interview by Olivia Springer . photo by Beth Ellen

Name: Cathy Caudill

Age: 23

Where are you from? Charleston, West Virginia

Why are you in Asheville? [My sister and I] are just passing through. We both have friends in Greensboro and Gatlinburg.

What have you done here so far? We’re staying at a bed and breakfast, and we got lost earlier today. Thankfully, some locals told us where to go.

Are you still in school? I graduated from High Point University with a major in English and History. Normally, I have to tell people in West Virginia where High Point is in North Carolina because they’ve never heard of it.

Tell me your favorite historical time period. I like the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, so the early 20th Century. They didn’t beat you over the head with it in high school, so it was intriguing because no one really talks about it...Can I tell you my favorite writers instead?

Sure. Thomas Hardy, Somerset Maugham, Catherine Mansfield, W.B. Yates.

Are you always this fashionable? I got my ideas from my younger sister.