Hello, it's me, Shanika Parker. But, you can call me Shan if you want.

I'm officially a new writer for Mississippi State's team of Odyssey. I am so honored to be writing for this team! (YAY!)

I've loved Odyssey since the first day I read an article. There's an article for everything. My roommate posted one to my wall the other day that combined two of my favorite things into one: Leslie Knope and teaching. I mean what more could you ask for?

There are inspirational articles, comedy articles, articles that make you think, as well as many others, so, when I stumbled upon Devin's (our editor and chief/awesome person) post about the new writing team, I knew that I had to apply.

After I decided to apply, I went searching. I like to know what I'm getting into before I get into it. I knew that I loved Odyssey, but I was curious about what other people, who aren't on Facebook, thought. To my surprise, a lot of people dislike it. People were saying "it's not real journalism," "it's just a bunch of girls writing about random things" and my absolute favorite, "If I see one more of those 'An Open Letter To My Best Friend's Hairdresser' type articles I'm going to scream." Maybe these things are true, maybe they're not (they're not ... P.S. who cares what other people think?) All that I know is that I love writing, and I love keeping the sass on blast. With that being said, I wanted to make a promise to the people who read and the people who will eventually read my articles: I promise to continue being sassy.

I promise to write about things that I think are important or clever or cool.

I promise to tell the truth.

I promise to always be on time.

I promise to make you laugh (at least once).

I promise to give credit where credit is due.

I promise to use correct grammar. (@all my English teachers ever)

I promise to keep my promises.

I also promise to tell you about me, so here's a brief summary of my existence:

I was born in Texas, raised in Alabama, and now here I am in Mississippi trying to get my education. Mississippi State is the love of my life, and every day I fall in love with it a little more. The best teachers the world has to offer taught me, so when I grow up I want to be a teacher. I hope that I can teach our children to be good people, so that when they grow up the world might be a better place. I have the best family and friends that are in existence (no seriously). I love my cat more than life. I eat a lot and drink too much coffee and tea. I spend too much money on music, and I go to too many concerts (however, that's debatable). I cry when I watch movies (literally every single movie I've ever watched). I watch too much Netflix, and I think the people in the shows are my friends. Every time I'm in a car, I'm having my own personal concert. I love Beyoncé, and I like to think I'm a light skinned princess just like her.

I can't wait to see where this path takes me.

Thanks in advance for reading!

All my love,

Shan