My name is Aaron Brannen. I am a 21-year-old journalism major who loves to write. I was born three months early and, due to complications from premature birth, I had a Grade III intraventricular hemorrhage, which is a complicated way of saying my brain started bleeding. I developed a neurological condition called Cerebral Palsy. I can’t walk without support like a walker or something to grab on to, and my fine motor skills are… lacking: I type with two fingers and I suck at video games; my brain has serious trouble sending signals to my body. I’m grateful to be here at U of I. My father is an alumni, a graduate of the Class of 1997 with a degree in aerospace engineering. In brief, he’s the smartest person I know and very well might be a literal genius. On top of my proud family history with this campus, UIUC also has the best disability program in the country. I am very, very proud of this campus and their wholehearted efforts to give me the education I deserve. I am actually very proud of my disability, as well. Sure, I can’t walk, but there are people I have met through my CP that I love, and I wouldn’t sacrifice my friendship with them for anything in the world. I love movies, video games, and TV, and I have a blog where I review movies and TV called The Cripple Critique (https://thecripplecritique.wordpress.com/) It is very good if I do say so myself. I also write occasionally for a website called My Trending Stories. This blog will be used to post assigned columns and extra credit assignments for my Journalism 200 course. It isn’t a “real” blog, but I do like to write, regardless; I will try my best and I hope you enjoy my work.