Casandra Gutierrez is a junior from Chicago, Illinois and currently is a first reader at Polyphony Lit. In a search of wanting to grow closer to her passion, she came across Polyphony Lit and immediately decided to join the editorial staff.  She is a keeper of too many journals, aspirations, and cute pictures of her dogs. Her love for writing and reading dates back to the 4th grade when she began reading Magic Tree House books and was later inspired to begin writing her own short stories. Casandra loves journalism and hopes to be able to write for a newspaper or report in front of camera.Among her favorite writers are Joan Didion, Sandra Cisneros, and Junot Diaz. Outside of writing, she enjoys volunteering at The Field Museum, listening to music (her favorites are Catfish and the Bottlemen and Coldplay), and becoming involved with social work across the city.