Introducing myself

Cameron Madden
MSMU Class of 2028

(10/24) Greetings to all readers of the Emmitsburg News-Journal! My name is Cameron Madden, and I am so gracious for the opportunity to be writing for all of you readers out there. Today will be a day in which we will discuss (I promise in the least narcissistic way possible) me, and who the person behind the ink and paper wishes to be. My hope is that you come out of this with perhaps a better understanding that the words you are reading now come from another soul, just as yourself, that’s trying to figure out where he will fit in the world. Or maybe a chuckle, I feel like the chuckle would be apt enough for a life story.

To begin, let us establish a crucial detail about myself that I need you to remember for the rest of this introduction; yes you will be tested and if you remember it by the end you will get the reward of knowing that your memory is working just fine, and that your medical provider is treating you just fine. The fact is that I was born in New Jersey and have lived there my whole life up till now. I was born the middle child of eventually four children (an older brother, and two younger sisters,) and in my youth I can say confidently that my childhood is something as you can expect from a kid born in 2005.

My youth primarily featured growing up alongside my family and technology. On one hand, I would live in a divorced household and live in a reality of two separate places to call home, and on the other, a new laptop or Playstation 3 that would take up all my attention. During my childhood, I look back and realize that I took an affinity to things past my own environment. I liked the stars of the night when I was supposed to be in bed, the stories of heroes and villains that a child simply could not have embodied, and the worlds described in stories from books, movies and games. In other less inspirational words, I was a nerd. My days were spent with games, movies, shows, chores with parents, and always hanging around with my best friend who lived next door.

As time moved on, and I breezed through elementary school, middle school defined much more about myself than I would like to admit. It cemented the friends that I carry with me to this day, established that I was, in fact, good in school, and mostly pushed the love of stories further upon me. It turns out when your English teacher makes you read any book from the library as a semester-long project, you find yourself picking the books that interest you. I would pick up books describing wars and battles of the past, and of historical figures that lived alongside them. Trust me, you do not expect a 7th grader to tell you about Louis Zamperini, the 1936 US Olympic Runner and WW2 Pilot. I think from this moment on, and with the encouragement and enabling from my older brother, that history took precedence in my life. I was surely interested in storytelling, and while Star Wars and the Hunger Games were interesting stories, they ultimately have less substance than in the stories that are written everyday and by every person.

It is obvious that you can confidently call me a nerd by this point now; I would counter this assumption by saying I played many years of tee ball/baseball and one of soccer during my childhood, but I would also admit that I never was the best, nor had the greatest of interests in them. By high school I was set on the historical path, but when going to pick a career class I had to establish an actual career path. I thought arguing with my siblings was enough of an inspiration to be a lawyer, and thus I would spend my high school years sitting mostly in a class where I would type up legal papers. It was more boring than you realize for a high schooler to go through; I honestly am surprised I do not have carpal tunnel by this point. At least by the end of that I found a best friend only through that class, so I am going to say I prevailed from that.

Regardless, high school let my love of history expand into that of literature, simply because you can not talk about history or its beauty without writing accordingly for it. This is clearly where my interest in writing comes from, and if you can not tell, it is why I may seem more personable in retelling this, because I like when writers long gone or distant can connect through the ink they preside over.

In fact, I think in all things about myself I can identify that every hobby or action I wish to take part in is some reflection of a connection or extension of who I am. I enjoy older music and play the bass and piano accordingly for this music I love; writing is a fulfillment of how I wish to express any thoughts or inspiration; service to my friends and strangers is how I want everyone to act; and I make dry, cynical jokes because it connects to the stories and past to which I grew up in. In truth, I myself am a history major because some part of me wishes to be connected to the stories I grew up with. This drive to express myself has landed me here, to be read by you, a wonderful reader.

Think kindly to yourself and how you became the person who picked up this paper. I am sure that you and I will go to great places with that mindset. But just to make sure, I hope you can remember where I was born! If you can not, I have some real concern for you.