The book collection I have placed on three large shelves on the fourth floor of Armstrong Hall, is not so much an amassed quantity of works as it is a defining characteristic of who I am. Many of the selections inhabiting the shelves are old and rare, others deal with situations my immediate ancestors were involved in, but these do not hide the need for the modern works of scholarship, represented throughout as well.

First and foremost, my book collection is a study in multiculturalism, in the most powerful and emotional sense. As a current resident assistant and future resident mentor with the specialization of multiculturalism, the diversity of the peoples of the world is something intensely fascinating to me. By learning about the cultures of people in far away places and times, their great buildings, their faiths, their societies and their lives, I find an innate empathy for their struggles and joy in their successes. Also, my task to learn about my own background finds an otherwise absent frame of reference.