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Who Am I? Name. Q: What kind of name is Bronwen, anyway? A: It's Welsh for 'pure of heart.' (Actually, the literal translation is 'white breasts.' So you see why I go with the figurative one.) My Mom fell in love with the name when she read, How Green Was My Valley, as a teenager. (Bronwen's character in the novel is the narrator's late brother's wife, whom he secretly loves.) Age/Height. 26 years old, soon to be 27. I'm a Taurus, if you're into that sort of thing. (I'm not.) 5'5" in height. Education. I received my Bachelor's Degree from Florida State University. I'm now pursuing a Master's Degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Southern Mississippi. USM has one of the highest rated Speech Pathology programs in the nation. Future Profession. Q: What is Speech-Language Pathology? A: Considering the size of the profession, I'm surprised at how often I get this question. A Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) remediates speech, language, hearing and learning disabilities. (SLPs are also called Speech Therapists.) Roughly 50% of SLPs work in medical settings (hospitals, rehab centers, etc.), and 50% work in educational settings (early intervention programs and elementary schools through the university level). A Master's Degree or higher is required for certification as an SLP in all 50 states. I'll give you some examples of the types of work SLPs do. An SLP may help a: Stuttering person speak more fluently; Hearing impaired person speak orally and/or make best use of residual hearing ability (this is called Aural Rehab); Stroke victim with oral-motor deficits regain his ability to chew and swallow food so he can eat orally (rather than through an IV); Head-injured person through cognitive retraining (i.e. thinking and memory skills); Child with an articulation disorder, i.e. mispronunciation of substitution of individual speech sounds (such as "wabbit" for rabbit, "hocks" for socks, etc.); Deaf person learn lip reading and/or an alternative method to communicate with hearing people; Person with a developmental disability (such as Down's Syndrome) learn basic living skills for independence; Child with a learning disability with his written and spoken language skills; Non-native English speaker who wishes to minimize her foreign accent to make her spoken English more intelligible (this is Dialect or Accent-Reduction Therapy); And so on… Location. I live and go to school in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Please, please spare me any narrow-minded, derogatory preconceptions of Mississippi or the "Deep South" as a whole. This is not the same place it was 30, 40, 50 or more years ago. I actually LIKE the area. The people are warm and kind. More so than any other place I've lived. And as this is a college town, it's not full of racist good ol' boys in pickups, either. Bonus: Only 45 minutes from New Orleans. Alameda, California. My place of residence until I relocated to Mississippi last fall to finish grad school. Alameda is a small island town in Northern California. It's located directly across the Bay from San Francisco, adjacent to Berkeley and Oakland. I worked as an editor for PR Newswire's San Francisco bureau when I lived here. I would take a ferry across the Bay to SF's Financial District for work each morning. (A nice little commute I miss.) Hobbies. Writing, reading, dabbling in painting (acrylics) and photography. Once I work up the nerve, I'll post some of my artistic endeavors on this site. Favorite Music. My favorite music consistently falls into two categories: Introspective, socially-conscious folk (and folk-influenced rock) of the 70's (i.e. Simon & Garfunkel, early Elton John and Billy Joel, James Taylor, Carly Simon, etc.); and Vacuous but highly-danceable pop music of the 80's (i.e. Madonna, Culture Club, Bon Jovi, The Police, Huey Lewis & The News, etc.) Yes, these are completely contradictory. No, I can't explain that. (Split personality?) Favorite Movie. Harold and Maude. A dark comedy/offbeat love story from 1971. A must-rent if you haven't seen it. Favorite Book. Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic. The autobiography of Vietnam vet Ron Kovic, written several years after his return from the war. Kovic became a paraplegic (paralyzed from the waist down) after being shot in the spine during combat. Ron Kovic, circa 1970's (left) The most searing and honest piece of work I've ever read. Absolutely stunning in its frankness. Do not pick up this book without mentally preparing yourself first. I'm not kidding. This is not light reading. This book was later made into a film of the same name starring Tom Cruise. The movie wasn't bad (pretty good, actually), but it doesn't hold a candle to the book. Favorite Author. T. Jefferson Parker. A Southern California mystery/crime novelist. Parker's writing is consistently thoughtful, moody and atmospheric. His descriptions of the Southern Cal settings are so rich and vivid you feel as though the locations become characters in and of themselves. Not your run-of-the-mill pulp crime fiction. Book reviewers are fond of praising various authors for "transcending the genre." Parker's work really does transcend the mystery genre. Contact me.