Getting to Know You (Lee Edition)

 1) Introduce yourself. Tell us a bit about who you are. 

I'm Lee DiFante; I think I've had classes with probably all of you at one point or another? I'm an English education major, planning on teaching English in Korea after I graduate and maybe even eventually trying to get into Seoul University, who knows. I'm turning 30 in a few months here and trying very hard not to think about the fact I'm turning 30 in a few months here. 

Last January I adopted two cats. It's my first time owning cats ever, so it's been a lot of confusion and a lot of litter. My cats are named Cole and Emma. Emma's a longhaired calico, Cole's a dusty red himbo. I got them both from the cat cafe nearby, Give Purrs A Chance. 

2) Why are you taking this class? What do you hope to learn or gain from it, specifically in terms of your writing? 

So, funny story, in ENGL 377 last semester (hi Ally lol) I did my big project on the idea that there are dialects of English that are strictly written. I did a lot of networking for that project, and Dr. Scott Warnock was of the opinion that I was sitting on a good subject for research. I was already planning on doing a bunch of research for a paper on the subject this summer when I saw the flier for this class and couldn't believe my luck. I literally already had a copy of Because Internet because I used it as research for that first project! I'm hoping to learn more about my topic of choice (and other related topics!) while taking this class, and ultimately use it to boost me into a hopefully-good paper by the end. 

3) Talk about some memorable internet “texts” you have interacted with—even if that just means they’ve made you laugh or think a lot. They don’t have to be your favorites—just talk about whatever comes to your mind. 

There's an essay on The New Inquiry called "Hot Allostatic Load." I think about it a lot. One might say "it lives in my head rent free." I suppose hitting this question and immediately thinking of an essay isn't very internet of me, but it was the first thing that came to mind. It's about the kind of social damages that exist unique to the internet, and how ostracization is still ostracization and damages are still damages. I think about it a lot, especially when someone argues that something is "just online" at therefore shouldn't bother someone else--normally, after all, someone is saying this to a victim of cyberbullying or death threats or some other form of online mobbing. 

I suppose I could have picked a lighter topic for this! Uh, on a lighter note, I've had a bunch of tumblr posts--one in particular--of mine go viral, like PROPER viral, and I still see them constantly online and get people DMing me like "omg your post showed up in my hockey facebook group." That one is an internet text that has definitely been, unfortunately, deeply memorable. 

No, I won't show it to you. Even if I edited out the username, the risk that one of you will find my Tumblr is far too high. I can't live with that fear.