User:DevinMcGevin

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Hi there, my name is Devin (McGevin is not my last name - my parents weren't that cruel - just a nickname convenient for usernames).

I am currently a senior at an undergraduate liberal arts college in the Midwest, studying economics and anthropology. I used to say that I would like to go into international development, except now I feel that 'development' has connotations of Western-oriented, top-down macroeconomic programs imposed on cash-poor regions without a lot of thought put into the effect it may have on the systems and cultures in those areas... so for now I'll say that I am interested in working with communities around the world to create working solutions to economic disadvantages experienced by those communities.

Once I graduate, I will probably leave the the prairie behind. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, I'm completely disoriented if I can't see at least one mountain or significantly large body of water.

I love to travel, meet new people, and learn about languages, cultures, histories, identities, worldviews, and so on. I find I like to travel alone the most (probably because it scares the bejeezes out of my parents). Taking tons of pictures with my trusty little digital is also a favorite interest; even when celebrating on the weekends as a rugby-playing college student (female rugby player) I can get some not-too-bad shots. Er, pictures. Outside of the college bubble, I have been an intern with the Charities Review Council of Minnesota [1], a babysitter for Special Needs[2] kids in my hometown, the last surviving child of my parents, a voracious coffee drinker (wait, that happens at college, too), and a lover of such wilderness activities as backpacking in the mountains, kayaking in the San Juan Islands, sailing around the bay and running into gray whales - I swear it was following us - in a little laser (dinghy), cross-country skiing, and camping out on the Eastern Washington side of the Cascades collecting beatles for research.

My first semester as a college student I had a history professor who instilled the fear of absolute shame and failure in us in order to teach us academic-level research, writing, and citation. I have also worked at our library's reference desk for three and a half years and have been a Writing Assistant for a freshman econ class. So I value good research, proper citation of one's references, and legitimate representation and agency. I probably don't live up to my own standards on that, but the majority of my commentary on WP will most likely be asking after sources. I'd also be happy to run a quick check on things for people, since I have access to some pretty good academic databases here at school.

Cheers!

DevinMcGevin 08:15, 22 April 2006 (UTC)