Hi there

Hi! I'm Ryan Holman (one of the 2% of people named Ryan out there that are female).

I'm coming to this program by way of a childhood spent in this area, a detour through Oberlin, Ohio, a stint as an intern at the Kennedy Center, and an ongoing current gig at a directory publisher. Through all of it I've had the constant companionship of my love affair with the written word. (At one point I wanted to devote myself exclusively to writing. Then I figured out that things like food and shelter are not free and that I am rather attached to having both on a regular basis; thus I decided that perhaps a more practical approach might be necessary. Of course, this was right before the print publishing industry started stumbling and scrambled to make the jump online and reduced their staffs significantly. In the meantime, I have fed the writing bug through poetry readings in Takoma Park and at Artomatic earlier this year.)

As mentioned, I currently work in the content department at a directory publisher that is in the midst of trying to move our subscribers to online products that we're developing. In particular, because my team specifically works with our Congressional member and staff directory, this tends to involve figuring out what information our subscribers demand and how to best acquire and present that information. In particular, we have recently begun offering lots of online-only content (e.g., the 2010 election cycle campaigns that have already declared their candidacies) in hopes that our printed-book subscribers will find space in their budgets to move to our e-products.

Balancing school and work is going to be a challenge, I think, but one I am certainly willing to face head-on; meanwhile, I'm running around and trying to get as many cheap theater tickets as I can (went to go see King Lear the other weekend featuring Stacy Keach at the Shakespeare Theatre) and spend my weekends in various spots up and down the region trying to wring the last out of summer before I buckle down and focus on the fall print schedule at work coming to a head at the start of September and classes starting in 18 days. Looking forward to meeting you all!