Hello, this is me.

On my first day of this internship, I'm having flashbacks to my 11th grade English class.  The one where I had to write a personal essay. The kind about myself. Eek. However, looking at those flashbacks now with a good extra six years of life experience I feel vaguely more prepared. Or I'll fake it til I make it…

I'm Shelby, a recent Mills College graduate, trying to make my way in life with a Bachelor's in English. When I was 12, I read Mrs. Dalloway for the first time, not understanding a word of it (no chapters! no plot! insanity!), but that was the moment when I decided I wanted to work in literature, whatever that means. Be it reading, writing, or helping others do a bit of both, it's a pretty great life to lead. My 12-year-old self would also be really impressed with my senior thesis on Virginia Woolf, and I like to think that her opinion is all that matters.

I am a Bay Area native—although some silly people will debate the Bay Area-ness of the suburbs on the other side of the tunnel—with a love for crafts, finding the perfect parking spot, long sentences, and breaking the writing "rules" I learned in junior high.

This is a very exciting, though nerve-wracking, day for me. I'm looking forward to working with all of these eclectic, passionately literary people. And I'm looking forward to getting back into writing; apparently a two-month long hiatus between graduating in December and now is too long. So, yay! And hello!

– Shelby