Casey's Casual Conversation Corner

I've grown a lot as a writer this year. I've found that the best way to improve as a writer is to practice, and the three major essays were good practice. Coming into college, I was confident in my essay-writing abilities, but I improved significantly. Each essay pushed me out of my comfort zone in different ways. The audio memoir pushed me to read and record my essay aloud, which I've never done before. Additionally, I have written memoirs before, but it has been a long time, and it's the longest memoir I've ever written. For the literary analysis essay, it's the first time I've written about a piece of media that I enjoy so thoroughly. How to Train Your Dragon is my favorite childhood movie, so I was excited to be writing about it. Looking at it critically and writing about it academically was a challenge but fun for sure. This lesson also translated well into the argumentative research paper. I love The Last of Us, so writing about it made the paper engag...

Music plays an enormous role in my life. I listen to it all the time, play guitar and piano all the time, and think about music all the time. It makes sense that Spotify wrapped is something I look forward to every year. This year, it was Wednesday, December 4th, and unsurprisingly, I turned into an actual child again. My mood was the most energetic and positive it had been in a while (to the extent that my friends actively pointed it out). So why does it make me so happy? It's really a reflection of myself through the year. What I'm listening to says a lot about where I am mentally at that time. Particularly, it's interesting to see the artists I listened to most each month as it makes it really easy for me to see what resonated with me at the time. My most listened-to artists this year were The Strokes, Big Thief, Beach House, Adrianne Lenker, and Grouper. None of these were surprising (except Grouper, an absolute wild card). The Strokes are my favorite band, and Big Thie...