starting exactly? Well, I'm not quite sure there is a label for this stage of life. But I do know that I am starting something that I can put a lot of my "sole" into.

The Cliff Notes Version

If you, the reader, have been following my blog in chronological order, you'll have noticed that I went from writing about once a week to allowing a whole month to pass without a new post. This is because within the last month, I acquired an internship out of state and as a result, used the past month to organize my move--and let me tell you, it took nearly that whole month! I am now settled into my new studio apartment and am working on becoming re-dedicated to my writing here. As this is my first full week of big-kid job hours, I'm going to keep this post brief. The internship is with Independent Publishers Group in Chicago, IL and I'm a rotating intern, meaning that I work through all their departments on a changing monthly schedule. The internship is a solid four months, which is a great amount of experience and will hopefully lead to something more permanent. So personally, this position is a good foot-in-the-door into the publishing industry and I'm learning and working productively while I continue my job search--a rather complimentary situation. Professionally, IPG is a wonderful place to work. Check out their website www.ipgbook.com to get a feel for the types of books their distribute and the various imprints that publish their own works. I'm currently working primarily with their e-books department, IT, and the Chicago Review Press, a non-fiction publisher. From even just my first two days working, I can already tell I'll be learning much about the publishing industry. As I continue to settle into the Chicago, I'll continue to compile my experiences in city and at IPG--but for now, here's the cliff notes version.

Summer Reading

For the past two weeks, I have been indulging my summer reading list, collecting books from the library in bunches and reading them simultaneously as certain literary moods strike me.  This multi-tasking style of reading is new to me--I tend to like reading one novel at a time before moving on to a new one.  But this summer, sometimes I can't read something like Jubilee right before bed so I need to move on to something more fictional such as The Angel's Game or I really crave good classic writing found in Emma Brown while at other times I want to re-acquaint myself with a challenge like Ulysses.  But most recently, I've finished up reading Winter Journey by Jaume Cabré.

The first short story immediately caught my attention.  Entitled "Opus Postum," this story follows pianist Pere Bros and his self-struggle with performance, worth, and music.  I was captivated by Cabrés ability to embed musicality into his very writing style--something that I've always admired in an author.  As a modest musician myself, I've not only experimented with the symbiotic influences shared between music and literature in my own writing, but have also dedicated much my BA degree to studying their mutual impacts.  When I shared a few initial insights with David Rade (Editor-in-Chief of Swan Isle Press, the publisher of Winter Journey), he recommended a link to an interview with Jaume Cabré where he elaborates on his motivations and inspirations for Winter Journey:



I took particular interest in Cabré's discussion of creating concrete sensations in the reader.  The term "sensation" is a pivotal descriptor.  It is very different from emotion, tone, feeling, etc.  Sensation derives from a much more instinctual level of reading--that first impression to a character or situation.  It's very easy to rely on archetypes to develop a certain emotion or tone--my go-to example is always how a "dark and stormy night" sets up an eerie plot.  In contrast, focusing on sensations presents rather than represents a scene.  Emotions become tangible, characters more authentic, the writer's voice more clear to the reader.

Cabré also emphasizes the use of detail to relate his series of short stories to one another, creating a complex whole.  This technique--taking snippets of narrative in different time periods, different places, with different people and forming them into a novel--reminds me of my work in studying Ulysses for my senior thesis.  (You can find a copy on my LinkedIn profile in the documents section here: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/allison-zink/46/638/5b8).  While Winter Journey is not written in the more densely modernist style of Joyce, it does share a few structural and thematic qualities.  Like Ulysses, each chapter of Winter Journey can be read as an independent story but also fits as a piece of a whole.  Schubert's "Winter Journey" and the poetry of Wilhem Muller by the same title, (on which Schubert based his piece) serve as one of the unifying themes throughout the Cabré's novel, similar to Joyce's use of music as writing structure in the Sirens episode.

Different expressions of art often overlap, spill over, and influence other other mediums.  In this novel, music and poetry inspire the contemplative tone on the state of humanity.  That sounds like a very big topic to tackle for a comparatively short novel!  But I found that it isn't really the novel's job to solve such quandaries.  Rather, Winter Journey provides a bit of perspective.  As Cabré discusses in his interview, "It's a cry of alert, 'careful, careful,' for it takes a great effort for humanity to be humane."  Art has something that makes us feel better yet we just can't explain.  That sensation inspires hope: a measure of understanding and reminder for improvement for humanity.

Have I caught your interest?  You can find a copy of Jaume Cabré's Winter Journey for yourself here:  http://www.swanislepress.com/intro.html#winterjourney

A Dark and Stormy Night

The metro Detroit area has been blistering under the 3-digit temperatures these past couple of weeks--the sun so warm and air so thick you'd think you were walking through a blast furnace.  But in true Michigan weather form, if you wait one hot second, that sticky air clouds up and turns dark for a thoroughly quenching thunderstorm.

One such thunderstorm rolled into my little lake-side city recently.  It was night--I had been asleep for a few hours before strong torrents of rain began pelting my bedroom windows.  Still in that half-cognitive sleepy state, I kept a light ear to the sound.  I happen to like thunderstorms, particularly at night.  That pitter-patter of raindrops soothes away any busy, wandering thoughts.  Then a low grumble of thunder accompanied by a lightning clap zig-zagging across the sky filled my room.  I snuggled down further into my bed and had just reached the threshold of deeper sleep when a loud buzz culminating in a static-y zap awoke me in time to see electric spit-fire through the trees and my digital clock's digits grow dim--our block's transformer had blew.

Soon after, I heard a long squeak and a pattern of creaks emanating through the hall, those familiar sounds registering as my brother's squeaking door and parents' creaking footsteps down our wooden stairs--everyone was up.  As I wandered downstairs, white light beamed across the kitchen.  I nodded to everyone that I was okay and continued down to the basement, my dead flashlight in hand.

Now, my basement is one part my dad's business, one part standard creepy basement--and in the dark, the creepy basement is the more prominent part!  I ventured gingerly down the steps, peering under the ceiling as I descended.  It was completely pitch dark; the kind of dark where you wonder if you should even bother keeping your eyes open.  Dodging around all my dad's equipment, I reached the shelves where he kept extra batteries.  I grabbed a couple, too aware of my invisibility in the darkness, and rushed back up to my parents.

Up and about with my working flashlight, I felt fully awake.  So I decided to grab an old stand-by book: a Nancy Drew Mystery.  My mom is a collector--not in the monetary sense, but rather as a dedicated fan.  An entire column of a bookshelf in our sun room houses nearly all books from the Nancy Drew series.  I grew up on these books and still love reading the simple yet admirable stories.  I went straight for my favorite, The Hidden Staircase, and curled back into my quilt to read by flashlight--as if I were transported back to my 4th grade self.

Since beginning my job search in publishing, I've acquire the habit of reading the publishers page first.  Flipping through the first couple of pages, I recognized the publisher--Applewood Books (Check it out here: http://applewoodbooks.com/) and it was only then that I realized I had picked up the reprinted original edition of this first Nancy Drew book.  I hadn't actually read through this version before so I decided to start with the prologue, written by Nancy Drew fan and fellow mystery writer Nancy Pickard.

I thoroughly enjoyed her insights into the series.  Written in the 1930s, the original Nancy Drew books by today's modern societal views are not very politically correct, featuring the stereotypical white Christian patriarchal-esque American family, references to African Americans with dated names, etc.  However, Pickard clarifies that while some aspects of the series are better left to rest, the essence of Nancy Drew's spirit provides an unparalleled relateable female role model for young girls.


