NaNoWriMo 2013

I have decided to step out of my comfort zone and try something at which it is very likely I will fail. 

As probably very few of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month (affectionately called NaNoWriMo). The point of NaNoWriMo is for aspiring writers around the world to encourage each other as participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and November 30th. 

I’ve heard a couple of my book club friends discuss their experiences with the challenge, and, of course, tumblr is full of aspiring writers. So, I’ve decided to give it a shot. Yes, on top of keeping up with my schoolwork. This is really a big step for me because my motto tends to be: “I don’t do things I’m not good at.” I tend to be really critical of myself as a creative writer, so this will be an interesting opportunity to work on building my confidence as a writer. 

Taking a leap of faith and trying new things has been a bit of a theme in my life recently, so I’m excited to see where this experience will take me. 

All that to say: if you need me, I’ll probably be holed up in coffee shops for the next month with a journal and a cup of hot chocolate. 

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars

I’m developing a terrible habit of only wanting to review books I find exceptional, which really defeats the purpose of writing book reviews. 

John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars definitely falls into the “exceptional” category. In fact, it’s probably my new favorite book. Anyone who is familiar with my reading history knows that A Tale of Two Cities has been my favorite book since I first picked it up four years ago in my tenth grade English class. For me, it’s difficult to find a book that even comes close to Dickens’ classic, but this book has done the impossible and dethroned A Tale of Two Cities. 

Granted, the two books fall in very separate categories. If you aren’t familiar with the story of ATOTC, I highly encourage you to pick it up, but this review will only focus on Green’s novel. 

To give a quick summary, the story focuses on Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen-year-old girl battling terminal cancer. She forms a friendship and begins to fall in love with a fellow cancer survivor: Augustus Waters. The book follows their beautiful story as they bond over Peter Van Houten’s An Imperial Affliction and struggle with a question that everyone can relate to: When I die, will I be remembered? 

John Green is an absolutely brilliant writer. I’m familiar with Green from his famous YouTube videos, which made reading this book even more fun. I shouldn’t be surprised I enjoyed this book so much – it spent seven consecutive weeks in the #1 spot of The New York Times Best Seller list for Children’s Books (though it should be noted that I definitely would not call this a “children’s book”). The work is full of witty banter between the two main characters as well as touching moments that avoid being too cheesy. Green does an amazing job of creating characters that seem real. He doesn’t paint a rosy picture of two heroic cancer survivors. He shows the characters at both their best and their worst, making them relatable to readers.

More impressively, I can honestly say there is not a dull moment in this book. I tend to put a book down at a dull point and pick it up later on so I don’t get too bored. That was not necessary with this book. I read the whole thing in less than 24 hours. I laughed. I cried. And I wanted to throw this book at a wall. But I think those are emotions every reader feels when reading a truly great novel. 

When I closed this book last night and tried to cope with the intense melancholy that was consuming me, I had a telling realization:

I felt like if I never had the chance to read a book again, I would be okay because I got to end with that one.

Rating: 5/5 (I’m tempted to change my previous review to 4/5 just so this book can be in a league of its own.) 

Book Review: Atonement

This is my first attempt at a book review, and I could not have chosen a better book with which to begin. 

This book is divided into four parts – each beautifully and brilliantly different than the other three. The first 240 pages reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird. This section focuses on 13-year-old aspiring writer Briony Tallis, whose misinterpretation of adult motivations and actions leads her to wrongfully accuse a servant’s son – Robbie – of a crime that’s consequences would follow him through the horrors of World War II. The book is a bit slow to get started, but something about McEwan’s storytelling captivated me from the beginning. There were certainly times I questioned why I kept reading, but I never considered putting the book down. 

The second part of the book follows Robbie through the carnage of WWII. McEwan’s vivid descriptions of the scenes Robbie witnesses as a soldier are absolutely incredible. Like the first part of the novel, it gets a bit slow at times, but at least by now I understood why I was so interested in the story. 

In the third section, the reader is reunited with an 18-year-old Briony who is now working as a nurse at a hospital for wounded soldiers. The repercussions of her false testimony are becoming more evident as we see where the other key characters are five years after the crime. 

The final section skips ahead to 1999, but that’s all I will say about that for fear of ruining the beautiful ending.

