Things that make me happy include natural light, books, any kind of pie excluding those involving meringue, southern Utah, mountains, building things, fixing things, road trips, the song "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino, the sound fresh apples make when you bite into them, poppies, the proud way my cat walks when he has caught something delicious, overcast days, wind, green tea.

My first memory is of being upset that my father wouldn't let me into the attic with him. We lived in California at the time, and I was probably two or three. Visually, I have only a still image of his body, poised to pull down the attic stairs from the ceiling, and then a very clear recollection of noticing the dust floating in a ray of sun that came in through the back door window.

I do not like fluorescent bulbs.

Alliteration is my favorite literary device.

Teaching high school English, going to BAM productions, reading, practicing the piano, eating with friends.

If you want to help out my students, you can!
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=784680

Overusing parenthesis. (I tried to rein myself in here.)

Empathy.

Keeping childhood friends.

My students tell me that I look like a Shakespearean princess, that I look like Claire Danes, that I look like Taylor Swift, (I resemble neither) that I am too nice, and also, that I am too hard.

Recently one told me that I had inspired her to write poetry, and that was one of the best things.

People I don't know often think they know me.

Love in the Time of Cholera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Grapes of Wrath, Ulysses, Einstein's Dreams, Jane Eyre, The Master and Margarita, The Shipping News, A Visit From the Goon Squad, The Kreutzer Sonata, Letters to Milena, Blue Octavo Notebooks, His Dark Materials Trilogy, A Clockwork Orange, Scoop, Nine Stories, House of Leaves, Pride and Prejudice, The Plague, Charlotte's Web, The Road, The Sun Also Rises...

Amelie, O' Brother Where Art Thou?, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Pride and Prejudice, Shakespeare in Love, The Green Mile, Se7en, The Secret Garden, Spirited Away, In the Mood for Love...

Parks and Recreation, Mad Men, Twin Peaks, Arrested Development, Firefly. Most recently Downton Abbey.

Mogwai, Beach House, Neko Case, Feist, Paul Simon, Broken Social Scene, Explosions in the Sky, Air, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Fruit Bats, Balmorhea, Bob Dylan, Etta James, Album Leaf, Sigur Ros, Amy Whinehouse, Yeasayer, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones, The xx, Mumford and Sons...

Mangoes, avocados, green tea, walnuts, gruyere, mushrooms, sauteed onions, sushi, saag, panang curry, food.

Books, evidence of nature, my sister, mode of transportation, ability to express myself, imagination.

Education reform, socioeconomic disparity, light, literal and figurative echoes, deep sea creatures, the book I am reading, the balance between self-fulfillment and participating in community, memory, how to be a more effective teacher, my future, my friends, how my cat can possibly be so delightful.

Probably gallivanting, dancing around my kitchen, baking cornbread, eating cornbread, at some production, reading in bed, on a rooftop, on a bolt bus out of the city, or out with you.

I consistently accidentally misspell "behavior" in the British fashion. I then immediately catch the mistake and feel ridiculous.

I occasionally still indulge my junior high school love for Alanis Morissette.

You are not allergic to cats, you will go for walks with me, you are curious, you like to read, you can make things with your hands, you guessed that my username was from explosions in the sky, you love your mother, you have stories, you are not into self pity, you listen, you like being outside, you have gotten into trouble, you speak a language other than English, you like to travel, you know a good place to eat, you can teach me about something, you are passionate, you have a sense of aesthetics (it doesn't have to be the same as mine), you have something to say.

Essentially, if you are into good, honest conversation, or are prone to adventure/hilarity.