Administrative Assistant and Consultant
Devon Bartlett grew up in beautiful Denver, Colorado, spending her whole childhood in the same neighborhood, on the same street, and in the same house. For this, she is thankful. However, her curiosity about other places and other people has inspired her to live in a number of cities (including Portland, Oregon; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and Osaka, Japan), studying everything from music therapy, piano, and jazz promotion to Japanese. She loves and misses the natural beauty of her hometown but can't shake the excitement and sense of adventure she feels in big cities. She now calls Tokyo home and spends her days as a preschool teacher.
In 2006, while living in Osaka, she was not confident enough to speak Japanese but still really wanted to communicate. Text-messaging with Japanese friends sparked an interest in kanji; she realized that she loves being able to grasp unknown words by recognizing the kanji they contain. She also enjoys the way kanji combine in words. For example, "appetite" is 食欲 (しょくよく), where 食 means "food" and 欲 means "to want."
She enjoys participating in Joy o' Kanji, not only to deepen her knowledge of kanji but also to share this passion with people around the world. As for her favorite character, a Kanji Curiosity blog inspired her to love 望, because it encapsulates her outlook on life. Depending on the other kanji in the word, 望 can mean anything from "wish" (望む, のぞむ), "hope" (希望, きぼう), "desire, ambition" (志望, しぼう), and "craving" (渇望, かつぼう) to "scenic view" (眺望, ちょうぼう). These meanings cover her excitement about what the future holds.