This is definitely a book that is defined by its ending. As a reader, my favorite moment is when the pieces start to fall into place and the author’s vision for the work finally becomes clear and it’s brilliant. McEwan certainly did not disappoint. As the final pieces fell into place, I felt in awe of the masterpiece he created. 

His descriptions of specific moments – their smells, lighting, and sounds – are fantastic, but his style was even more impressive. The writing style ages with the characters. In the first section, Briony is an amateur writer; the shorter chapters and limited understanding of each character’s motivations reflect that. By the second and third section, the work becomes much more focused and develops a much more fluid style as its creator matures as a writer. McEwan’s prose and the brilliance of the conclusion of this novel easily make it one of my new favorite books.

Rating: 5/5

I can’t believe it’s already been a month since I moved out of my dorm room. Summer is flying by! I’m finding that my free time consists of two things: reading and Gilmore Girls. I love Gilmore Girls not only because the dialogue is fantastic but also because I think I’m a lot like Rory. One thing we have in common: we love to read.

The past few days I’ve looked through the many websites I use to find book lists in an effort to compile a list of every book Rory reads on the show. None of them are 100% accurate, but I found one that’s pretty darn close.

I’ve only read 33 (if I counted correctly) and about 20 or so are on my bookshelf just waiting to be read. I’m hoping I can one day complete this list in addition to every Barnes and Noble Classic! I figured I’d go ahead and share the incredibly long list for any fellow bookworms.

1984 by George Orwell

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Archidamian War by Donald Kagan

The Art of Fiction by Henry James

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Babe by Dick King-Smith

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney

The Bhagava Gita

The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy

Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel

A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner

Candide by Voltaire

The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

Carrie by Stephen King

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman

Christine by Stephen King

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty

A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

Complete Novels by Dawn Powell

The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton

Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas pre

Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Cujo by Stephen King

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Deenie by Judy Blume

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx

The Divine Comedy by Dante

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Don Quijote by Cervantes

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

Eloise by Kay Thompson

Emily the Strange by Roger Reger

Emma by Jane Austen

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Ethics by Spinoza

Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Extravagance by Gary Krist

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore

The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan

Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce

Fletch by Gregory McDonald

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger

Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg

Gidget by Fredrick Kohner

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels

The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

The Gospel According to Judy Bloom

The Graduate by Charles Webb

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Group by Mary McCarthy

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare

Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare

Henry V by William Shakespeare

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris

The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton

House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland

Howl by Allen Gingsburg

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

The Iliad by Homer

I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Inferno by Dante

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy

It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence

The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Love Story by Erich Segal

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The Manticore by Robertson Davies

Marathon Man by William Goldman

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir

Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken

The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin

Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor

A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman

Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret

A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh

My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken

My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest

Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen

New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson

The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Night by Elie Wiesel

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan

Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell

Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Old School by Tobias Wolff

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Othello by Shakespeare

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

Out of Africa by Isac Dineson

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker

The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche

The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Property by Valerie Martin

Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Quattrocento by James Mckean

A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall

Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman

The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien

R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton

Rita Hayworth by Stephen King

Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert

Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition

Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James

The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman

Selected Hotels of Europe

Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Several Biographies of Winston Churchill

Sexus by Henry Miller

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Shane by Jack Shaefer

The Shining by Stephen King

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton

Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway

Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore

The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht

Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos

The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker

Songbook by Nick Hornby

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams

Stuart Little by E. B. White

Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett

Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

Time and Again by Jack Finney

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The Trial by Franz Kafka

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Ulysses by James Joyce

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Unless by Carol Shields

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker

What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles

What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

AU CANADA!

Well, the plane and train tickets to Montreal are officially booked. Notice the return flights haven’t been booked yet. If we’re not back at Baylor by about January 12th, just assume we enrolled in a Canadian university.

This year’s Christmas break is going to be incredibly cold, yet absolutely unforgettable. 

I’ve always wanted to travel. The idea of exploring new places excites me. I have an entire journal dedicated to planning trips I could never actually afford waiting tables five days a week. My dorm room walls are covered in maps of Africa, the UK, France, and a five-foot world map. I’ve sat staring at that world map, thinking of all the places I want to go. France, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Germany, Lichtenstein, the list never ends. Someday, each of these countries will have a little blue destination pin indicating that I once stepped foot in that country. 

During Christmas break of my senior year, I had the opportunity to visit Italy with my mom. We spent about a week in Rome with a day trip to Florence in the middle of the week. I’ll never forget that feeling as we flew over New York City, the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland, the Pyrenees Mountains, and finally into Rome at about 6 am. The excitement was unparalleled. 

