About the Author - by John Colapinto
This is a small, 260 page novel that I happened to pick up the other day. The first thing that caught my eye was the photograph of a New York street on the cover, complete with a yellow cab and high-rise buildings. The second thing, which inclined me to start reading it, was Stephen King’s comment at the bottom. “A thriller worthy of Hitchcock” was all I needed to hear.
I read the first page, the second page, and so on. Just as Stephen King says, “I wasn’t able to put it down” until I’d finished the whole thing. This novel is light, but riveting. The perfect thing if you want a small break while reading some heavy literature. Which was exactly my case.
For those of you who think I'm some sort of stylish gothic cool-guy...
Back in high school, I used to tuck in a regular t-shirt with slacks and tennis shoes. I was also known to often carry a briefcase around instead of a backpack. I really didn’t know how to dress myself and I’m kinda glad that chapter of my life is behind me. Just in case y’all were wondering…
Okay... Now Tell Me More
I figured as much, that some of you may be more curious (than what my description has to offer) as to who I am, what I do and why I’m qualified to feed you [my] knowledge. So before I get on with my posts about why social media is your best friend and worst enemy, or what food is best to keep in your kitchen (and by kitchen I mean little refrigerator under your desk in your dorm room), I figured I’d give you a little bit of my personal information & perhaps why I started this blog.
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INTRO:
Although I go by a few [nick]names, I’m most commonly referred to as Erica. I was born and raised about 15 miles outside of the fabulous New York City in a suburban town in northern New Jersey. Growing up, I involved myself in everything (good PRactice!). I was a competitive cheerleader, dancer, figure skater, gymnast, soccer player, avid NY Jets fan, writer and photographer.
COLLEGE:
After graduating high school, I ventured out north to Eastern Connecticut State University, which in comparison to where I grew up, was in the middle of nowhere. I knew right away that I wanted to be in the field of communication, but started with a focus in broadcasting and minor in English. While there, I became a member of their varsity NCAA cheerleading team, writer for The Lantern (school news paper) and member of People Helping People (or PHP). Although busy, I often found myself bored or looking for something more. I made some of the best friends of my life (thus far) at ECSU, however left after one full year.
My dream was to go to NYU and live in the city, so I had applied there and to a few other schools closer to home. When I got accepted, my parents regretfully said that they couldn’t afford such an expensive school or for me to be living in New York. Eventually I got over it and went on a few more school tours, until I found myself (with a nice academic scholarship) at Fairleigh Dickinson University (in Madison, NJ). To make a long story short, that school didn’t cut it for me and I felt more or less like I wasn’t learning much - rather just “(over) paying for a degree”.
After my sophomore year of college, I moved on again. I planned on either Rutgers (New Brunswick) or Montclair State University. My heart was telling me Rutgers for a good few weeks, until a meeting with one of their academic advisors. I found out that they didn’t take most of my credits, leaving me to graduate a full year + a summer semester behind schedule. By this time I knew my heart was in the field of Public Relations. I researched their program to see if the degree was worth the extra time and money to me and my family. Compared to MSU’s program, which I then found to be the leading PR program in NJ, it wasn’t. I near immediately withdrew my housing application and enrolled at Montclair State.
So that all leads me to now. I’m in my second year at MSU and will be graduating on time, in May of 2012. I’m an active member of PRSSA and Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication honor’s society. I promise I’m no genius — just good at what I do — mainly because I love the PR field.
REAL LIFE:
Alright lets back away from my school life, since that’s a book in itself. Outside of my well cushioned spinny chair and work desk with towering over-priced books, I’m a cheerleading director and gymnastics coach at Rick’s All American. I tumbled there for years as extra practice for competitive cheerleading and was offered a job as a gymnastics coach when I moved back to NJ from ECSU. A couple years later, I was asked to start their new cheerleading program & here we are!
Apart from my paid job, I also work as an intern/volunteer for Little Kids Rock - a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that restores and revitalizes music education. My position was ‘Editorial Assistant’ and ‘PR Assistant’, so I got to do a lot of ‘real’ work! I wrote for their blog and pitched ideas for upcoming donor events and quarterly news pamphlets. I LOVE it there and full-heartedly believe in their mission, to put music back in public schools.
Outside of school and work (wait… there’s more time in the day?), I relax with bubble baths, trying new eateries with my friends, cheerleading, exercising, reading and (sometimes when my Mom’s not looking) cooking. I also try to travel as much as I can, so I can photograph the world with my Nikon D80, then write about it.
BLOG LIFE:
“Ok Erica, we get it - you think you have a life. Now why are you blogging?” WELL, prior to making this blog, I’ve actually started various previous ones. I maintain a Tumblr account that I use with friends for simple enjoyment and had a Word Press account, where I posted articles I had written for school or my internship.
