Meet the Readers

We met in the fall of 2006 in a Spanish class at Colorado Christian University. Initially we were enemies and did not associate with one-another outside of Spanish, but a year later, in a small, snowed-in cabin in the winter forests of Wyoming, the two became dearest friends. We have worked together, lived together, and done silly ridiculous things together. Now we'll conquer these books together.

 

(They let us graduate.  What were they thinking?)

Meet Morgan

My name is Morgan and I am an addict. I have a severe addiction to traveling, India, and pickles. Recently I completed my degree in Elementary Education and am now looking for a job as a teacher. In between substitute teaching and barista-ing, I try to engage myself in cultural pastimes like reading. Have you ever watched a movie or heard people talking and you thought, Gosh, if I had ever read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, I would sound much more intelligent in this conversation? I think about that all the time! Except the Heart of Darkness part – that, I’ve read. Aside from feeling the need to be more culturally aware, I just appreciate gaining new perspectives. As you can see, I’m not an African-American woman, so by reading something by Toni Morrison, I’m able to get outside myself and understand, even if only a small portion, something that has not happened to me. Perhaps by gaining that insight I will become a better person. Or just a hermit.

I don’t just read in my spare time. I love hearing about people; where their hearts are, how they manage their stress, what color are they going to paint the bathroom? I try to sew, I love to cook/bake, and scrapbooking is how I de-stress after a long day (maybe with a glass of white wine). Above all, I really just strive to live my life in a way that honors what I believe. One of my foremost driving passions is stopping the trafficking of young children in India. It bothers me when people talk about injustice in the world and then take no steps to solve those problems. Also, (although I know this is irrational and far more superficial) I am bothered by extreme and unnecessary jaw movement.

• Favorite Writers: Oswald Chambers, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, J. K. Rowling (don’t you dare judge me)
• Books that Have Impacted My Life: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn; The Bible by God; My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Meet Ash

Hi, I'm Ash.  Because of of too many Ashlees in my elementary classes and the obnoxious clique on the late 90s cartoon, Recess, I go by Ash.  In May I finished my English degree, so reading is part of who I am.  It feels as familiar and comfortable as sweatpants after 5 PM.  Maybe it's because I read books on Saturday mornings instead of watching cartoons or played newspaper editor and librarian frequently, but I can't get enough words.  It isn't uncommon for a paragraph or stanza to make me laugh, cry, cuss, or pause and re-read... simultaneously.  Ask Morgan; she's heard me.

When not reading I enjoy visiting coffee shops, jogging slowly (while pretending to run a marathon), doing artsy-fartsy projects to make my little apartment prettier, listening to music, drinking red wine and black coffee (not together), and hiking in the mountains.  I've been blessed to travel to lots of places, but I'd love to go to each continent and learn a second language completely.  Someday I want to be a social worker and help kids and women in America and Africa go to college, so they can change their communities and get out of poverty, prostitution, etc.  That's my big dream.  I believe in a simple life... sharing it with the people I love and finding meaning in the mundane.  Oh, and I love plaid.  It makes me a little weak at the knees.  But I strongly dislike writing with blue pens; it makes my skin itch.

• Favorite Writers:  Donald Miller, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennyson, Virginia Woolf, Leo Tolstoy, Billy Collins, and Jonathan Safran Foer
• Several Books that Have Undoubtedly Changed My Life:  Silence by Shusaku Endo, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, The Confessions by St. Augustine, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, and The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstein