Hi everyone, my name is Sierra Beggs, and I look forward to taking this class with all of you! I’m a recent transfer from Palomar. I’ve been in San Diego all of my life—mainly in a small town called Ramona. It’s both a blessing and a curse, because I don’t know if I could live anywhere else, but it is also a pretty expensive place to live (as probably all of you know). I love being so close to the beach, mountains, and desert all at once. My mom even used to call me a fish, because I love being in the water. When I was younger, I would be in the ocean for six hours straight without coming to shore, which also lead to some pretty nasty sunburns because I’m so pale. And I can’t forget to mention the sheer biodiversity we have, not just with plants, but also animals and insects.

Oh, and I also have a 16 1/2 year old dog named Ruby, who I can’t even begin to explain how much I love (she’s shown in the first picture at the bottom—isn’t she just the cutest). She’s like a little toddler. She’s a little blind and a little deaf now, which causes her to cause a lot of chaos—like getting into places where she thinks she’s stuck, but isn’t really stuck. She also told me she’s going to live at least until 19, so no worries there.

There’s honestly not much to say about my life, although, I do work at Barnes and Noble, so at least my book addiction can be supplied at a reasonable price thanks to a discount. I like reading in any format, but physical books have a special place in my heart. I wasn’t that into reading until 4th grade. My mom was in a PTA meeting afterschool, and told me to stay put…but I can’t sit still for the life of me. So in my boredom I snuck into the library, with the totally legit spy skills I learned from a friend. While wondering around in the library, I picked up a copy of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I read the first page and was enamored. From that moment on, the smell of books was ingrained in my brain, and reading became one of my favorite things. And writing also became something I loved. Other than that, I enjoy acting and singing. I’m also trying to get myself to have more hobbies. Currently, I’m trying to learn some music theory and hopefully compose some music.

(The last two photos are from when I was lucky enough to travel to a few places I’ve always wanted to visit. The first one is the Temple of Poseidon in Greece, and the second was in Amsterdam at the Van Gogh Museum. As you can tell, I was extremely excited to see Van Gogh’s paintings in person because he is one of my favorite artists. [Along with Caravaggio who I also got to see some of his works in person.])

Hello, I am Dakota, and I am a senior who is graduating in the spring and also pursuing the editing and publishing certificate. This is my second year here at SDSU since I transferred from Grossmont College. I hope to join the MFA program after I graduate. 

I grew up here in San Diego and have no plans of moving since I love this city. When I am not in class, I am working at an elementary school as a student helper, trying my best to convince fourth and fifth-graders to read more books. While I don’t want to become a teacher, I surprisingly love this job and the kids that I work with. I am always having the best conversations with ten-year-olds. They are the weirdest and funniest people that I know. In the future, I hope to be an editor working with a publishing house and help authors achieve their hopes and dreams. 

I have always been passionate about books since I was a child. I grew up reading Harry Potter with my parents and having long discussions about it during breakfast on the weekends. Even now, my parents will still listen to me rant about books. Books were what got me through my elementary and middle school years as a form of escapism. I was able to slip through the cracks and sink into whatever fantasy world I found comforting. Now the tables have turned, and I am the one who is creating worlds at my fingertips. I am currently writing the first book in a fantasy trilogy. It has been a passion project of mine for the past few years, which I hope to publish soon. 

To me, books are extremely precious and something to be cherished, which is why I am taking this class. I loved the idea of learning about the history of the book as a physical being and as an art medium. I think that it is easy to forget that books are an art form. It’s easy to boil them down to words on a page, so I have never really taken much thought into what makes a book a book. I hope that this class helps me reimagine books in a new way that reignites the love that I have for them. 

I look forward to working with you all in this class!

My name is Micaela Macario, and I am a first year graduate student in the MALAS program. For those who don’t know, MALAS stands for Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences. I was born and raised in San Diego (Chula Vista to be exact), but have been blessed to travel all over the country playing collegiate softball. I spent my first two years of undergrad at the University of Central Florida where I loved people, but not my environment. I made the decision to come back home, and have never been happier.

Throughout high school and college, I have always had the dream of becoming a nurse. I worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant in nursing homes over summers, where I later discovered that I have deep rooted passion for advocacy, especially in healthcare. I also worked as a Care Coordinator for a startup home care business that truly believed and implemented culture-centered care. My goal is to one day revolutionize Western medicine by including patient narratives, cultures, and experiences into healthcare and treatment plans.

Beyond my academia and career aspirations, I am a huge sports fanatic, especially when it comes to the Padres. If you are a dodger fan, I will not hate you, but I might give you a dirty look every once in a while. I love trying new coffee shops as I practically run on caffeine. So if anyone has any cool spots, please let me know!

All in all, I extremely excited to learn beside everyone!

Hi everyone! I’m Myles and I am in my fourth year as an English major and Public Health minor! I’m from Atlanta, Georgia and love reading, tv, and hiking/backpacking. This May I hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim in one day! It was definitely the most challenging but rewarding thing I have done! I am currently reading Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami and some more of Borges’ short stories since I saw we are reading “The Library of Babel” next week. Looking forward to taking this awesome class with y’all!