What I didn't expect was to be sitting across from Lauren Pearson in the Tate Center four days later, with a finished story under our belt and chatting away about religion and life goals with ease.
The hallways are quiet except for the light chatter from the food staff in the Bulldog Cafe. A couple of college-aged students lounge in chairs with their phones and laptops, and parents file in and out after exploring the orientation activities out front. For the most part, it is empty. Students are on vacation, taking a break from the school life.
Lauren and I ask each other the most interesting questions we have, and find more in common than we thought. She writes down my answers rapidly in bright pink ink, explaining that it's her favorite color.
As the conversation twists from colors to our professions, Pearson explains how she started her writing career: "Believe it or not, my third grade teacher is what got me into writing. That's when I first decided I wanted to be a writer. That was the year we started really writing more, and I think what I realized is that I was reading a lot of books at the time, and the books that I was reading didn't match up with what we were writing in class. What we wrote in class was so simple, and I was like, 'Wait a minute? they're not real stories!' I want to write like the books, as those are so much more fun to read."
More and more we bond through related aspirations and personality traits.
"I'm really like a doer," Pearson explains. "I always need to be doing something, and I need to be productive. Even on like summer break, I feel like I'm wasting my life and not doing anything important. Like my contribution to society while watching this Netflix show right now is 0! That's really why I love this camp, because we're always doing stuff. That's definitely led me to my blog, which is a Christian blog, so that way if I have nothing to do I can just go to town on my blog."
Pearson's Christian lifestyle is clear through her responses, and her desire to connect her job to her faith shines bright.
"I really want to be a missionary writer, or at least in that field, because I think culture is something that is so unique and telling. Every culture has a story, and every story has it's culture that I can report on." Pearson says.
The hallways are quiet except for the light chatter from the food staff in the Bulldog Cafe. A couple of college-aged students lounge in chairs with their phones and laptops, and parents file in and out after exploring the orientation activities out front. For the most part, it is empty. Students are on vacation, taking a break from the school life.
Lauren and I ask each other the most interesting questions we have, and find more in common than we thought. She writes down my answers rapidly in bright pink ink, explaining that it's her favorite color.
As the conversation twists from colors to our professions, Pearson explains how she started her writing career: "Believe it or not, my third grade teacher is what got me into writing. That's when I first decided I wanted to be a writer. That was the year we started really writing more, and I think what I realized is that I was reading a lot of books at the time, and the books that I was reading didn't match up with what we were writing in class. What we wrote in class was so simple, and I was like, 'Wait a minute? they're not real stories!' I want to write like the books, as those are so much more fun to read."
More and more we bond through related aspirations and personality traits.
"I'm really like a doer," Pearson explains. "I always need to be doing something, and I need to be productive. Even on like summer break, I feel like I'm wasting my life and not doing anything important. Like my contribution to society while watching this Netflix show right now is 0! That's really why I love this camp, because we're always doing stuff. That's definitely led me to my blog, which is a Christian blog, so that way if I have nothing to do I can just go to town on my blog."
Pearson's Christian lifestyle is clear through her responses, and her desire to connect her job to her faith shines bright.
"I really want to be a missionary writer, or at least in that field, because I think culture is something that is so unique and telling. Every culture has a story, and every story has it's culture that I can report on." Pearson says.
Through the craziness accompanying this camp, deciding to partner up with someone I had never met completely paid off. The experience of working on a story with a new person forces quick bonding and has provided me with an awesome article and someone I really feel like I can relate to.
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