Meet the Author

Dear World,

Today I read This Star Won’t Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl. It had a profound impact on me. I have decided that I am going to make more of an effort to make a difference in this world. I have so many thoughts and ideas about the world, and I’ve always just kept them in until now, but Esther has inspired me to write them down to share with whoever is willing to read them.

I’ll start by introducing myself. My name is Ilana, and I’m 16 years old. I grew up attending a Jewish Day school, from the ages of three to fourteen. As a result I’m pretty fluent in Hebrew, and I have a pretty good knowledge of happenings in Israel. I spent the second semester of my freshman year on a programme on Kibbutz Tzuba in Israel, further refining my knowledge. Now I attend a (mostly) normal high school, in a (mostly) normal town, surrounded by (mostly) normal people.

One of my absolute favourite things to do is curl up in a comfy chair with a book (read: Harry Potter) and a steaming hot cup of cider, followed closely by absolutely anything music related. I love to write, too, which is of course why I started this blog. I have pages and pages, filling multiple notebooks, of all sorts of writings, from personal thoughts to the most fantastical stories.  I don’t watch much television, but every so often a show (like Doctor Who or Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will ensnare me.

In school, I am a part of the GSA and the Harry Potter Alliance. I’m working on being more active in both, but for the most part that just involves attending meetings as often as possible. My chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance only started last year, and we’re still pretty small, but I hope that I can see it become a much bigger and more powerful organisation within the school, maybe even while I’m still here. The GSA, on the other hand, is a flourishing club in this school, with possibly up to 30 members. Coming from a school where there hasn’t been a GSA in years because it was “driven underground” (to quote the teacher I asked), this is amazing. All in all, I’m proud to be a member of both clubs.

Well, that’s about it for now, I think. In the future I will have subjects of substance to talk about, but for now I think I’ll stick with an intro.

Don’t Forget To Be Awesome,

Ilana