Amanda (she/her/hers) • User Engagement Librarian/CrAFT Studio Coordinator • CrAFTy Crew '16
The Basics...
Birthday: September 28th
MBTI: ENFJ
Hometown: I have multiples? Born in Knoxville, TN, but I also can claim Huntsville, AL; Waynesboro, VA, McMinnville/Manchester, TN, and Marshall, NC as stomping grounds. I grew up primarily between Knoxville, Huntsville, and Marshall.
Major/Minor: BS Horticulture/Floral Management - Mississippi State '08; BA History - UNC Asheville '13; MLIS - UNC Greensboro '14
Favorite...
Color: Purple, dark pink, red, or lime green; it wholly depends on my mood.
Food: Rosie's Cantina in Huntsville, AL; when we get together as a family, Rosie's is a staple and it's understood that we have to have it at least once.
Smell: Christmas trees; I grew up on a tree farm in Marshall and the smell of Fraser firs and dirt takes me straight home!
Stress Reliever: Oversized fuzzy sweatshirts + board games + baking shows + spending time with my fuzzy critters and partner.
What Are You Currently...
Watching?: Constantly re-watching any and all baking shows because they are my stress relief (bonus points for British accents), Taskmaster, and the multitude of content on Dropout.tv.
Playing?: AC: NH (still breeding flowers), wreaking havok as an okay DPS/tank-y support in Overwatch 2, and lots of board games. Oh, and trivia. I'm veeeeeeeery into quizzing and trivia. I have done it on a nationally televised competitive basis within the last couple of years. Now I'm in the greatest librarian-run quizzing league in the land (OQL) with my Who's Afraid of Regular Virginia Woolf teammates, play Alex Jones' School of Trivia, and enjoy trying to stump my students. Who knows what the next adventure holds!
Reading?: I'm still working on Lindy West's The Witches are Coming after starting it in California almost a year and a half ago, Alma Katsu's The Fervor, and the ever-growing collection of cookbooks at my house.
Listening to?: My music tastes are all over the place! In the studio or in my office, I do play a LOT of K-pop, and I am so not sorry over that one. If I had to narrow that down to a couple of groups, I would pick Stray Kids and A.C.E. as my (current) favorites. Other favorites are Halestorm, NSP (ask me about Ninja Brian giving me a fist bump), Shadow Academy, Van Hagar-era Van Halen, BSB, Darren Hayes, and Savage Garden. I'm a 90's kid to my core and will listen to mid-to-late 90's pop, rock, and metal any day of the week. I also have a record player in my office so yeah, I'm very much a music nerd.
Gabe (he/him/his) • Student Assistant Manager • CrAFTy Crew '21
The Basics...
Birthday: September 17th
MBTI: ENFJ
Hometown: Born in Barnardsville, NC and lived there as well as Mars Hill, NC for a couple of years, but I primarily grew up in Black Mountain and Asheville.
Major/Minor: Mechatronics Engineering
Favorite...
Color: Pretty much any shade of purple, especially when combined with cyan. .
Food: Anything made with love, especially if it’s a little weird. I grew up on the meals my mom dreamed up on her drive home from work, making the best of the ingredients we already had around the house.
Smell: My sense of smell is exceptionally weak so I don’t have a lot to choose from, but I’ve always adored the smell of Arm & Hammer powder laundry detergent. Go figure.
Stress Reliever: Going on a walk and just being in nature with a good album to accompany, or curling up in bed with a big blanket and my favorite bits of entertainment. Stardew Valley, Outer Wilds, Treasure Planet, and Into the Spider-verse are some of my go-tos.
What Are You Currently...
Watching?: I’ve been between shows for a while—waiting not-so-patiently for the next seasons of Arcane and Jujutsu Kaisen, and I’ve been meaning to catch Castlevania, volume 3 of Love Death + Robots, and probably a half-dozen other shows I forgot to write down.
Playing?: I’ve primarily been working through Spider-Man 2018 and Rollerdrome on my Steam Deck, but I always find myself coming back for the occasional Risk of Rain 2 run or yet another playthrough of Divinity: Original Sin 2. I’ve also got a D&D group that meets weekly, and I’m hoping I can find the time to write and run some one-shots this semester.
Reading?: I’ve been wanting to find something to read for a while, but I don’t know what I want or where to start looking, so feel free to give me your burning recommendations if you see me in the studio.
