by Ashley Grashaw

Since things went so well with Gura on the blog, we've decided to open it up to our favorite valley girl, Ashley Grashaw. Take it away, Ash....

Hey bloggers. Ashley here, bringing the West Coast perspective to Blog of the Nation — represent yo.

Although I spent my college years at Berkeley — hugging trees (once, but it was a bonsai); wearing Birkenstocks (a temporary blip when they suddenly became popular again for about a month in 2003); and waging protests (against racist Abercrombie t-shirts, for example) — I lived in LA long enough, having been raised there, to realize that it's OK to want to make money. Enter: Public Radio. Unpaid intern turned editorial assistant, my job is to talk to experts all day about topics I pretend to understand. But that's the great thing about working behind the scenes: I only have to find the expert, I don't have to be the expert.

Here's a few spicy tidbits about myself, the better to judge my blogging capabilities:

Currently Reading: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.
Special Talent: Ability to get a crowd going in a karaoke bar.
Favorite Sex Scandal: Michael Jackson, for its irony — this is the same guy who wrote "Heal the World," no?
Random Quirk: Listening to Christmas music in July.