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), Our Flag Means Death, and usually YouTube Let's Play videos in the background.
Playing?: AC: NH (still breeding flowers), waiting impatiently for Overwatch 2 to be out of beta, and lots of board games. Oh, and trivia. I'm veeeeeeeery into quizzing and trivia, currently just for fun but I have done it on a competitive basis within the last couple of years. Now the most competitive I get is pub trivia with friends and Jackbox games...for now ;)
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!
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 (I've got VIP tickets for October!), Shadow Academy, 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: ISFP
Hometown: I grew up in Raleigh, NC.
Major/Minor: I HAVE A MAJOR AND MINOR NOW! German major/Creative writing minor, yay me!
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, listening to music, walking in the botans, etc.
What Are You Currently...
Watching?: I just binged the new Netflix show The Sandman and I loved it! I cried so much. It was amazing. I've got Hannibal playing in the background as my current rewatch show.
Playing?: The only game I play with any regularity is Merge Mayor on my phone. I just think the graphics are cute.
Reading?: A Dress For The Wicked by Autumn Krause, Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman, On A Sunbeam by TIllie Walden, and The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tint.
Listening to?: Bastille's new album Give Me The Future + Dreams Of The Past is on repeat, but otherwise my taste in music is a. stuff my dad introduced me to, b. songs people paired to animatics they made from shows I like, and c. showtunes.
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.