Teens aren't allowed to exist in public

Reading is fundamental

One of the greatest feelings in the world is coming across a book that captures your interest. Not a book that you could read, a book that you find so enthralling that you absolutely have to read it. This is a rare occasion, a once-in-a-blue-moon moment. It's a beautiful experience . Not every book is going to appeal to you. Even the greatest book ever written isn't going to be for everyone. Entertainment is a personal preference. Read what you want! That's the beauty of it. I wasn't a huge rea…

Some people still dog-ear their books

Literature was my least favorite subject growing up. It felt like the teachers (and later, professors) had some elevated sense of self that required them to be dismissive of any analysis that was different than their own. While discussing the tired and antiquated Scarlet Letter , the woman would cock her head when I spoke, letting me know she “didn't follow” and “not quite sure I understand.” Weird flex, but okay. The low caliber of English literature teachers le me to pursue other related cour…

It's pretty common knowledge that English is far from the most logical of languages. I can't imagine how difficult it is to make sense of words like “their”, “there,” and “they're." Spelling may not be quite as difficult as Gaelic or Welsh, but making sense of silent letters must be frustrating.

Fantasy, smut, rom-com, memoirs, sci-fi, horror, and more—there's a meme for every genre of book nerd!

Anyone else on the Hunger Games side of TikTok?

“What are you reading right now?” is one of the scariest questions an intellectual hot person can ask you. It's a question more loaded than a baked potato because there is a correct and incorrect answer to it.

If there's one author that we have all probably read at some point, it's William Shakespeare. I was such a fan of his that I took two Shakespeare courses in college and subsequently had to buy The Complete Works of William Shakespeare twice (my second professor required a different edition). I loved that Shakespeare's plays were so interesting to analyze. They weren't so challenging that I couldn't understand anything, but they were no walk in the park either. There's a reason he's one of the o…

Literacy was a mistake

Quiet reading time

It's a well-known fact that January is probably the worst month to be a gym member . While it's never fun to share equipment (or space, or smells) with a host of strangers, the discomfort increases tenfold at the beginning of the year, when amateurs sign up for new memberships as part of their New Year's resolutions. The presence of these newbies can be jarring, and, in some cases, can actually influence people to stop going to the gym for a while. They'll wait to return until the influx subsid…

If memes are anything, they're ever present. We tend to think of memes as a newfangled 21st century invention, but that is simply not the case. Look at any newspaper or magazine from the 20th century, and you'll see some marvelous memes in unexpected places. In college, I visited my schools archives with the University humor magazine. The publication had been in print since 1911, so when we were able to look through old copies of the magazine, we were surprised to find how much meme formats of…

I've always been a huge library head. Before the pandemic, it was one of the only places I could really focus and get lots of schoolwork done. Libraries range in their interiors from static and office building-esque to stunningly gorgeous and Hogwarts adjacent. Luckily for me, I love all libraries whether they're fluorescently lit design messes or dark academia havens that harken back to a time long-since passed. Libraries offer so much more than simply a place for students to study; there are…

It's easy to write something and never go back to edit it. After all, there are only so many hours in a day to get things done, and in many jobs, if you throw something onto the page, often nobody will clock your errors. No matter your job, it's usually a good idea to know how to spell, and if you don't, it's a good idea to have someone who can spell-check your work. Our brains aren't necessarily wired to pick up on spelling errors immediately, especially when we're reading something quickly. L…