I loved spending a week seeing paintings, sculptures, and buildings I had only seen on TV and in books. I found it so entertaining to attempt to decipher a language that I could not even construct a complete sentence in. And I loved walking down streets I had never stepped on before. 

This winter, I’ll get to explore french-speaking Canada with one of my best friends. Except this time, we’ll actually get to communicate with people in their own language! Motivation to study for French class just increased dramatically. 

While the two main destinations are exciting, I’m just as thrilled about the journey. With stops in St. Louis, Washington DC, and New York City, we’ll create memories that we’ll certainly never forget…and we’ll be sure to never forget them by documenting every moment of this trip.

This is only the beginning of all the amazing adventures awaiting over the next several years. Now that the departing flights are booked, the reality of this trip we’ve been planning for months is starting to set in. 

I’m getting to travel. Time to buy some blue pins for that world map. 

I’m an Introvert, and I Like It That Way

As another semester comes to a close, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on how much I’ve changed in just four short months. Coming into this semester, I was determined to find my niche here at Baylor. That meant stepping out of my comfort zone and actually trying to meet people. Fortunately, I picked a really good place to start: First Baptist Church of Waco. Turns out, the college group at FBC is stocked with people who genuinely enjoy introducing themselves to others. All I had to do was show up and do what I do best: listen. 

The first couple months at my new church I made sure to put the effort in to go to every college group “party” (our idea of a party involves 2-stepping and Dr. Pepper) and social event. I liked hanging out with my new friends but found I enjoyed myself the most when I could step away from all the action and just have one-on-one conversations with my close friends. As the semester progressed, I found myself passing on certain events that I knew would draw in a lot of people and leaving others early from exhaustion or boredom. At many of these church parties, I found myself longing for a quiet room and a good book.

This really started to bother me. I didn’t understand why I didn’t like “having fun.” Excessive criticism of my boringness from my friends would result in bad moods and an even stronger desire to just be alone. I’ve always known I’m an introvert, so I decided to start researching introversion a bit to see why I am so quiet and why that’s such an issue with people. Susan Cain’s TED talk and book on this issue were particularly influential in helping me realize who I am and why. I want to share my findings because I think it will be beneficial to other introverts and it will help extraverts understand why I am the way I am. 

Studies disagree on the actual percentage of introverts, but the number seems to be around 25-33%. In America – often considered one of the most extroverted nations – it’s safe to say that number is definitely closer to one-fourth than one-third. However, if everyone I knew who classified themselves as introverts were actually introverts, that number would be much closer to 80%. Because of this, I want to tackle some misconceptions about introversion in an attempt to give it a more accurate definition.

1. Introversion is not the same as shyness. Shyness is a dislike of social interaction due to a fear of criticism. This is the old correlation-causation problem. Introversion does not cause shyness, though shy people are most likely introverted. 
2. We do not hate people. Well, at least not all people. Yes, loud people make me irritable. Rather, we prefer to have a few close friends that we connect with on a very deep level. Because of this, our close friendships are pretty much permanent. I’ve had the same best friend since I was six years old. She may live hundreds of miles away now, but we still talk multiple times a week. There’s no sign that’ll ever change. 
3. Introverts cannot just “fix themselves” to become more extraverted. Introversion is actually the result of a sensitivity to the neurotransmitter dopamine. If an introvert’s body produces too much dopamine, he feels over-stimulated. This is why you’ll rarely meet an introvert who’s an adrenaline junkie. Additionally, while the blood in an extravert’s brain flows to the areas involved in sensory processing, the blood in an introvert’s brain flows to the areas involved in planning and problem solving. So yes, there is a scientific reason why I hate large groups of people and loud settings. Who would’ve guessed?
4. A love of reading or critical thinking does not make you an introvert. Spending time alone once in a blue moon does not make you an introvert either. Not to sound like I’m kicking people out of some exclusive club, but I think it’s important to ensure people realize the difference. 

An introvert is essentially someone who thrives off of alone time. We don’t hate being around people all the time; we just need more time to ourselves to recharge. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand this. I’ll never forget the hurtful text message I received after telling a much-too-hyper friend that I just wanted to read alone in my room for awhile. It’s not that we don’t like spending time with our friends. My ideal day would probably involve sitting in a large room with a few close friends, each of us reading quietly. I like their presence, but I don’t see the need for constant action and noise. 