I hit my Nancy Drew phase in 4th grade.  I was thoroughly invested in her character.  I loved her spunk, her witticisms, and even her unrealistic, too-perfect circumstances in which she found herself.  Just good, old fashioned who-done-its without the Criminal Minds creepy factor or CSI gore.  As an English major, my fascination with diction reached new heights as I re-discovered the very staged but yet sincere dialogues between Nancy and her friends and family.  I honestly think her knack for using words like "nonplussed" and using formal sentence structure in every day conversations inspired my love and study of diction.  Even the extremely detailed background thoughts about Nancy's mood are full of didactic descriptions.  I love that Applewood Books has continued to provide these experiences with their genre niche in historic American Literature.

Written Words Speak

As of this past Friday, I have managed to survive my first week of summer camp!  Now, I have been working as a camp counselor for the past 3 summers, so I am by no means a newbie to all of the various camp activities.  But every year, going from flexible, spontaneous summer vacation to this structured, high-energy full-time job involves a bit of a transition!  And the first week is always the hardest.

My group, the Cardinals (all the groups are named after birds) in particular always provide a challenge.  I work with 4-5 year-olds--a very adorable and exhausting age.  And it is my favorite!  At this age, kids are just beginning to form opinions about their favorite things, make friends, and most interesting to me, learn the basics of reading.  I was their age when I first fell in love with books and story-telling and I try to include some kind of book time during each session of camp for my group.  This year, my mom gave me a bunch of her old teaching supplies to borrow for the summer.  And what did I re-discover?

Audio books on cassette tape.

Most of these tapes were of stories like Hop on Pop and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  And I immediately thought they'd be perfect for our daily "quiet time" at camp.  Not all the kids in my group need naps, but they all do need some kind of rest in the middle of the day and what better way to keep them entertained and quiet than listening to a story!

On the first day of camp, I told my group that we were going to listen to a story and popped in a cassette tape into my old boom box.  At first, the kids did not know what to think.  They started to chit chat when I said "just hang on one second, it has to get to the beginning"--the concept of rewinding completely foreign to them.  But then a booming voice said "This is the story of Beauty and the Beast."  And immediately, the kids perked up with exclamations of "Oh, I know this story!"  Soon, they were utterly captivated, taken in by the various voices of the characters.

This reaction got me thinking.  What is it about listening to stories that makes the experience different from just reading it?  Do audio books still have a function in our culture?  Are there advantages or disadvantages to having something electronic read to children?

Later that week, I was sending out some networking e-mails to various publishing houses.  One of them in particular had caught my attention--Barefoot Books.  This company has a whole page dedicated to podcasts (seen here: http://www.barefootbooks.com/story/childrens-crafts-activities/podcast/).  I immediately linked podcasts to the cassette tapes I was using with my group at camp.  As I continued writing my e-mail to Barefoot Book's Editor-in-Chief, Tessa Strickland, I inquired about their use of podcasts and their opinion of electronic reading sources for children.  And she gave me a very thought-provoking answer.  She said:

"The main advantage is the privacy they afford for young readers who are trailing the field.  Rather than feeling embarrassed by being given 'baby-ish books' by the teacher, they can be given simple texts which only they see; and the teaching of reading can be delivered in a much more bespoke way.  I think that where adults need to be careful is in exposing children to screens too early.  There is some very interesting research emerging in many quarters about the damage being done to children's emotional development through a lack of adult-to-child communication.  See the very interesting lecture given recently by neurologist Susan Greenfield at the School of Life in London if you are interested in this topic."

I was particularly intrigued by the concept of "privacy for young readers."  I equated this privacy with a freedom to think and imagine for purely the sake of thinking and imagining.  It is not being tested by a teacher or laced with an inner motive for education.  Rather, podcasts--listening to a story in any way--allows for a completely independent story experience.

