ryan griffin

I’m a Junior at the University of Illinois, studying English with a concentration on teaching.  At age 12, I won a classical piano competition but went on to completely forget my Rachmaninoff while sitting in front of the judges at a national competition in South Dakota.  At age 15, I was voted president of my sophomore class and managed to qualify as a freshman for the State Track meet.  At age 17, I spent three weeks in Kingston, Jamaica working at the Salvation Army School for the Blind; It was my first sweet taste of altruistic happiness.  At age 18, I obtained my second State Track medal, placing third in the 800 meter dash.  At age 19, I spent a week working with Habitat for Humanity in Mississippi; I drank absinthe and smoked a cigarette while sitting at Pirates Alley in the French Quarter of New Orleans; I felt truly happy.  At age 20, I tried to take a year off from school to work down with Habitat full time; I wouldn’t have dropped out, but I needed some time to nurse my waning inspiration.  This fall, I’m stuck with my lease and back in Urbana, trying in futility to re-create the atmosphere of my more profound altruistic experiences.  I sometimes feel stifled and bitter.  All the other pieces of me, the Dostoyevski and the Salinger, the Bergman and the Fellini, are like building blocks in the eclectic identity that I’m almost constantly obsessing over.

Click here to view my Resume.

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