Hello everyone! My name is Ioanna Katsigianis, but you can refer to me as Anna. I am new to East Tennessee State University and the state of Tennessee. I was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, so just over the mountain.
After 20 years in the same space, I decided it was time for something new. I applied to ETSU, not thinking I would get in, but I immediately started picturing my life in Johnson City. Within no time, I got my acceptance letter. I was thrilled! As soon as I was able to start preparing for this new chapter of my life, I was on it. I immediately felt welcomed by my advisor while trying to figure out my course schedule, and just a little while later, it was time for orientation. I was up bright and early, excited to spend the day on campus, meeting new people and exploring the opportunities that ETSU had to offer. I met a bunch of kind people who welcomed me to the area, and they stuck by my side as we went through all the steps to have a successful day at orientation.
While we were able to attend the various seminars that explained the different resources ETSU had available, the East Tennessean was mentioned briefly. Being completely honest, I didn’t even know that ETSU had a student-run newspaper, but I was immediately interested. I looked all over their socials and saw that they were hiring. I put in an application so that I would hopefully be interviewed, and well, here I am. Now that you know a little bit about how I got here, I’ll go ahead and get into the fun part.
When I got the email saying that I had been hired by the East Tennessean, it was mentioned that they were looking for people to fill positions for the editorial sections. I was interested, and then I was told that an editorial column that the East Tennessean had before was about folklore. I was thrilled once again. I have always been extremely interested in folklore, whether that be simple ghost stories or tales that are hundreds of years old. Anything and everything supernatural has always held a special place in my heart. This is mostly because my parents are Greek immigrants; in Greece, there is a deep history of spirituality. One that may be familiar is the evil eye, or what we call the Matia. It is a sign of protection when you wear it, but it also refers to a curse that one person can put on another.
My main goal of writing for the East Tennessean is to entertain, but also to educate. I plan on writing about plenty of different tales that originate in Tennessee and the surrounding areas. I hope that with each column I write, readers will be curious to see what comes next.