I also agreed with her view on e-readers for children.  But up until now, my perspective was based only on my gut feeling that reading from books, especially for children, provides a deeper reading experience.  I was thrilled to investigate the lecture by Susan Greenfield.
(Found here:  http://www.theschooloflife.com/Sermons/Susan-Greenfield-on-Storytelling)
She emphasizes that one's environment highly impacts how the human brain grows and therefore interprets life--creating one's own "life story."  From what I understood in the lecture and then extrapolated myself, Greenfield's findings relate to tangible learning tools.  Printed books provide an "enriched" environment, and this physical stimulation seems to help children learn better.  Now, this definitely defends the importance of print books over e-books.  But what does this have to do with podcasts?  Well, these principles for creating an enriched environment for children can be applied to audio books as well.  E-reading devices, where the device turns the page, provides short-cuts for sounding out words, etc., mandates a specific, repetitive reading experience.  It focuses more on rote memory learning as opposed to critical thinking.  Listening to stories engages the imagination and prompts children to think for themselves; sensory experiences evolve into cognitive experiences.


This discussion also prompted me to reflect on my own experiences with audios, which led me to remember a very important teacher I had in high school, we'll call him Mr. Fulton.  He was my AP Statistics teacher and taught at a secondary campus associated with vie different high schools and catered to advanced and creative courses.  Before I go further, I must tell you, the reader, something:  I am not the best at math.  Though I always managed to do well, I really struggled with all things mathematical and was always far more interested in the interpretation of a story problem as opposed to actually solving it--if that didn't foreshadow my English Lit. major, I don't know what did!  However, Mr. Fulton was the first math teacher who actually engaged me in math.  He wasn't like other teachers.  He had a unique sense of humor, an admirable devotion to this children, an honest heart, and most of all, a love of reading.  During one laid-back afternoon in class, our discussion had meandered off in a tangent and Mr. Fulton shared with us a website he created: loudlit.org.  He said that growing up, he struggled with dyslexia, and still does, but he also has this absolute love of books.  For him, it was easier to read a book while listening to it, particularly those written in a dialect.  I remember trying out his website to read Huckleberry Finn and found the experience very enjoyable as well as more comprehensible.  Instead of stumbling over the dialect, I could follow along while experiencing the character's words simply by listening.  It really added to the overall story experience.

Audio books are a smaller niche of publishing.  But they are worthwhile resources not only for kids and schools but also to expand one's reading experience.

Touch-Screens vs. Book Seams

Despite it's name nuanced with archaic writing images of stone and chisels, tablets are quickly becoming a standard means to access all kinds of writing.  Books, magazines, blogs, newspapers, you name it, mostly likely "there's an app for that" (a phrase now inculcated into our culture courtesy of the iPhone commercial cir. 2009).  When initially introduced, at least around my neck of the woods in Michigan, tablets were met with criticism and a hint of bewilderment.  What is the purpose of a tablet?  It functions like a smart phone without the phone service.  It has a big screen, but will people really want to read whole books and articles on it?  It's portable, but so are laptops and books.  How is a tablet anything new?

I admit, I was one of those skeptics.  Tablets did not seem to fill any particular need in our society.  It was just another way of doing things we could already do just as easily with the materials we already used.  Maybe these were fashionable items to use in the New York City corporate world, but for the masses, tablets were just a new toy.  Then Borders' headquarters in Ann Arbor started to waver, and rumor had it, it was in part because of Borders' lack of electronic book resources.  I couldn't believe it.  These seemingly excessive tablets were affecting a major bookstore company right here in my own state!   And well, we all know how that ended.  I was shocked and could not understand how electronic reading held so much weight in the publishing industry.  However, tablets were not directly affecting or persuading me to change my reading habits just yet, so I felt vindicated in my position against them at that time.     

Nearly a year later, I am now confronted with electronic resources and tablets on a regular basis.  Through my job search efforts and publishing industry researching, I am learning the capabilities of tablets and their value.  The tablet seems to be creating its own niche in our society to the point where it will become a valuable asset if used, and in some areas, a noticeable absence if not used.

I recently experienced a defining moment--it couldn't have been a more opaque transition than if it had been scripted for a B-rated movie!  During my summers, I often work as a nanny for a couple of families in addition to my job as a camp counselor.  About a week ago, I was taking care of one of my neighbor's kids--we'll call her Abby.  I've known Abby since I was 12 and she 2.  She was my very first babysitting job then and we've grown up together with a pseudo-sister relationship ever since.  I've watched her grow from toddler to elementary schooler and now she's in the fifth grade.  When I was setting up a craft for us to do that one evening last week, Abby said that she had to charge her tablet for school tomorrow and promptly bounced away to retrieve it and plug it into the kitchen wall.

