My name is Matthew and I’m excited to finally be writing on this site, which I will be filling with thoughts, notes, and musings. I am from Long Beach, California, and I am currently an English major at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

I have wanted to start this for a long time, because I’ve noticed that people often hear “literature” and immediately think of it as an impractical field with stuffy academics. But there is so much we can learn from literary works — literary works are so entangled in our social and political environments. Because of this, they shape how we relate to the world around us. Just as importantly, literature has the power to create profound effects on our own individual selves. We’ve all experienced finishing that book that really made us think about the meaning of life, or read that novel that inspired us to be a better person — so I can safely say that this site will also be my own literary journal as I continue on reading and writing about works of fiction.