My name is Emily Crawley and I am currently a sophomore at Arkansas State University. Although I was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, all of my life I’ve lived in a small town of about 400 in northeastern Arkansas called Maynard.
As of the Fall 2018 semester, I’m on the path to an early graduation in December of 2020 because of the concurrent credit hours I collected in high school. Even if I don’t graduate early, I’m planning on ending my college career after I receive my bachelor’s.
I’m not a huge movie buff, but the last good movie I watched was in the theater — Baby Driver. I really admired this movie, first of all, because of the great use of music that was the basis of the main character. The film was a love story that hid behind an action-oriented facade. It told the story of a boy, Baby, who had a rough childhood, who worked as a getaway driver in a changing crew of criminals who pulled off high-stake heists to pay off a debt to the group’s leader. One day, Baby meets this girl and falls in love. He goes through hell and back to pay off his debt and remain in a stable relationship with this girl. I admire this movie because it shows the lengths one might go through just to be with another person. It’s the kind of love I aspire for, minus all the robberies and deaths.
For the majority of my music needs, I use Spotify. Recently I’ve been listening to a few new albums, including Wonderful Wonderful by The Killers and Pray For the Wicked by Panic! at the Disco. I also recently traveled to Target and picked up the new Florence and the Machine Album, High As Hope. I’m a lover of nearly all genres of music, but alternative pop is probably my favorite.
When I was a lot younger, reading books was one medium I used to escape from the real world. These days, not so much. However, there were a few memorable books in my life that I really admired. Delirium by Lauren Oliver continues to stand out in my mind from the day I began reading it back in 6th grade. Delirium is a book about love, and how it is banned in society. It really spoke to me because love is an emotion that I believe I feel more strongly than the people around me. It made me consider what life would be like with an absence of love. I figured out quickly that it would be a world not worth living in. The book the stands out most in my life, however, would have to be How To Ruin Everything by George Watsky. Watsky is a decently well-known musician that I recently came across because of this book. How To Ruin Everything is a collection of stories from Watsky’s life that really had no end lessons. They were just accounts of events that perhaps not many people had experienced, such as becoming an ivory smuggler or doing spoken word performances with a crowd of three. I hold this book near and dear to my heart because it’s so real. The lives of other people in the world interest me immensely, and to read about another real human who has actually done these fantastic and strange things gives me hope that my life won’t be as cut and dry as the lives of most of the people in the world.
Personally, I’m a big fan of photography. National Geographic definitely delivers on that front. Although I’m not subscribed, never have been, and probably never will be, I inherited a collection of National Geographic magazines from my older sister. I would flip through them from time to time and check out the quality and subjects of the photographs they featured, hoping one day I could have my own work on those very pages. The dream lives on.
When it comes to the Internet, I feel better than average. Although I don’t know every in and out of the web, I would consider myself a solid 9 out of 10 when it comes to Internet familiarity. The first time I probably ever encountered the Internet in my own personal way was when my sister, who is about 3 years older than me, showed me this website called KittenTracks. It was a website where you raised virtual cats and joined the community to make friends and breed the best lineage of cats. I became obsessed. I was an active and excited member of KittenTracks as it was gaining traction, I got to see its glory days, and I stuck around until the site came under new management and it eventually died out. KittenTracks was my gateway website, if you will, to the rest of the Internet. These days, I typically browse the web from my smartphone or laptop, mainly doing Google searches to find out information fast. However, I do use social media quite often, such as Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube. Most of these I use for entertainment purposes or keeping up with others and communicating with my friends. I also enjoy sharing content on my accounts that I am fond of or find amusement in. So, in regards to social media, I’m your typical teenager.
I haven’t completely found a direction or sense of purpose in my life yet. I don’t quite know what I want to dedicate myself to besides helping others, spreading joy, and creating a sense of wonder in the world. In saying that, I’ve grown fond of photography as a hobby. I love taking moments in time and being able to preserve them so that, one day, myself and others will be able to look back and remember. I’ve also picked up a growing interest in art. I’d love to be able to get into pottery, and if I enjoy it enough, it would be an incredible hobby to pick up. Since I am a very passionate person, the things I do reflect that. Whether it be my school work or any hobby I pick up, I like to work on it until I reach my own standards.
I’d like to conclude with a quote from Alan Watts, a philosopher I admire very much.
“No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”
Email: emily.crawley@smail.astate.edu
Emily Crawley 