As a part of my program, I get to attend lectures given by experts in the children’s literature field. Last Monday, Nancy Willard came to Hollins and talked about the author’s voice and the art of storytelling. While she said a lot of interesting things, I want to pass on one funny line she said.

“In fantasies and fairy tales, you can make things up, but you can’t make mistakes.” 

This declaration followed a story about a mis-drawn bird in her book Cinderella’s Dress. It was one of those ‘duh’ sentences that makes you nevertheless nod your head because it’s so true.

Here are some of Nancy Willard’s books:

Ryan and I applied to live in the family student housing (called Baity Hill) on UNC campus. Ryan really wanted to live near people who are also grad students, and he wanted to be close to the school. The best solution was to apply for a spot in Baity Hill. The apartments are really nice and most of the people living in them are going through the same type of stuff we are.

But there were no openings. 

We thought we would have to find an apartment in NC and live there for a year, then move when there was an opening at Baity Hill. It seemed like a lot of moving on top of our moving to VA, but Ryan really wanted to live there, and I agreed that there are definite advantages. Well, it really seems like we have been continuously blessed this semester. We got a call this morning that there is an opening in Baity Hill and we can move our things in starting July 1.

We are so excited and feel so lucky to be living in such a nice place. Here is the website if anyone wants to checkout where we will be living in NC. Our Virginia living situation is a whole different story…

http://housing.unc.edu/baityhill/

It is official, Ryan has been accepted to the University of North Carolina. Here are some pictures of the beautiful UNC campus in Chapel Hill, NC. 

I have been accepted to Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. Here are some pictures of the Hollins campus. 

We really can’t believe that we both got into the schools that we wanted. We are so excited to start graduate school this summer. We will be moving to Virginia this June, and then on to North Carolina in August. Ryan’s school starts pretty early (Aug. 15) for an east coast school. We will be down in the South East for the next five years (at least)! That’s almost as long as I have lived in Utah. We are really going to miss everyone here in Utah, but we are very excited to be going. 

Okay, we like school, but I we aren’t that crazy about it. Still, we are going on for more…hopefully. Ryan and I are both applying to graduate school for the fall semester of this year. That means we both graduate after the spring semester (‘08). Yes! We are very excited to finish our undergraduate work so we can go on for more school. It will be a few months before we know who (if anyone) has accepted us. Ryan is applying to (listed from his top choice to last choice):

I am applying to (listed from my top choice to last):

Ryan is applying for the biostatistics programs, and I am applying for writing for children and young adults programs and creative writing (BYU doesn’t have a writing for children emphasis). Good luck to us.