snance

About Me

"You cannot find peace by avoiding life."
-Virginia Woolf

I am an 18-year-old student at the University of Oregon (Clark Honors College). I graduated from North Eugene High School, where I participated in many a theatrical production, as well as activities involving French, English, catering, and philosophy.

"I'm just tired of hearing about God all the time. What has He got to do with anything? Does he pay tuition?"
-Beneatha, A RAISIN IN THE SUN

Currently I'm studying literature, French literature, and Italian language. I also work at Lillis Café. You may or may not recognize me disguised in an apron and visor. But the visor has a name-tag on it, so if you have any sense you'll be able to figure out it's me.

I am a vegetarian and have been for approximately 8 years. This means that I chose to refrain from eating the meat and/or flesh of animals and have lived by this creed ever since. I don't understand people who call themselves vegetarians but then list exceptions. I don't understand people who ask, when I say I'm a vegetarian, "Do you eat fish?" I also wonder why some people try to insist that in eating eggs I am not being a vegetarian, when eggs are not meat or flesh and, as they are unfertilized, could never have been chickens anyway. Also, people sometimes criticize me for not drinking milk for 3 years but eating cheese, ice cream, and other dairy products. I am just very anti-milk. I think products that come from it are great, but drinking it straight up is just bizarre to me. And then there's the whole thing with the mistreated cows' udders dragging on the ground and becoming infected and contaminating the milk with a disturbing percentage of pus.

"Love is the desire to have the good forever."
-Plato, THE SYMPOSIUM

"Where does the good go?"
-Tegan & Sara

My Interests

Music

A, A Perfect Circle, Al Stewart, Alanis Morissette, Annie Lennox, Aqua, Art Garfunkel, Avril Lavigne, B, Barenaked Ladies, Basia, The Beatles, Belle and Sebastian, Bernadette Peters, Billy Joel, Black Eyed Peas, Blossom Dearie, Bob Dorough, Britney Spears, C, Carla Ulbrich, Carly Simon, The Chenille Sisters, Chet Baker, CocoRosie, D, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Decemberists, The Ditty Bops, The Doors, The Dresden Dolls, Dusty Springfield, E, Eisley, Ella Fitzgerald, Enya, F, Fastball, Fefe Dobson, Feist, Frank Sinatra, Franz Ferdinand, G, Gwen Stefani, H, Harry Nilsson, I, Idina Menzel, J, Jamie Cullum, Janis Ian, Jem, Jesca Hoop, Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell, K, Kathy Haggerty, Kirsty MacColl, L, Letters to Cleo, Lovage, The Lovin' Spoonful, M, Madness, Madonna, Maroon 5, The Mars Volta, Meredith Brooks, Michelle Branch, The Monkees, N, Naked to the World, Natalie Imbruglia, Nico, No Doubt, P, Paris Combo, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Peaches, Peter White, Petula Clark, Pink, Pink Martini, P.J. Harvey, Prozzak, R, Rasputina, Regina Spektor, Rooney, S, Sarina Paris, Simon & Garfunkel, Simon & Milo, Smash Mouth, Spanky and Our Gang, Superbus, Sweet, T, Tegan & Sara, The Turtles, They Might Be Giants, Tori Amos, Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Twelve Girls Band, V, Voltaire, W, The Waitresses (or at least the song "Christmas Wrapping"), Weird Al, West Coast Rhythm Kings, The Who, Of course, I love basically all oldies. I also like music composed by Phillip Glass, Danny Elfman, and other screen composers. I love the soundtracks to Lord of the Rings, The Triplets of Belleville, Edward Scissorhands, The Hours, Harry Potter...probably some others as well., I'm also a big fan of musicals... Some musicals I enjoy:, Amour, Avenue Q, Bombay Dreams, Chicago, City of Angels, Crazy For You, Guys & Dolls, Gypsy, Hairspray, Jane Eyre, Les Miz, Little Shop of Horrors, Little Women, Lucky Stiff, Merrily We Roll Along, My Fair Lady, Phantom of the Opera, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Spamalot, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Urinetown, Wicked, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown

Movies

13 Going On 30, Bad Education, Best in Show, Birth, Brokeback Mountain, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Chocolat, The Christmas List (it's a made-for-TV movie), Christmas with the Kranks, The Corpse Bride, Crash, Eating Out, Edward Scissorhands, Elf, Eulogy, The Exorcist, Finding Neverland, Girl, Interrupted, Happy Endings, Harry Potter movies, The Hours, The House of Yes, King Kong, Lilies, Lord of the Rings, Mask, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mean Girls, A Mighty Wind, Million Dollar Baby, Mixed Nuts, A Mom For Christmas, Mona Lisa Smile (this was way better than Dead Poets Society, IMHO), Monster, Moulin Rouge, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Once Upon a Mattress (the one with Zooey :-)), The Parent Trap (old and new, in different ways), Pennies from Heaven, Phantom of the Opera, The Piano, Pirates of the Caribbean, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, The Princess Diaries, Rent, Robots, Saved, Secretary, The Secret Window, The Shining, Simply Irresistible, The Sixth Sense, Sliding Doors, Spider-Man 1 & 2, Stage Beauty, Star Wars (well, okay, episodes 2 and 3 weren't that great), That Thing You Do, Thirteen, Waiting for Guffman, Where the Heart Is, White Oleander, X-Men 1 & 2, You and Me and Everyone We Know, I also enjoy French movies such as Le placard (The Closet), Les triplettes de belleville (The Triplets of Belleville), Les visiteurs (The Visitors), Bon voyage (Bon Voyage), Amélie (Amelie), etc.

Television

The Food Channel: Unwrapped, $40 a Day, Good Eats., Oxygen: Ellen., Disney: Phil of the Future, That's So Raven (I would say Lizzie McGuire, but it's been so long...)., In all honesty, I hardly ever watch TV. I only get a couple of local channels, and besides, I think it's generally a waste of time. Movies are great, though.

Books

"Masterpieces are not single and solitary births, they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice.", -Virginia Woolf, THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger, THE STRANGER by Albert Camus, LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee, NO EXIT by Jean-Paul Sartre, ALICE I THINK, MISS SMITHERS, and ALICE MACLEOD: REALIST AT LAST by Susan Juby, PETER PAN by J.M. Barrie, HAMLET by Shakespeare, THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham, A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS by Lemony Snicket, TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf, ORLANDO by Virginia Woolf, JANE EYRE by Charlotte Brontë (well, okay, I've had 100 pages left since July...), LE PETIT PRINCE by Antoine de St-Exupéry, THE STEPFORD WIVES by Ira Levin, SIDDHARTHA and DEMIAN by Hermann Hesse, BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? by Edward Albee, WAITING FOR GODOT by Samuel Beckett, MOMMIE DEAREST by Christina Crawford, THE SIRENS OF TITAN by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., DO THE WINDOWS OPEN? by Julie Hecht, SKIPPING CHRISTMAS by John Grisham, ANTIGONE by Sophocles, THE PIANO LESSON by August Wilson, A RAISIN IN THE SUN by Lorraine Hansberry, THE SYMPOSIUM by Plato, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE by Paula Vogel, INDUSTRIAL PARK by Patricia Galvao, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden, HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS by Julia Alvarez, LOST IN TRANSLATION by Eva Hoffman, LA SYMPHONIE PASTORALE by Andre Gide, TURN OF THE SCREW by Henry James, The list grows with every passing week...