Austin Brook

Funny. Handsome. Charming. I can spell all of these words.

I hope to spell many more in my lifetime. Words are one way of sharing stories, and when placed in the correct order, words can change lives.

(Read this in your head)

Think about it. I am encouraging you to read these words right now. You’ve never heard the color of my voice, but I’d bet anything that these words play in your mind the second your eyes hit them. It paints a picture of who you may think I am. Boom! Magic! (Don’t worry! If I exclaim, this voice won’t damage your hearing.)

I believe my thoughts are made of dreams. If I share them correctly, you’ll feel something. As a teller of stories, that is my one and only goal, and it is also a game that never bores me.

Alas, if you are going to make assumptions about me based on that marvelous voice in your head, I at least owe you some answers to fill in the blanks:

I grew up in the burbs of Chi Town. That’s basically an informal and less “cool” way of saying that a wonderful family in the city of Orland Park raised me. Also, I don’t care about what’s cool. I may have even done air quotes when I reread this paragraph.

The aforementioned family is composed of vicious martial artists and musicians alike. Just like Captain Planet, those powers have joined together to create a musically inclined adrenaline junkie… That doesn’t sound right. How about a rhythmic fighter? Not quite. I’ll settle for saying I’m proud of being just like them.

What else could you want to know? I graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Kinesiology because I thought the subject was cool.

Sometimes I lie when I write. (Reference the “cool” moment if you missed it.) Oops. But if you read between the lines, I bet you’d see that I have only truthfully shared what makes me… me.

P.S. I air quoted the second cool when I reread it as well. I’m a serial air-quote maniac. Now that I have shared too much, I bow in your general direction for reading this far, and I wish you all the best.