There’s also this idea in America that introversion is a bad thing. Ironically enough, over 75% of gifted students are classified as introverts, but for some reason, American schools are now designed for extraverts. Instead of sitting in rows, we have to sit in groups and interact…even in math. Those of us who prefer to work independently see our participation grades drop because we didn’t consult with our group members enough. This may be a side note, but “consulting with group members” really just means one kid explains the material to or even does the work for everyone else. 

Additionally, employers now focus on a much more group-oriented approach to problem solving. While talking about ideas with others is beneficial sometimes, it’s not when it’s the only method of problem solving. The extraverts will dominate this kind of discussion and the introverts, who may have good ideas, will just sit back and listen because the last thing we want is to be in the spotlight. 

I have a secret: introversion is not a problem. There is nothing wrong with enjoying spending time in deep, contemplative thought. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked, “Why don’t you just try to be more extraverted?” Parents are often given methods to make their children more outgoing and extraverted. We’re told that we’re much more likely to succeed if we’re extraverted. Our society wants to change introverts. That’s because they don’t realize the value of them.

That amazing Apple computer you’re possibly reading this on would not exist if it weren’t for an introvert – Steve Wozniak. He invented the first Hewlett-Packard computer while sitting alone at his desk. And our beloved Harry Potter series? Yeah, JK Rowling is an introvert – most writers are. Oh, and my personal favorite: Jesus. How many times do we read about Jesus going off alone to think? Yes, he addressed large crowds, but he had a close group of friends – 12, to be exact – and even found himself needing time away from them quite often. 

I’m certainly not saying there’s something wrong with being an extravert. My three best friends are extraverts because they were willing to take the first step and reach out to me. However, I do think we need to be much more accepting of the fact that introversion is not a bad thing. There is not a need to “fix” introverts. We have just as much to offer as an extravert, we’re just a lot quieter about it. Steve Wozniak needed the extraverted Steve Jobs to sell his product, but Steve Jobs also needed the introverted Steve Wozniak to have a product in the first place. 

Bottom line: This semester I’ve affirmed the fact that I am, indeed, an introvert. I’ve learned, though, that this is not a problem. I like my few close friendships. I also like my books and the cubicles in the quiet section of the library. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I may be an introvert, but I like it that way. 

We are the Body

This past week, I was in Shaw, Mississippi on a mission trip with my college group at FBC Waco. We partnered with the mayor of Shaw and a few local churches as we transformed a library into a police station, tutored local children, and preached services at a few different churches. I love to write after mission trips because I think it brings a lot of clarity to a very hectic week, so I spent much of the eight-hour trip home reflecting on the trip and debating what to write about. There were so many aspects of this trip that impacted me, so I’ll probably have to break up everything over multiple days. However, I want to begin by talking about the town itself and the role we can play in it. 

Shaw is a tiny town located in the Mississippi Delta region. The town itself is only 1 square mile and has less than 2,000 residents. The median income in Shaw is less than $20,000 with 41% of the families in the city living below the poverty line. Shaw is home to ten night clubs but does not have a single grocery store. It’s clear that it used to be a thriving little town but was hit hard by the recession and hasn’t been able to recover. 

I spent Monday morning hammering nails as we worked to construct new walls for the library we were turning into a police station. Our college group was supposed to be split into two smaller groups with one group focusing on construction and the other gardening for some local nuns. When plans fell through with the nuns, the non-construction group was sent on a “prayer walk.” Essentially, groups of four or five walked around the downtown area picking up trash and praying over the people of Shaw. 

On Tuesday morning, my friends and I volunteered to go on a prayer walk. This was an incredibly eye-opening experience. Less than 100 yards from the police station, we found an open field covered in trash. We started picking up the beer bottles that weren’t shattered and easily filled six trash bags. This got me thinking: a bottle of Heineken (probably the most popular bottle we picked up) costs $3.52 (don’t worry, I had to google this). Let’s say each trash bag held about 100 bottles. That makes at least 600 bottles. Now multiply by $3.52 and you get $2,112. We picked up at least $2,000 worth of beer bottles in a single field, and this doesn’t even count the hundreds of shattered bottles. Now imagine what would happen if that $2,000 was spent on something worthwhile for the town. Amazing. 