The goal of this blog is a bit different, in the sense that I want to write about my experiences through-out college (or as I like it call it PRactice - for the so called ‘real world)’ as well as articles that could be helpful tips towards my targeted audiences (college kids, people in the PR industry, people entering the ‘real world’, business consumers, ect..).
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I hope you find yourself coming back for more as I start my new blog-home here. I’ll do my best to keep my postings relevant interesting and entertaining, all while giving you a better sense of who I am. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, follow me on twitter, or visit my website. The links are posted on the left navigation. Enjoy!
Best,
Erica
People II: The Reckoning
Andrew Jackson JihadBut there’s a bad man in everyone, no matter who we are;
There’s a rapist and a Nazi living in our tiny hearts
Child pornographers and cannibals, and politicians, too,
There’s someone in your head, waiting to fucking strangle you.
oh some people in my backread are doing a thing where they list characters they identify with so
- LAURA KINNEY this is obvious to anyone who’s followed me since i was still actively reading comics that weren’t about giant talking robots but. yes. laura kinney. part of the reason i get very protective of her! basically every time anyone who isn’t nic (who is also laura) claims to be a huge fan of her i get IMMEDIATELY AND STRONGLY SUSPICIOUS until they prove themself worthy.
- sam tarly oh my god
- will rader in a way where she is me when i was a misguided 16 year old fat activist
- BULKHEAD………………….TFA BULKHEAD ESPECIALLY
- XAVIN lmao i can’t believe it took me this long to name xavin i LITERALLY REFER TO MYSELF AS XAVIN IN MY SIDEBAR
- sefalet from a dirge for prester john
- ………….edward elric…………………………..
- oh oh oh kel from the protector of the small series. god. i imprinted on her SO HARD.
- haha ok might as well name every eva kid at this point because brain problems: shinji, asuka, rei, kaworu.
- and i don’t really identify with digger (the wombat from the webcomic of the same name) so much as i want to grow up to be her someday
Wetsuit
The VaccinesIf at some point, we all succumb,
For goodness sake, let us be young,
‘Cause time gets harder to outrun
And I’m nobody, I’m not done.
With a cool, cool breeze and dirty knees,
I rest on childhood memories
We all got old at breakneck speed
Slow it down, go easy on me
Go easy on mePut a wetsuit on, come on, come on
Grow your hair out long, come on, come on
Put a T-shirt on, do me wrong, do me wrong, do me wrong.If it’s up and after you,
What do you suppose that you would do?
You’re all whacked out from lack of sleep;
You blame it on the friends you keep.
Well, you wanna do things differently;
Go do them independently
We all got old at breakneck speed
Slow it down, go easy on me
Go easy on mePut a wetsuit on, come on, come on
Grow your hair out long, come on, come on
Put a T-shirt on, do me wrong, do me wrong, do me wrong.
Put a wetsuit on, come on, come on
Grow your hair out long, come on, come on
Put a T-shirt on, do me wrong, do me wrong, do me wrong.Does holy water make you pure?
Submerged, your vision’s just obscured
You’re a lot like me, in up to our knees
‘In over your chest’ is way too deep.So put a wetsuit on, come on, come on
Grow your hair out long, come on, come on
Put a T-shirt on, do me wrong, do me wrong, do me wrong.
Put a wetsuit on, come on, come on
Grow your hair out long, come on, come on
Put a T-shirt on, do me wrong, do me wrong, do me wrong.
This may sound a little strange, but I find myself wondering what the weather there is like for you. Have you really never seen snow? (I thought i read a comment somewhere that you haven't) Because, that is so sad if not. If I could, I would box some up for you and send it to you! Snow is literally my favorite thing ever, and for someone to have never seen it makes me so sad.
I have really never ever seen snow. I have seen frost on leaves and grass and things, rarely - maybe two or three times a year - but never snow.
The weather here is a typical Mediterranean climate. Typical of certain places in the world, including here where we are in Western Australia. It’s great for growing grapes, truffles, citrus, and a bunch of other things. We have a lot of issues with drought here. We have a ‘bushfire season.’ (Which is quite serious, depending on where you are, we nearly had to evacuate our homes earlier this year).
And of course the seasons are reversed when compared to the Northern Hemisphere. So it’s winter right now. Or at least, Perth’s version of winter.
We don’t get much rain, but when we do, it tends to be torrential downpours with risks of flash-flooding in some regions. It doesn’t really ‘drizzle’ or ‘rain lightly’ here. We get wonderful spring thunderstorms, and tumultuous thunderstorms in general. We have cyclones more often than tornadoes, and cyclonic activity drives some interesting weather down in the direction of Perth.
We are the third windiest city in the world. And we have more days of sunshine than any other major city in the world. It gets pretty damned hot in summer. If you like bright, sunny days, and windy weather, it’s a lovely place to live. Unfortunately, I happen to like the cold. Alas!
