Taylor Whitmore is an English major with a minor in creative writing at Western Illinois University (WIU). She transferred from Black Hawk College (BHC) in 2024. Whitmore lives with her husband and their dog and cat in East Moline, Illinois. She works as an English tutor at BHC and as a banquet server at Rhythm City Casino. She enjoys reading, lifting weights, riding her bicycle by the river, watching TV, and meeting new people. Her favorite genre to read is any form of fiction, but her favorite genre to write is nonfiction.

M&L: What is your weekday routine as an English major/minor?

TW: I wake up at 6 am, make an egg, go to the gym, head to work, and then do homework afterward. Or, I sleep in until 9 am, go to work with a very large cup of coffee in my hand, and do homework in my pyjamas. There’s no in-between.

M&L: What are your weekends like?

TW: It depends on whether or not I picked up a shift at the casino. I do banquets there sometimes. If I have one of those, it takes up my Saturday and I spend Sunday recovering. If not, I like to clean up the house on Saturdays, do something active, go outside, and then go to church on Sunday. I’d love to watch football if I could figure out the streaming business involved there.

M&L: What book are all your English peers reading that lies beyond assigned texts for class?

TW: This is tough for me because I am a QC student, and I do not go out very much. But it just so happens that my sister-in-law and I were reading the Throne of Glass series at the same time — unplanned! It received good reviews from both of us.

M&L: What book has changed your life as an undergraduate?

TW: This feels like cheating because I haven’t finished it yet, but Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin is quickly becoming one of my favorite reads. It feels similar to Tuesdays with Morrie, if you’ve read that, but the narrator is an older woman who is a graveyard caretaker. Perrin takes the hard truth of death and blends it with subtleties that make life large but also simple—drinking a bit of port every night, listening to your co-worker sing Elvis, listening to others because they need someone to sit there and be still. She’s also falling in love with a detective. Best of both worlds, if you ask me.

M&L: Where do you hang out on campus?

TW: I’ve never been to the campus in Macomb. Hopefully, that will change this semester!

M&L: Where do you hang out off campus?

TW: I am a tutor at BHC and I usually attend my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes at WIU via Zoom in a tiny room there. I get so much work done in what I call a “study closet;” it’s like it’s in its own little dimension. Otherwise, I read books on my front porch swing, and I like drinking a beer at Bent River Brewing now and then—as a reward, of course.

M&L: What has been or will be your biggest adventure as an undergraduate English major/minor?

TW: Having a few of my poems published in BHC’s creative magazine, Voices, was an unexpected adventure as an undergraduate. I’m excited to start writing for Mirror and the Lamp—especially because it is a nonfiction magazine. My next adventure will be finding an internship. Then, grad school!