I’m a junior, an avid Potterhead, a BBC lover, and an aspiring writer. And I’m an English major.

Madeline Thatcher

There is a pink and blue set of “Fun With Dick and Jane” that sits on the bookcases in my family room. Although now they are rarely touched, fifteen years ago they were my absolute favorites. A few weeks before I started kindergarten, my mother introduced me to the written word, and my summer adventures with Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot plunged me head first into the freedom reading brings.

I was the child who was grounded from reading. My parents had to wrestle my copies of the Harry Potter series away from me as punishment for neglecting my chores. I’m also pretty sure the reason my eyesight is so terrible (as in a “-7.5 prescription in both eyes” kind of terrible) is because a large portion of my reading was done under my comforter with a flashlight I had stolen from my father’s toolbox. And I haven’t exactly grown out of this habit either – my roommates will often walk into my room to find me reading a novel late into the night after all my other coursework has been completed (and they, like my mother, tell me to go to bed).

As I’ve grown, I’ve accumulated additional “favorites” and along the way realized that literature has the power to literally change lives. It makes our humanity more accessible, proves to us that the human experience, while unique, is a collective one, and because of this, reassures us that we are never truly alone. Being an English major allows me to explore this facet of the human race on an intimate level – and I love it.

One of my favorite books is “Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man” by Fanny Flagg

Visit my blog,  “But Inside I’m Tall”
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Madeline serves as Internship Liaison for the English Society and maintains the BYU English Internships blog.