Listening to?: Don’t even get me started—I listen to music for the majority of my waking hours most days. Under the Shade of Green by The Happy Fits and Shadowglow by flipturn both came out in the last couple weeks (as of writing this at least) so that’s been my primary soundtrack recently, but I’ve also been falling back in love with fishmonger by underscores, waiting on the edge of my seat for the new albums from Phoneboy and Black Pontiac, and retaining my obsessions with Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards, The Home Team, Puppet, Good Kid, and many more. If you want more indie rock recommendations than you know what to do with, I’m your guy.
Link (they/them/theirs) • Student Technician • CrAFTy Crew '22
The Basics...
Birthday: April 26th
MBTI: ISTJ
Hometown: I grew up in Raleigh, NC.
Major/Minor: Sociology/History — then it’s off to grad school for library science.
Favorite...
Color: Peacock green, please and thank you!.
Food: My Anyu's Hungarian goulash.
Smell: Fresh bread, honeycrisp apples, and Dad's chilli on the stove.
Stress Reliever: Sewing, walking, music… causing minor chaos along the way.
What Are You Currently...
Watching?: I recently watched The Legend of Vox Machina, and now I’m working my way through the Critical Role podcast.
Playing?: I’m not the biggest video game person, but I’m always down for DnD.
Reading?: Slowly but surely working my way through The Sandman comics— I’ll finish them eventually.
Listening to?: I greatly appreciate Paris Paloma and Hozier at the moment, especially Hozier’s All Things End. Cavetown, Bastille, and Imagine Dragons all hold a special place in my heart, and when in doubt I always fall back on the music that Dad played while I grew up— Lots of Sting, Pink Floyd, etc.
Nova (they/them/theirs) • Student Technician • CrAFTy Crew '22
The Basics...
Birthday: July 20th
MBTI: ENFP
Hometown: I have two. I lived in Forest City, NC my whole life. But I was born here in Asheville and this is truly where I feel at home so I count this as my hometown.
Major/Minor: I am a New Media Major with a concentration in Interactive Design or Animation. Maybe both depending on what I do. I also might minor in computer science. I also already have a degree in Graphic Design and Advertising and a certificate in Photography.
Favorite...
Color: Black, Red, Grey, and White are all tied for 2nd..
Food: Sushi is probably my favorite and if I had to pick my favorite type of roll it would be a Passion Roll.
Smell: I’m that person who genuinely loves the smell of roses. (favorite flower btw)
Stress Reliever: I usually make time for tea time and just make tea and have tiny pastries with them to de-stress. I also really enjoy walking around the quad and campus as a whole at night. Also playing Stardew Valley usually helps with my stress levels.
What Are You Currently...
Watching?: Harley Quinn on HBO Max will always be my favorite show of all time. I don’t normally watch tv or movies though. But I do enjoy a lot of LGBT movies. Call Me By Your Name and Free Fall are some of my favorites.
Playing?: I play a lot of League of Legends and Valorant. I also really enjoy Dead by Daylight and my favorite genre of video games is probably psychological horror.
Reading?: I read mostly Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy comics. I've been trying to get into reading more John Constantine though. I also really enjoy LGBT books though. I just started reading Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman.
Listening to?: Currently I listen to alot of Aurora and Mitski. My favorite songs by Aurora are probably "A Potion For Love", "Blood In The Wine", and "Exist for Love". Favorite Mitski songs are "Your Best American Girl", and "Me and My Husband". Recently I have been listening to classic j dies and goes to hell part 1 by the Glass beach on repeat.
Collin (he/him/his) • Student Technician • CrAFTy Crew '23
The Basics...
Birthday: August 22nd
MBTI: ESFP
Hometown: Chapel Hill! Lived there for 13 years of my life, and I barely have a memory before.
Major/Minor: Mechatronics Engineering major and Mathematics minor
Favorite...
Color: Light purple and blue. They are some of the most fun and happy colors.
Food: My dads home cooked chicken tikka masala.
Smell: Pumpkin spice since it's the only kind of candle I can smell for some reason.
Stress Reliever: Tinkering with my printers, or taking long walks around campus with a friend.
What Are You Currently...
Watching?: I've never been one to watch a tv show on my own, but rather what has been put on by my sister, or now my roommates. As long as I'm with people, I enjoy anything.
Playing?: I also don't play too many games, which is funny considering I also work at the eSports department on campus. I can, although, beat most in Mario Kart.
Reading?: I also don't read a lot. If I do, it's probably an article that popped up that looked interesting.
Listening to?: See Gabe's entry; I stole his music and he has no idea. I’m currently making my getaway.