“Everyone has a story”—That’s what they say, anyway. When my news writing professor told us this, I believed him wholeheartedly; I had seen it with my own eyes. And then, naturally, I started wondering: What’s my story?

As a rather average white girl from a middle-class family in Idaho, I don’t feel my story is entirely compelling. My friends recall me yearning for some crazy experience as a child–something to give me a depth of character. If my life was a novel, I would be the secondary character in someone else’s adventure.

But I own up to that role. In fact, I love it. My story is that I am in search of a story, my tale melding with the adventures of the people I meet and interview for articles.

Yes, I write stories about other people, but they are my stories, too. Want to know me better? Look to the articles and photographs on this website.

And if you have a story, please contact me at olsejess@gmail.com.

—Jessica Olsen