Dear Reader,

I’m the sole author, contributor, and editor of The Laffien Times, writing under the alias Angelina Jibs.

It started as a fun — but intense — wedding newspaper project for my wedding in 2024 that I took way too seriously, but had an insane amount of fun with. Looking back, it was one of the most enjoyable and memorable experiences of planning my wedding. I had always dreamed of having my own publication, and finally, I had the opportunity to play, an essential path to creativity. 

At 32 years old, I pretended to be an editor and writer. No one could tell me what I had to write, or what fun facts I could include. After spending near around decade writing for other people and projects, I was in heaven. 

I knew I needed to continue The Laffien Times in some way. 

Newsprint didn’t seem an economical choice (though maybe one day, fingers crossed), and I certainly disliked the idea of a blog. Indeed, it seemed to me that The Laffien Times would be wildly limited by a blog “niche”. I wanted to write about everything.

I wanted the freedom to write about my newly found gardening hobby, my attempt to run 3 miles a day for a month, an archaeological expedition I found interesting, a satirical piece, a short story, or a diatribe on a recently read book.

In my professional (in the technical sense), I’ve mostly worked as a writer. Undoubtedly, writing has been one of my most used skills. After eight years, four different universities, and three different declared majors (Business, Anthropology, and Art) I finally settled on Creative Writing & English for one reason: it was easy and would require the least amount of effort. I graduated in 2018 and soon after acquired a job teaching Upper School English, took a few grad school courses, quit teaching, pursued writing full-time, started and failed at building a Pellegrino Paintings and then tried starting again, attended the Columbia Publishing Course which should have paved my way into the publishing world but was ultimately abandoned, wrote an Identity course curriculum upon which Know Thyself is based, taught one harrowing year of middle school, met my husband and suddenly didn’t know what to do. 

The Laffien Times is my own little literary playground, reminding readers daily about the importance of play in creativity and the efficacy of viewing our lives through an objective lens. 

I’d love to help you do the same. You can download my free mini-course, Learning to Play and Know Thyself to get yourself started. 

But The Laffien Times is also here to entertain and offer you a break. Sit back, relax and enjoy a story, a thought process or an experience. 

Happy Reading