Greetings and Salutations

Hello world. I am a new resident of the blogosphere, and this is my first ever post. How exciting. But before I begin, you probably have a few questions you want answered.

1) Who are you?

My name is Aaron Lancaster. I am a 20-year-old college student working toward an English degree at Florida A&M University, an HBCU in Tallahassee, FL.

But this page says you're called "Aaron Amal." What's up with that?

Well Aaron Amal Lancaster is my God-given name. Aaron Amal is my pen name (I think it sounds catchier). You see, my teachers were all very impressed by my writing when I was growing up, and I eventually got it into my head that I could make a living off my writing. I've been trying to figure out how ever since, and I've concluded that my best bet was as a screenwriter, a novelist/fiction writer, or an essayist.

Then why get an English degree? Wouldn't it be better to go to film school or get a B.A. in Creative Writing?

I really wanted to do both of those things, actually. While I was in high school my two dream schools were USC and NYU, who graduated George Lucas and Spike Lee respectively. You might have heard of them. Unfortunately, I had expensive taste, to the tune of about 50 grand a year in tuition, plus books, and renting filmmaking equipment. When my folks applied for my financial aid they were awarded about $5,000, or the financial equivalent of "fuck all," especially since they had already put themselves in debt putting me through private school (that's another story). Around the same time FAMU contacted me offering an academic scholarship. For $100,000. All four years of tuition plus room and board, meals, and books. After weighing my options, pursuing my dreams and burying my family in debt or taking a detour and accepting a free education, it was easy to make up my mind.

So how'd that work out?

Well, it turns out FAMU doesn't really do liberal arts, the only thing I liked about learning. The don't have a film school (although they swear their broadcast journalism program is just as good) and the closest they get to creative writing is a 3-credit course offered by their English department (already took it, got an A of course). I actually started out as a Broadcast Journalism major but found that the program contained too much journalism for my taste. I could probably dedicate an entirely different post to that experience...let's just say it was trying. I then switched to the English department to find that it wasn't nearly as well funded as the journalism program and mostly produced English Education majors or law school inductees. It's a better fit than the journalism program, but I have no intention of being an English teacher or a lawyer.

Well that sucks. So now what are you going to do?

I'm doing it right now! Well, this blog is one of several things I'll be doing, but it's one of the things I'm most excited about. I also have started a Twitter page and I plan on joining  cracked.com's new writers workshop  sometime this year. If I can't learn how to write at school, I'll just teach myself in my spare time. This blog will allow me to record my thoughts, keep my writing skills on point, and introduce a wider range of people to my work and interests.

Huh...You think it'll work?

I dunno. You're still reading this, so that's not a bad sign. Like most of my past successes, this is sort of something my friends and family have urged me to do. They say I have the most random and thoughts and I tend to spout off funny or insightful shit, and they say I should record it and share it with someone. Well guys, be careful what you wish for. Here I come.