A new beginning...........

Hello all,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shannon Anne Carter and I hail from the Southside of Chicago (I'm actually from Chicago, not the suburbs!!!!). This is my third year at UIS and my first year as a graduate student in the Master's of Public Administration program. As you can tell from my profile, I am overly-involved in a lot of campus activities and some extracurricular ones too.

I'm not sure if the person who asked me to be a UIS Blogger (*waving*) knew just WHO he was asking! LOL. As any of my dear friends can tell you, I'm what people call "real." And since the name of our blogs are called "The Real Deal," that's exactly what my blog is going to be. The Real Deal. UIS in all of its glorious splendor and in some of its not-so-glorious splendor.

As you might have noticed, I'm African-American. (Close your mouth, I know it's a shock!) So, being an African-American woman at a predominantly white university can be quite the experience sometimes. Especially for a person like me with a sociologist for a sister and a former revolutionary for a mother.

But don't think that that my blogs will all be serious! I wouldn't dream of it. Another thing that people can tell you about me is that I LOVE to laugh and even to be laughed at (in a good way). So I invite you to come along this journey called the 2006-2007 Academic Year. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get more popcorn (and hopefully share some with me), but most of all, you'll learn! (Or maybe that's JUST me!)

Anyway, thanks for coming and I hope to see you all real soon!