It Took Me 20 Years to Write This Intro Post...

Ahoy Steemers! My name is Eva and I am what can only be classified as a Steem rookie. I'm turning 20 tomorrow and figured I might as well start the year off right with my first ever post on steem! I was lucky enough to be introduced to all things crypto by a few dear friends whom I’ve lived with and learned with. More on that...but first a bit of an introduction.

this is me!

I am currently an art history student with an additional interest in film studies and music production residing in Wellesley, MA. Having just wrapped up my first year out east I am back in my hometown, Minneapolis for a few short months living and breathing the delicious midwestern air. I grew up in the woods and railroad tracks around the great midwestern lakes, jetting up the northern shores of Lake Superior and down the Mississippi to my family’s small farm in the southern bluffs. The great thing about Minneapolis though, is that despite our hot-dish-churning, fleet-farm-lovin’, corn-field-abyss, we have cultivated a mecca of culture, character, and vibrant community. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I fully realized the vortexy goodness of this place.

I graduated from high school in 2014 after four years of tortured gas station slurpees and bad poetry. I almost got suspended when I wrote a controversial opinions piece in the school newspaper exposing the elitist annual fundraiser by digging into tax records to find that it was costing more than it was earning. Ugh. The bureaucracy. If I had to write an auto-biography up to this point it would be titled: Secondhand Stoner: Tales of a Midwestern Misfit--but I ultimately grew out of my quasi-outlaw persona.

slurpees at prom

Midway through my senior year I leapt into what seemed like a small part-time job that would ultimately open my world in unimaginable ways. I took a job at a tea house and got lost in the clouds of gongfu tea and herbal concoctions. I started brewing some botanical sodas to have on tap at the tea house as an experiment and the project took off. It took off so much that I deferred from college for a gap year to start my own craft soda company. In this transformative year I hauled heavy kegs (yes, I do have popeye arms), got showered in root beer explosions, lived with astrologers and crypto-enthusiasts, became a cat mama, explored the boundary waters, dealt with sketchy beverage distributors, floated with big shot food writers, and expanded into a realm that was more nourishing and thrilling than I ever could have imagined.

keeping it real with Tree Fort Soda

August, 2015 rolled around and it was time for me to pack up and move out east to rekindle my love of cold, hard, learnin’. Meanwhile Tree Fort Soda (the aforementioned soda company) was set up to be mostly self-sustaining and continues to thrive in the midwest with plans to expand nationally soon soon soon! So I said a difficult--but temporary--goodbye to my Minneapolis crew and moved into a small basement dorm at Wellesley College. The next few months would prove difficult as I jerked myself back into the rigidity of academia and searched for my people. Ebbing and flowing between papers and long walks on the idyllic campus I reminded myself what a privilege it is to be in college, piles of food waiting for me every day in the dining halls, supportive professors, resources spilling out of every nook and cranny of the historic halls I was taking for granted. I got involved at the campus radio station (WZLY 91.5--shameless plug) and fell in love with the grungy, crusty, radio scene. Between bringing incredible artists to campus, sorting through thousands of dusty CDs, broadcasting my own dorky voice on the airwaves, and venturing out to cambridge to hear small, local bands own the stage, I had found my place.

the campus radio station

A few months gone by and here I am, back in Minneapolis for the summer. I recently traveled to Iceland for a brief few weeks with fellow steemer, @lovejoy... a fresh post to come on that incredible journey. I can’t wait to continue expanding and reaching my tendrils to new frontiers on Steem. This platform is exciting and I can feel the boom of unique and powerful community forming here.

@lovejoy and I enjoying tea at a hostel in Reykjavik

Thanks for reading! Here’s to a future of collectivity with you all!