PEOPLE THINK B.A.s IN ENGLISH ARE NOT PRACTICAL. PEOPLE ARE WRONG.

Despite all the nay-saying we experienced in college, our English degrees have led both of us directly to interesting and fulfilling lives. Although we have taken very different paths, the skills taught to us during out schooling have proved invaluable. Some of those skills are obvious (strong writing and analytical skills, communication, presentation, and an ability to hold our own in a debate) and some  are more subtle (the impulse to look beyond the obvious for deeper meaning, the courage to propose completely absurd-seeming interpretations, the desire to understand other perspectives) but all of the skills are ones we utilize every single day.

But it’s not just about the skills we developed while pursuing an English degree, it’s also about the meaning and the imprint of the literature we read during that time. Great (and mediocre and terrible) books change you. Not a day goes by when a book or character or quote or theme doesn’t pop into our heads and change the way we’re looking at a problem. Books add layers of meaning, they illuminate underlying issues, and they sometimes work as a good slap in the face to show us when we are being idiots.

We are still reading. We are still learners. We are writing about it.