This summer, three interns—Sarah Arkebauer, Taylor House, and Adam Shoemaker (whose smarts and first initials have led me to think of them, collectively, as S.A.T.)—will be contributing to Emdashes in many ways, some of which you’ll see as soon as this Friday. I’m delighted and honored to welcome them to the project. Without further ado, I’ll let them introduce themselves. On Friday, we’ll publish their first reports. They’ll be involved all summer long, and it’s going to be wonderful getting to know them. Note two themes so far: cartoons and the law.

Sarah Arkebauer: I’m a student at the University of Pennsylvania, from Lincoln, Nebraska. I’m tentatively majoring in History, but might switch to English. I enjoy reading (both books and blogs), using retro slang, and StumbleUpon. I also play the violin.

I spent my childhood reading Roz Chast’s New Yorker cartoons, which helped foster my love of the magazine. Now, I flip to the table of contents and look for any articles by David Sedaris or (perhaps in vain) Jonathan Franzen. I also really enjoy Haruki Murakami’s fiction pieces, and I always check out the cinema reviews and John Updike’s book reviews. I cut out the best articles, pictures, and cartoons and paste them into my commonplace book. Its size is becoming quite unwieldy. I still read all the cartoons.

Taylor House: I recently graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.A. in creative writing. I’m currently in the process of moving to L.A. and becoming “hep” like those hoodlums out in Silverlake. I write, bike, and nap daily. Will one day go to law school and become important. I read The New Yorker on the web or in the bathroom, a page at a time. I like the cartoons, though usually at least one per issue is over my head. I’m working on it.

Adam Shoemaker: I graduated from Harvard Law School in June, where I focused on Legal History and writing about Medieval Iceland. Before that, I studied History and Art at Williams College, with a particular fondness for trumeaus and misericords. I am excited to have the chance to become Emdashes’ first Icelandic corespondent in September, when I head to Reykjavik on a Fulbright. My summer reading includes a biography of Jane Goodall, the novels of Marilynne Robinson and Halldór Laxness, and a box of dog-eared New Yorkers.