Ave! (That's Latin for "Hello")

irony: n. the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning
sarcasm: n. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound

Top authors:
GK Chesterton, CS Lewis, Jane Austen, Fydor Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, St. Augustine, John Donne, Dante Alighieri, James Joyce, Aristotle, Virgil, Ovid, Catullus, Euripides, Aristophanes, and others... many others.

Top 10 Favorite works: (N.B.: Because I'm an English major and can't do math (or can I? is that just an excuse? it's certainly the reason I didn't major in Biochemistry or Engineering - anyway), there will be more than 10...)
Pride and Prejudice, Crime and Punishment, Emma, Nichomachean Ethics, The Divine Comedy, Iliad, Odyssey, Beowulf, anything by Shakespeare (the man is a genius) - particularly The Tempest and Hamlet, The Ballad of the White Horse, The Aeneid, The Metamorphoses (Ovid)...

Favorite Genres:
Greek tragedy, Latin elegy (and the modern counterpart, the sonnet), epic, poetry of various kinds

Favorite literary devices:
All of them, especially anaphora

About Me:

Age: 22
Status: 9th semester student in college (super senior!)
Majors: English, Classics (Latin and Greek)
Important influences in my writing: My Catholic faith; my interests in the ancient and medieval worlds, in their languages, cultures, etc; my interest in the origin of the English language/culture and the origin of ideas; my mood swings (female); things I have experienced or am experiencing (you write what you know, let's face it); things I question, doubt, or am figuring out
Why I haven't written anything in a while: I've been busy with school and largely uninspired... however, despite my inactive state in writing, this does not mean that I have completely lost the will to write anything, so be prepared, but not too prepared, to see new things from time to time.
Writing Plans:

1. I have a plan for a novel that will be loosely based on my observation of a kindergarten classroom when I was taking an Introduction to Education class (I want to be a teacher); each child will be a focal point for each chapter, and a lesson they learned in kindergarten will be applied to their everyday life when they've grown up.

2. I also hope to practice my poetic skills that I've acquired with these English/Classics degrees, as well as maybe write a few vignettes, essays, etc.

3. I also hope to develop a new poetic style for Latin poetry.

Career Plans: Teaching; potentially, graduate school in Classics; hoping to pursue a side-career in musical performance and writing; also, I hope to be involved in more volunteer work.
Why "Ironic Presence": I often felt when I was 17 that I was different than other people; I felt like I was just an out-of-place person who didn't belong in the conversations that often happen in a high school setting, so I began to feel like my presence there was almost dramatic irony. I was a contrast to the world around me; I felt I was a presence, more than anything else, because I was fully there and alive, but I didn't necessarily feel corporeal... more or less a ghost. I wasn't always a "sarcastic" presence because I didn't necessarily feel malevolent or biting, though perhaps there is a certain amount of sarcasm present in some types of irony. I don't feel so out of place anymore, which is the joy of making it past that transitional phase, from teenager to young adult.
Random Fact: I really, really, really, really, really love penguins.

If you need an editor... send me a PM, because my major is basically grammar, language, and literary criticism. As a future teacher in either English or Latin, I like the practice, and I give practical, fair, and sometimes tough criticism. Remember: I'm a college student in my senior year, so I am BUSY. If it's short, I will be more likely to read it than if it's long.

Please read my work and review. Remember that I've had this site up and running since I was 17, so some things are better than others; this is by necessity true because I've learned more about poetic techniques and writing in college and I've gained more experience. Sometimes, I just have an off-day.