On introducing... um, me!

What’s this about holding noses? I think I’m already in the water…

Hi, I’m Lauren, and I’m the other half of Jon’s stand -- you know, the one who takes care of the inopportune page turns. I’ve always been a page-turner, even back in my days in music school at The Ridiculously Large Midwestern University.

Oh whoops, I mentioned that I went to music school. Crap, my clever disguise is ruined. Yes, I suppose, I have a degree in music… but my day “job” is a linguist of the Ph.D. student variety. I study language, gender, sexuality, and video games, and teach undergraduate classes – generally, I think about language a lot. I’m also a geek (as if it isn’t obvious by the fact that I academically study video games) for science fiction and fantasy novels, photography, and general Internet culture.

My first love is my trombone, however, even after all the trials and tribulations through the years. I started as a flutist because, as my elementary music school teacher put it, “girls don’t play the trombone”. I picked up the trombone in my freshman year of high school because of an intolerable crush on a boy in the trombone section -- I never got anywhere with the boy, but wound up falling in love with my horn. Even the torture of music school – ten classes per quarter, practicing until 3 AM for lessons, and six hours of rehearsals on Tuesdays and Thursdays – couldn’t break our bond. We did have a little falling out, but after six months of being apart, I realized that we couldn’t live without each other. Every good relationship needs a bad breakup, right?

In fact, I think I may love it now more than ever before. I suppose that’s why I’m in this award-winning community band, and co-writing this blog today.