After picking up as much as possible from the field, we decided to explore the downtown area. Downtown Shaw consists of a single strip featuring barred up stores that have long been closed. The only people we really passed were the inmates who were out picking up trash along the street. The whole time I was walking down the sidewalk, I tried to picture what the town probably looked like 50 years ago. My thoughts immediately jumped to Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show. I imagined a town where everyone knew each other and the little stores and eateries on the main road were always packed. Unfortunately, that’s not the Shaw I got to experience.

Feeling adventurous, Allie, Kate, and I crossed the little river that led to where the people actually live. Across from a little Methodist church, I saw a monument engraved with the name Jane Bingham Simpson. I did a little research and found that Jane was 19 years old when she passed away in 1965. There wasn’t much to read about her, but I found out a lot about her family. The Simpsons LOVED sports. Their favorite athletes? Peyton and Eli Manning. Now, if you know anything about me, you know that’s enough for me to bond with someone. I somehow felt this connection to this girl who passed away 30 years before I was even born. 

The purpose of the monument was to dedicate the playground to Jane. The striking thing about this: there wasn’t a playground anywhere nearby. The only thing I saw that resembled a playground was a tennis court covered in weeds and lacking lines and a net. This honestly frustrated me. A church in this poor town wanted to do something for this girl’s family, so they decide to build a playground in her honor. My guess is they couldn’t afford to build or maintain something as simple as a playground. I immediately began thinking about how much I wanted us to be able to build a playground here if FBC is able to build a partnership with Shaw. 

In my head, I saw images of local children laughing as they rode the swings or dangled from the monkey bars or shot hoops on a real basketball court. Something as simple as a playground could bring so much life to a dying town. 

A few streets over, we discovered a tiny neighborhood playground with a couple swings and a small slide. I felt a bit better realizing kids had somewhere to play, but as I looked down the streets, my mind began thinking about the torn up tennis court again. Most of the houses on the street had a basketball goal out front, but the backboards were bent, the nets were nonexistent, and anyone who wanted to play would have to dribble on gravel. There were kids out trying, but I couldn’t help but picture these kids playing on a real outdoor court with a functioning backboard and decent asphalt. This could even lead to something like sports ministries. 

In Romans 10:13-15, Paul writes:

“For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!'” 

Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 28 that our job as Christians is to go spread the gospel, but it’s not always as easy as simply walking into a town and talking to people about Jesus. We have to establish our ethos before anyone is going to care about what we have to say. In my opinion, one way to build this credibility is through the works we do for an area. Our congregations in the churches we spoke to weren’t as big as we may have hoped or expected, but people driving through the downtown area of Shaw saw what we were doing and were intrigued. While I was walking around town, a few people came up to me and asked what made us decide to help out Shaw. This opened the door for conversations about the services we were leading in local churches. People saw what we were doing for their community – they saw us being the hands and feet of Christ – and they wanted to hear more about what we had to say. 

Those we serve are going to care when they know we care. We were able to back up our words with actions, and that’s why people were open to hearing about our purpose. I can only hope this is just the beginning of a long partnership with Shaw, and that we have the opportunity to return and continue to make a difference in this special community. 

Words are Magic

Like most kids of my generation, I grew up reading Harry Potter. The magic and mystery of every book inspired even those who didn’t love to read to pick up a book and join the students of Hogwarts on an incredible journey. When I was in elementary school, I loved to read. I was one of the only students who actually read the books I checked out from the library, and I constantly challenged myself to read books of higher difficulty than was expected of an eight-year-old. When middle school rolled around, I found myself frustrated as my friends passed me in reading speed and ability. I became discouraged, and the only books I would read on a regular basis were my Harry Potter books. While I loved the story, it was the characters that kept me interested. Many of the characters were more than just a name on a page. They came to life in our minds and in our hearts and impacted us more than the average character in a teen book series. In the second part of the seventh movie (unfortunately it’s not actually in the books, from what I remember), Dumbledore says something to Harry that has always stuck with me.

While standing in a train station at a point where Harry seems to be between life and death, Dumbledore says to Harry:
“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic…”

This quote is why I decided to start a blog. Words have so much power. We live in a world dominated by the 10-second sound bite and 140 character news update. Sometimes that just isn’t enough. Sometimes thoughts need to be elaborated on to make a real impact or to draw meaningful conclusions. Dumbledore was right (as always), words are an inexhaustible source of magic, so why not make good use of them?