Literacy*Americorps Central Texas Members

Meet the 2011-2012 members of Literacy*AmeriCorps Central Texas!  These extraordinary people are dedicating a year of service to improving literacy rates and the quality of life in our community.

Amelia Frank

Education: Oberlin College

Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Dream world: Beyoncé  Real World: Joan Cusack

What could you do on stupid human tricks? Karate chop through bricks, replicate the songs of the native birds of Central Texas, and promote literacy in the greater Austin area.

What's your favorite book? East of Eden

Alyshia Foster

Education: Texas A&M University, Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication and Business Administration

Hometown: Dallas, TX

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Audrey Tautou (The French actress who plays the lead role in Amelie)

What could you do on stupid human tricks? I can bark like a ridiculously large dog

What's your favorite book? East of Eden

Annabeth Jamieson Weldon

Education: Mount St Mary's College, LA/CA,1987 Bachelors in Art & Lewis & Clark College Portland, OR 2000 Masters in Arts of Teaching

Hometown: Dallas, TX (Texas Independence Day!)

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Debra Winger would play me quite well!

What could you do on stupid human tricks? My Donald Duck voice..

What's your favorite book? Diaries of Anais Nin

Blair Fine

Education: University of Georgia, Bachelor of Science in Psychology, 2011

Hometown: Norfolk, Virginia

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Tina Fey

What could you do on stupid human tricks? Rolling my tongue in the shape of a clover

What's your favorite book? The Giving Tree

Caitlin Edwards

Education: University of Texas, English & Spanish, graduated May 2011

Hometown: Dripping Springs, TX

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Reese Witherspoon (mostly just cause she's blonde and seems pretty classy)

What could you do on stupid human tricks? ...nothing, sorry!

What's your favorite book? Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, anything by CS Lewis, Villette by Charlotte Bronte, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Beloved by Toni Morrison. Like I said, I was an English major and thus couldn't help putting multiple answers for this one, really my list could go on and on : )

Collin Jevine

Education: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Psychology, 2010

Hometown: Madison, WI

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Morgan Freeman

What could you do on stupid human tricks? Get dizzy and vomit after spinning around only 3 times

What's your favorite book? Kitchen Confidential

Desaree Williams:

Education:  Texas State University, MA in Anthropology, 2011

Hometown: San Diego, CA

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Issa Rae

What could you do on stupid human tricks? Wiggle my ears without touching them

What's your favorite book? The Broke Diaries by Angela Nissel

James Ofczarzak

Education: Western Illinois University, Spanish, 2008

Hometown: Batavia, Illinois

Who would play you in a movie of your life? If I had the choice, Bill Murray

What could you do on stupid human tricks?  Contort my face to look strikingly similar to that of a llama, or camel

What's your favorite book? The Prodigal God - Tim Keller

Kimberly Merriman

Education: Michigan State University, B.A. in English, 2000

Hometown: Bear Lake, Michigan

Who would play you in a movie of your life? A blonde Sandra Bullock

What could you do on stupid human tricks? I can do this wacky thing where I cross and flare my lips, flare my nostrils, and cross my eyes.

Favorite book: Anything by Haruki Murakami, especially Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (a short stories collection)

Liz Pfaff

Education: Pacific Lutheran University, BS in Mathematics, BA in Spanish Language and Literature, 2010

Hometown: Bellevue, WA

Who would play you in a movie of your life? I have no idea...! I'm terrible with names of actors & movies.

What could you do on stupid human tricks? I don't even really know what that means...

What's your favorite book? 100 Years of Solitude. And Harry Potter, of course!

Lorena Sanchez

Education: Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas, English, 2010

Hometown: Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Winona Ryder

What could you do on stupid human tricks? Raise each eyebrow separately

What's your favorite book? Everything Is Illuminated

Maria Doria

Education: Augustana College, Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, 2009

Hometown: Orland Park, IL

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Zooey Deschanel

What could you do on stupid human tricks? I can cross my legs over one another and walk on my knees

What's your favorite book? Blindness by Jose Saramago

Meagan Ballengee

Education: (University, Degree, Year) :  BFA Printmaking/BA Art History - St. Cloud State University 2003, Apparel Technologies - Minneapolis Community and Technical College 2005, currently taking classes to become a nurse.

Hometown: Born in Nurnberg, Germany - home is where I'm at - San Marcos, TX.

Who would play you in a movie of your life?  If I'm going for the Oscar nomination I would pick Meryl Streep, but she looks nothing like me!

What could you do on stupid human tricks?  Sadly I have no talent in this category!

What's your favorite book?  I have a bunch of books that I really have enjoyed recently:  Geek Love, Harry Potter series, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Historian, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, The Help, Oryx and Crake/The Year of the Flood/The Handmaids Tale.....

Mike Scully

Education: (University, Degree, Year)  U.S. Military Academy, B.S., 1976; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, M. Eng., 1982; Union College, M.S., 1987

Hometown: (City, State)  Albany, NY

Who would play you in a movie of your life?  Jason Alexander (George Costanza)

What could you do on stupid human tricks?  Name the winners (and losers) of every World Series since 1960

What's your favorite book?  The Art of Racing In the Rain (Garth Stein)

Rhea Sen

Education: Wesleyan University, BA: Art History, 2010

Hometown: Jersey City, NJ

Who would play you in a movie of your life?  Bette Davis, preferably from her All About Eve era

What could you do on stupid human tricks: I have perfected the 'reverse gulp' and can swiftly defeat hiccups.

What's your favorite book?  The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera

Tanlyn Roelofs

Education: Southwestern University, BA in Anthropology, 2010

Hometown: Plano, TX

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Ellen Page would probably play me.

What could you do on stupid human tricks? My stupid human "trick" involves my grossly and extremely double-jointed hands. More like a weird family trait.

Favorite book: The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski