The obligatory "This is me!" post (in words and pictures)

Hi, my name is Sarah. "Raven" comes from my bird name from when I was a camp counselor, and I'm a girl--ergo, "A Girl Called Raven." I decided to create a blog because I end up processing way too much in my head and then forgetting most of it because I'm more of a writer than a speaker. Anyway, here's an introduction to my world.


1. This is me. This is me in a dress, which doesn't happen very often. This is me with a new haircut, which also doesn't happen very often.

2. This is me with my family. I am the oldest child and the shortest. The blondish one is the tallest and the youngest (he's not really blond, but the rest of us are dark enough that he sort of looks blond). We are very Italian and very crazy.















3. I live in West Philadelphia. I just moved in to a new house. But I'm not moved into my room yet, because it looks like this.

4. This is one of my new housemates, Emily. She is way, way cooler than I am. Our other housemate is her sister.

5. We just put insulation in my room. After we were done, we sorta looked as furry as this.

6. I have my Bachelor's and Master's in English Lit, which means that I'm a Certified Literature Nerd (TM). I'll probably geek out about books on this blog. I do try not to be a snob about it. But it's hard when your favorite book is this.

6. I like a lot of folk-rock kind of stuff: Over the Rhine, The Wailin' Jennys, and The Be Good Tanyas, with a side dish of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy, and Amos Lee. This is Over the Rhine.

7. I was raised Protestant and became Catholic when I was in college. That's a long story. I spent a year hanging out with the Capuchin Franciscans. I like them a lot.

8. I'd prefer to ignore politics, but I'd also prefer not to be ignorant of the world around me. I'm getting more liberal in my old age, but I'm registered Independent. On my most cynical days, I say that I'm an anarchist, but I'm really too practical to actually be one. On my almost-most cynical days, I think I agree with Hobbes (Thomas, not the tiger). Here's old Hobbes, just for good measure.

9. That's it for the night.

P.S. If you're here and you're reading this, could you leave a comment? I'm not too fond of feeling like I'm talking to a black hole.