I just stood there.  I couldn't actually wrap my head around it for a bit.  It was like there was a big sign saying GENERATIONAL GAP flashing in neon lights above my head!  When the idea of Abby routinely using a tablet for school sunk it, I began to re-evaluate what I knew about about reading and teaching.

Granted, I am still learning about these things.  But I have gained a good foundation of techniques and skills through growing up with a pro-active elementary school teacher for a mother, learning basic teaching techniques as part of my undergraduate degree, and working as a tutor and Assistant Director at Alma College's Writing Center.  Pushing back the slightly repetitive voice in my head saying "BUT YOU CAN'T USE A HIGHLIGHTER ON A SCREEN!!!" I decided to get a first hand, unbiased perspective about tablets in schools.

I asked Abby to show me her tablet and asked her loads of questions about how she uses it and what she likes about it.  Come to find out, tablets offer a plethora of resources that just printed textbooks could not.  In Abby's case, she uses her tablet for her math class.  The textbook is online and includes demonstrative videos, question and answer group chats, and e-mail directly connected to her teacher.  She liked that she could just type in the page number for her assignments and she likes using the "zoom" button to focus on just one problem of her homework at a time.  The technology did not confuse or frustrate her at all.  My own education based solely on printed textbook learning had clouded my judgement on the possibilities of tablets.  It's not so much that tablets offer better reading experiences, they offer more options for learning experiences.  Now I have even seen tablets, such as the iPad, advertised as a selling point in commercials for local school districts here in Michigan. 

I am beginning to compare the tablet create-a-niche phenomenon to other technologies.  Think about it:

Cell Phones:  "What would anyone need to carry a phone around on their person when they can just call who they need to when they get home?"

Texting:  "Why can't you just simply call?"

Even calculators: "Just add and subtract yourself!"

Now, each of these technologies has a distinct purpose.  Are they major advancements?  No.  But they have shaped how our society communicates and thinks.

Similarly, tablets have created a unique function:  Portable, instant accessibility with multi-media capabilities.  These features will certainly influence teaching methods with positive results.  Beyond the educational realm, the convenience and ease of reading a variety of material--books, magazines, newspapers--will impact our culture.  How we read, what we read, and why we read will become entwined with tablet reading habits.  And this is good!  Tablets encourage wide-range reading that encourages life-long learning.   

Now, I am by no means a complete tablet-only convert.  Do I think tablets and electronic reading should completely replace print?  No.  Print still offers a particular experience unique to its tangible nature.  Many have commented on the irreplaceable "smell of an old book" or "feel of turning a page" and I'm inclined to agree.  Maybe I have this feeling in part to nostalgia of reading experiences--you know the ones: Curled up with your mom with a picture book, snuggled into bed during a storm with a paperback, or sipping tea on a cold winter morning with the newspaper.  But even if that is my reason, my bias does not make it invalid.  These are experiences I still crave for myself and hope to maybe even eventually share with my own children someday.  Print holds history in its form more so than electronic renditions.

That being said, I find that electronic and print serve unique reading functions.  Tablets create wide-breadth reading experiences, as their convenience and content accessibility foster exploratory habits.  Print offers more focused reading experiences that better allows for contemplation.  As I write this paragraph, I recall an article I read about the way the brain tackles reading on screen versus on paper for my senior thesis, though I don't remember what I've done with it!  Once I find it, I'll probably be excited and dedicate a bit of blog writing to it.  Stay tuned!

So, in conclusion (because I like conclusions and re-caps!) as I continue my job search, I am excited to begin my career in publishing at such a innovative and evolutionary time!  

BEA Buzz

One of the most prominent pieces of advice I've been receiving about entering publishing is variations of: "Get to know the industry."

