I beg your forgiveness for my somewhat middle-school-sounding username: my middle name is Ange'le (I was named after Maya Angelou), and when I was a kid, I used to remember how to spell it by thinking it was "angel" with an "e".

Poking around my blog is a better way to get a sense of the kind of person I am than is reading any of these boxes: http://imsuchanafroholic.com

But if you'd rather have boxes, that's cool too. Some things about me, let's go: My name's Maya. I'm 23, a person who both loves to talk and loves to listen, a cuddler, a reader, a music-lover, and a person who is known to cry at just about anything. I'm indie in ways OkCupid doesn't recognize. I'm pretty damn opinionated too, but just because I would love to deconstruct all the things wrong with "Rack City" doesn't mean I won't dance to it. I enjoy a good beer but amaretto sour is my go-to drink and I will never turn down a free shot. I love to laugh. I contain multitudes.

I graduated from Princeton University in 2012 with a B.A. in Sociology and a concentration in African-American studies. Moved to DC almost a year ago to start my grown-ass-woman life, working for a major social policy research center and rediscovering "me time". I'm probably going to be in the DC area for at least the next few years, working and hopefully looking into the Survey Methodology master's program at UMD. I like this city a lot.

You know, just your average socially-conscious Black girl tryna save the world, three or four very-well funded research projects at a time.

writing. Part of what really intrigues me about my future goal of being a professor is getting to write about my ideas for a living. Being a friend, so I've been told. Back massages. Getting caught up in the little things. Being dedicated to __________. Caring about people/things. Calming people down when they're freaking out about things. Needing to be calmed down when I'm freaking out about things. Scrabble/Bananagrams. (Words with Friends, too: the username is SuchanAfroholic if you'd like a challenge.) Paying attention to grammar when the situation calls for it; I almost majored in Linguistics. Along the same lines, knowing when your comma should be a semi-colon and vice versa. Spotting which drinks in a 1,001 Cocktails app will actually be delicious. Being timely. Having a good sense of direction when I'm walking. Finding indie and/or foreign Black musicians on YouTube. Writing personal/sensitive messages in greeting cards. Shopping a lot without spending much money. Accessorizing. Being cheesy sometimes. Navigating while walking. Being recognizable in a crowd (combination of 'fro and bright green peacoat). Evidently cooking. I had no idea.

My huge curly afro, when I wear it out. My smile, and accordingly the gap between my two front teeth. That I tend to color-coordinate really well. That I "don't sound like I'm from around here," whatever they might mean by that. My intelligence. That I'm frank. That I'm really open with my emotions.

Catcallers most often call attention to my walk, so I guess that.

It's hard finding time to both read more and get to know DC. If I have to pick an overall favorite work of fiction, it might be Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. My favorite play is Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls who've Considered Suicide/when the Rainbow is enuf, and if you know what that is, message me--we probably have a lot in common. I'm into a lot of non-fiction, actually. Recently I loved Toure's Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to be Black Now (enough to write a paper about it and Awkward Black Girl), and I'm currently reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. On my list for the near future are: The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt, all about love by bell hooks, Iconic: Decoding Images of the Revolutionary Black Woman by Lakesia Johnson, Jane Sexes It Up: True Confessions of Feminist Desire edited by Merri Lisa Johnson, At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire, PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality edited by Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel, How to be Black by Baratunde Thurston (halfway through this), Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry (also about halfway through this)... There are more but I'm sure you've skipped to movies by now, haha.

I am a child at heart and still sing along to Disney movies. I love romance movies like Titanic, The Notebook, and Brown Sugar; sports movies like Remember the Titans and Coach Carter; action movies like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean; superhero movies; and movies that make you think like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Big Fish. Also a huge fan of indie movies and foreign films, a la Pariah or Skin. I suppose dramas are my favorite genre. I don't like scary movies, though I can usually deal with psychological thrillers if there's someone to cuddle with when I'm scared.

TV shows: I haven't had cable for the past four years and don't think I'll get it at my new places, so I watch all of my tv online. I like Suits, Once Upon a Time, and The Mindy Project right now. Other shows that do or have existed that I like(d): House, Bones, Community, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, Covert Affairs, Suits, Law and Order: SVU. I miss 90s/early 2000s Black television a la Sister Sister, The Cosby Show, Girlfriends, The Fresh Prince, etc. I hate reality TV.

