AnarchE

Friday Feature

I’ve written about the fact that I count Efed as one of my best friends. I’m doubly fortunate that she’s also my sister. It means that when we want to wear cat ears and go out, we can. It also means that I can lean on her for … well, everything.

Long before the thought of writing a daily blog entered my mind … hell, even before I’d be so bold as to call myself a writer, my Chmok was tapping away at her own blog.

Growing up, I looked to Chmok for inspiration in all things literary. She was the Editor in Chief of The Chatterbox, WHHS’s school newspaper, and was also the Editor for The Seven Hills Review, a Cincinnati based literary/arts journal. When I arrived at Walnut, I knew I wanted to follow in her footsteps. My reporting skills were subpar though, so my tenure with The Chatterbox didn’t last long. I did, however, manage to land an Editorship with Gleam. I owe my accomplishment to Efed. She showed me early on what one can do if one is tenacious and determined.

So Efed’s blog is pretty freaking awesome. She’s been at it a while, and details her experiences travelling and living abroad. The myriad adventures she’s had while visiting exotic locales and living in equally thrilling places translates so well to the page. Chmok is able to do this so flawlessly for one reason – she’s a natural born writer.

I get so excited when an email drops into my inbox altering me to a new posting. It’s always such a treat to read what Efed has to say. Not only does it decrease the distance I feel from her, since Germany and Ohio are far as shit away from one another, but it gives me insight into the way a mind of a true writer works – her syntax, sentence structure, effortless blending of hood-speak and high-brow English, pidgin German, fluent French and the other assorted languages she’s picked up along the way encourage me – even from afar.