social media | BYU English Society

I’m a social media fiend, an introverted people person, a wanna-be foodie, a college cheerleader, and I’m an English Major.

Sadly, not an Oprah gif.

Some people may think that being a cheerleader and an English major is contradictory. How is it possible to be a quiet bookworm and yell like a crazy person in front of 60,000 people at the same time? To answer that question—I’m not sure. All I know is I love people and I love reading. That’s what brought me to English.

For me, the English major has been anything but burying my nose in dusty books (although I don’t mind brushing the cobwebs off an old friend now and again). In case you weren’t aware of what you are viewing, it’s called the Internet, and, contrary to popular belief, it’s not all cat videos and Oprah gifs. Everything I love about literature and English can be seen through the fresh and exciting lens of social media. And trust me; it’s not as contradictory as it sounds. Right now on social media, people are taking literature and making it new, interesting, and even more meaningful. I thrive on seeing my favorite works remixed online, and all the ways people interact with those texts and with other people.
It was here at BYU where not only I found (mush alert!) my husband, but I discovered that I could do many things I enjoy simultaneously. Thank goodness for the English major. And gooooooo Cougars!

One of my favorite books is The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving.

Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/samsamlund

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sambojnks

Have you heard those tragic stories about people who, after spending four years (or more) completing their English major, don’t like to read anymore? To me, they’re sort of like the tales of the Loch Ness monster: people have supposedly seen it, but I certainly haven’t. And I don’t intend for it to happen to me.

I think the reason such things occur (this is all conjecture, though, since like I said, I’ve yet to meet a book-less former English major) is that people get so swept up into their reading assignments for school that they forget to make reading their own experience. Then, when they graduate, they’ve forgotten how to actually enjoy reading.

Of course, when I first started book blogging, I hadn’t thought about any of this. I just thought, hey, I read a ton. Why not blog about it for the world to see?

I couldn’t have predicted how simply joining the book interwebs would both propel my reading and make me enjoy it more. We think of reading as a solitary activity–but in our digital age, it doesn’t have to be. Continue reading →