Music: RnB/Neo-Soul is my favorite. Concerts I've been to since moving to DC: Musiq Soulchild, Morris Day and The Time, Angie Stone and Rahsaan Patterson, Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks, Elle Varner, Chrisette Michele, Goapele, Raheem DeVaughn, Mary J. Blige and D'Angelo, Gregory Porter, Les Nubians, MeShell N'Degeocello doing a tribute to Nina Simone, Of Montreal, Amel Larrieux, Emeli Sande, Eric Benet, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Esperanza Spalding, and Solange. Lately I've been getting into what I call Indie/World Black music, including Black artist from all over Europe and Africa as well as independent US artists (Ayo, Asa, or Jennah Bell, anyone?). Rock/Alternative is what I have the most of in my library, most of which dates back to middle/high school but is still very much appreciated. I like rap when I'm in the mood--I went through an Eminem phase in middle school and never really stopped appreciating him. I'm also into a lot of underground conscious/instrumental hip-hop: the likes of Mos Def, Talib Kewli, Phonte, etc. Generally dislike heavy metal and country, though occasionally a superb song or two gets downloaded.

Food: So once upon a time I wasn't very food adventurous. Then all of a sudden, I moved to DC where the ethnic food is actually good, and everything changed. But soul food will always have a special place in my heart.

I spend the majority of my free time on the computer, so I'm adding categories for webseries and blogs that I follow faithfully..

Webseries: Awkward Black Girl, It Gets Betterish, The Number, The Couple, 12 Steps to Recovery, Black Folk Don't, milk + honey, Afro City, The Peculiar Kind, oluwaba, The Unwritten Rules, Hang Up!, Brothers with no Game

Blogs: I follow nearly 300 blogs, so I'm just going to give random examples that I think cover the spectrum. Afrobella, The Oreo Experience, The Black Snob, Very Smart Brothas, Met Another Frog, Feministing, Sex Love Liberation, xkcd, Sex is NOT the Enemy, Confessions of a Hip Hop Feminist, Sociological Images, Girl with Curves, Historical Slut, Sister Outsider, Lavender Labia, Jack and Jill Politics, Racialicious...

THE INTERNET, books, things that make my hair happy, word games, fruit, and music.

I have this weird tendency to replay recent conversations in my head when I'm not doing anything. I'm not sure if it's just to commit them to memory, or to extract any pertinent details, or because I like being reminded that my friends and I are witty, but I do.

More generally: What I want to blog about next. The 9394374973 things on my to-do list. What my reward will be for getting things done. Social justice issues, most often surrounding race, gender, and sexuality. How people lived before the internet. Who I would have been/how I would have filled my days if I were one of them. The people that are closest to me/my interpersonal relationships. How to stop forgetting Spanish. How I could see myself living in DC for a significant period of my life. Whether I *really* want to go to grad school, and in/for what.

Now that it's summer again, this question can have a legit answer: going to Jazz in the Garden with my coworkers! :D

If I'm going to go out on the town, as it were, I prefer Saturday nights when I haven't been up since 7:15 in the morning.

The thing I miss most about having cable is watching Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

Okay, for real? Though I very much identify somewhere between Bi and Queer on the LGBTQ spectrum, I've never actually dated (or gone farther than second base with) a female-gendered/bodied person. I hope that's a never-have-I-ever I can break soon, though.

1. You like what you see and what you read, and you think we could get along, or
2. You are spontaneous and want to have an adventure with me, even a tiny one, or
3. You actually checked out my blog and read even one thing, or
4. You like to play word games (Bananagrams, Scrabble, and the 5-letter game are personal favorites) or want to see any R&B or neo-soul concert with me, or
5. You know something awesome I should do/somewhere great I should eat in DC (and, perhaps, would like to accompany me there), or
6. You're tired of living in theory/you can't think of a reason not to. Oh, the things we would do in life if we only thought to continually ask "Why not?"
*and only if* correct homophone usage is critically important to you, and you have more to say than "Hi what's up?".

Of course, combinations of the above options are highly encouraged. :)