I grew up on the top of a hill, in a duplex that was once a community laundry for factory workers. I only occasionally climbed trees, preferring instead to stay indoors and near my bookshelf. I excelled in reading, writing, and the arts and got low marks for sociability, which was fine with me as I already knew very well that books always provide the best company. I took up poetry and the double bass in elementary school and used them to provide stability for myself in a chaotic household.

With a mother from a small island in the Bahamas and a father from the mountains of Vermont, I was destined to be enamoured by the contradictory later in life. My love of learning led to me deciding to leave school by the time I was twelve. My enthrallment with the most abstract of literature pushed me into non-fiction writing. I find the most humor in the darkest of comedies. A perfectionist, I always pick the damaged item off the shelf.

All teenagers rebel against authority and structure, but I did it with particular skill. I unschooled myself, lived away from home before I'd ever been able to legally drive (which I still can't, for other reasons), and decided to not conform with the students at the local high school by turning into the most normal teenager around. I generally stayed out of the bad kinds of trouble and got myself deep into all the good ones.

I eventually became an adult. I worked in government for a year-and-a-half, realized it was leaving me empty inside, and went back to focusing on learning instead. I'm taking a very long time to finish my Bachelor's degree and love that. Most of my friends are applying to graduate programs now, while I am still deciding between about five different majors three years (and counting) into the experience. I am constantly debating whether to take a year off.

I spend most of my free time doing volunteer work. I'm active in a lot of causes and am an officer and board member of a variety of organizations. I like to keep myself busy and probably give myself way too much stress as a result. But that's okay, because my need for stress relief gives me a fine excuse to read more. And that's all I need to be content.