This story was published in 2006 for FastWeb, an online education resource and scholarship search engine.
My full name is Mary Rebecca Wilkinson Seltzer, but I’ve been called Molly since I can remember. I grew up on a beef cattle farm in the mountains of Virginia, right on the West Virginia line. I am an anthropology and Spanish double major with an English minor at the University of Virginia.
I joined the newspaper my second year and became an arts and entertainment writer. Mostly, I write about music, but I have experience with hard news stories, features, other A&E subjects like theater and literature and – in a particularly daring moment– a short series on economic and financial issues.
I’ve had an unabashed affair with wordplay my whole life. I love puns, love them. I also overuse parentheses and have an unexplainable affection for hyphens.
Roald Dahl, Max Schulman and P.G. Wodehouse are my favorite authors. Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of E.B. White and A.J. Liebling. (It seems many great writers shorten their names; I consider it an unfortunate twist of fate that my initials are M.R. Seltzer.)
I like to live the high life … you know, polishing silver and licking envelopes. I go to a lot of concerts, which helps me make a lot of friends. I often bake, which helps me keep them. I’m an avid sports fan and root for the Redskins, the Pacers and the Pirates – mainly because they need it. I take great pleasure in writing letters to family members and friends in faraway places. It is unclear whether they are ever opened.
I’m excited to share my thoughts (discerning), insights (considerable) and experiences (enthralling) throughout this process.
And … I ask you to bear with me.
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