Rhi Axtell – Writer

“Education is in your blood.” This is something that has been said to me by both of my parents, separately, on different occasions. It makes sense. They are both working in education. My mother’s parents were teachers. With such a high concentration of teachers in my bloodline, it isn’t a gigantic leap to suggest that I have some kind of genetic advantage which predisposes me to teaching.

At least, I used to think that. Until I actually tried to become a teacher and failed epically. A combination of bad course, bad working environment (the English government does not like teachers) and just a general weariness about the profession after three months made me realise that perhaps it wasn’t for me.

I was also going through a slow motion breakup at the time, which began around the start of the course and ended about 8 months later. It wasn’t a healthy or happy time in my life.

If I had my blood checked by a doctor, I suspect they would not find education mixed up with all the usual stuff. They would probably find a lot of procedural crime dramas, Dungeons and Dragons rules, and useless trivia. High cholesterol also runs in my family, so they would probably advise me to change my diet.

I do love education, though. Or rather, I love to be educated. I love learning new things and exploring new topics and building on that useless trivia. Maybe one day, the useless will become useful. That’s the dream, isn’t it?

All this to say, I went to a few universities (they are called ‘colleges’ in America, right? Same thing? Correct me if I’m wrong), my most recent being Cardiff University where I studied for an MA in Creative Writing.