To be perfectly honest, I’ve always been hesitant about joining the blogosphere. I never dabbled in Xanaga as a preteen, nor did I develop into a Blogspot devotee. I would, however, leave it to Bryn Mawr to break me out of this comfort zone of resistance. Thus begins this new blog and new academic year, all courtesy of Athena.

So, hi everyone. To catch you up to speed, my name is Ivy and I’m a junior History of Art major and English minor. In addition to being a Hall Advisor in Radnor (the best dorm on campus, pictured above), I work as a tour guide in Admissions and as the Director of Marketing for Dining Services. I’m from downtown Chicago, but spent a stint of my adolescence in a small town on the coast of Maine– suffice to say, I’m well-versed in the woes of both public transit and the lobstering industry.

When I’m not making Amy Heckerling references in class, I’m most often found fawning over old Bryn Mawr yearbooks, making kugels for my hall, or going to concerts in Philly. Bryn Mawr has offered me countless amazing opportunities, like being featured with my professor in the New York Times and having dinner with Judith Butler. Off campus, I’ve interned and written for several museums and publications, most recently the Museum of Contemporary Art and Time Out Chicago.

Now that’s out of the way, I do think there is one more piece of information worth explaining: my blog’s title. It’s a pun referring to “Sophias,” the Greek song recited by all first year students during Lantern Night. The opening line, Sophias philai Paromen (“Friends of wisdom, let us gather”), while hauntingly beautiful, is likely the only part Mawrters remember post-Lantern Night. In summary, like this blog, “it’s a Bryn Mawr thing.”