Taking this advice to heart, I've begun researching and reading everything I can about everything publishing. I've dived into issues of Publishers Weekly, "attended" Digital Book World webcasts, scoured the Literary Market Place, scrolled through LinkedIn articles by groups like Society of Young Publishers and Book Publishing Professionals, and, of course, employed uncountable Google searches.  Among my findings, I discovered the Book Expo America website.  The BEA is the largest annual trade fair in the U.S.A.  Now, I realize that the BEA is extremely well-known in the publishing industry--a publishing professional not knowing about the BEA is like a fish not knowing what water is--the BEA is essential in publishing.  I initially did not know this!  And I admit, I felt a bit silly since I am looking to start a publishing career.  But, as a recent graduate yet to land an entry-level job in the industry, I chalked up my unawareness to being a novice and quickly began to research everything there is to learn about the BEA to remedy this.

The BEA serves as a networking mecca for publishing professionals.  It is an opportunity for authors, booksellers, and publishers to show off their books, discuss the latest frontiers in publishing, and celebrate quality writing.  On the BEA website (http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/Home/), you'll find a full list of exhibitors, author events, new books and titles, BEA podcasts, and conference topics that span the gamut in publishing news.  

This year, the expo is located in New York City, but the BEA makes a point of ensuring that those who could not attend can still participate.  I definitely fall into the category of "those" people and I'm delighted to find way to access part of the BEA experience.

The BEA has integrated the expo experience with online outlets.  Tweeting and posting updates about current events, shout-outs to individuals, and sharing favorite quotes, the BEA Twitter page keeps you informed about the goings-on on the floor.  Follow @bookexpoamerica and the conversation with #BEA12!  Or leave a message on the BEA Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/bookexpoamerica.

Want to take a look at the action?  Browse through photos of exhibits, books, shops, and NYC sites on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/bookexpoamerica/.  Or visit the BEA on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/bookexpoamerica.

Still wish you were there? Take part and check out BEA's live-streaming feature, which I have conveniently linked to below:

Recent College Graduate

As you cross that stage to shake hands with your college president and receive your diploma (shake with your right, take with your left, your actual diploma sent in the mail a month afterwards), you become an "Alumnus" or "Alumna".  The fancy new initials you acquire (BS, BA, etc.)  fill you with a sense of accomplishment, bittersweet reflection, and encouragement for beginning the next stage of your life.  Then the ceremony ends, you move out of your college living accommodations one last time, and you realize:  You are a recent college graduate, what do you do now?

Some people move on to graduate school.  Others pick up an internship or student teaching.  And many begin to job-hunt and start their careers.  No matter what path you take, you shift from being a "college kid" to a "real adult."  But wait a second--there are lots of different kinds of adults, so many options and choices and opportunities to explore.  Which is right?  Which will make you happy?  What compromises will be ok and which ones may prove to be unbearable?  Which risks are worth the risk?  We are all looking for that first "big kid" job, something substantial, to be something more than minimum-wage school parking lot ticketers, lunch room card swipers, or mail room sorters.  We need more than just "college credit and wonderful work experience" to be the only compensation.  We wrestle with finding a job we like and just plain finding a job.  We are well-educated, driven, ambitious, highly qualified, and enthusiastic graduates and our choices now shape the foundation for the next stage of our lives.  Being a recent graduate marks a pivotal turning point.  Being a "Recent Graduate" = Identity Crisis!

I am a recent graduate from Alma College with a BA in English, a minor in writing, and English honors pursuing a career in publishing.  I also like to think of myself as a writer.  So to aid in my job-search, and for my own personal interest and enjoyment, I am starting this blog.  It will be a collection of smatterings inspired by my own life and loosely themed on writing and literature.  As my second blogging endeavor, (Check out my first from my year abroad, entitled "Living London," conveniently located right here on blogger.com!) I look forward to exploring the next stage for my identity here as a Recent College Graduate.  Feel free to read along!