A Little About Me

I'm going to prefix and suffix this short biography with a short phrase.

I am what I am.

Me, circa December, 2012

My name is Brandon Ty Benner. I'm 19 years old, and I study Political Science and History at Penn State University. My life, on the outside, is pretty well-rounded. I don't come from a family with a lot of money, I don't come from a plush neighborhood, I don't really have any rewarded and renowned talents (if you ask me, anyway), I don't have any high-up connections or perks, and I work a minimum wage job at a university dining hall. I love to read, especially the classics. Music is one of my favorite escapes from stress. I am in a loving and devoted relationship with my girlfriend Megan, four years in the making. My hobbies include reenacting the American Civil War, geocaching, reading, writing, traveling, and acting.

I was born and raised in the country. When I was little and did something wrong, I got a spanking, or, if it was from my great aunt Tam, a "lickin'." I have three siblings, all younger than me. Throughout my childhood, I was raised with a clear view of right and wrong, just and unjust. I learned that hate was wrong, love was right, and that an education is the most valuable thing a person can have. I loved to read and I loved to learn. Even though my teachers often noted me as bright and owning of an inquisitive mind, I was pretty much just an average kid.

Me, circa September, 1862.

However, below my normal-seeming shell, I'm a hotbed of thought, ideas, and contemplation. Everywhere I go, with everything I do, I keep a continuous stream of thought and inner dialogue (yes, dialogue, like answering my own questions). In the midst of this thought, I ponder a lot of things: history, politics, philosophy, music, ethics, psychology, literature, the latest gossip, etc. A lot of stuff goes through my mind. I find I have a lot of things to say, but I've never really had a good output for it before. Luckily for me, I discovered blogging. It's a nice way for me to get my thoughts and musings out to people who would actually care to listen to them. It's much better than Facebook, at least, because there, my thoughts just clog up people's news feeds. It's also better than Twitter, because honestly, I have very few thoughts that I can condense into 140 characters.

You'll find in my posts that I may seem a little old-fashioned and in a way distant from how today's normal teenager would act. I guess that may be a little strange, and I do apologize for that, but I simply enjoy it all too much. I can't say for sure exactly why I am that way. Maybe I'm high-strung, maybe I have high expectations for myself, or maybe I'm just a complete prick. Hard to say, really. All-in-all, though, you'll find I don't necessarily look at the world through 19-year-old eyes.

I am what I am.