I think they lied to you

Leave me a comment saying "Analyze That"
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

My questions are from amazonqueenkate
1.) What made you choose to go to college so far from home?
This is more complicated than you'd think, honestly.

When I started looking at colleges, I was going through a really fun depressive moment coupled with destructive tendencies. I just wanted to get as far away from what I saw as the source as possible. My parents didn't see what was going on (which is where most of our friction today comes from). Most of my "friends" at the time were incredibly bad for me—in addition to the drug use and casual sex that they engaged in, they were also incredibly violent. Over the course of two and a half years, two of these “friends” would try to force me to have sex with them; one definitely attempted rape, but the other was so abusive over a period of time that I honestly don't know how one labels the final encounter. I was watching these girls that I liked and was attached to get pregnant, use drugs, and throw their lives away. I didn’t want to end up in any similar situation. And then, suddenly, in addition to “Your future is better if you go to college,” I was being told on all sides that if you went off to college in another state, your friends eventually faded away. I'm pretty sure that I took both phrases and ran way too far with them.

I already knew that I wanted to go to a liberal arts college like Tufts or another East coast type school; I also knew that there was no way in hells that I could afford it on my own. But I'd had Questbridge mentioned to me a couple times, and so I applied to this scholarship agency, figured that I wouldn't get it and I'd still be stuck at one of the Alaska state schools (I was planning on Fairbanks if it came to that).Instead, I eventually received one of the full-ride scholarships that my college offers and left home for college 4500 miles away.

I had to go far away to get out of the horrible situation I’d found myself in. I don’t think that I could have become who I want to be if I hadn’t left home, left my state, and my demons. But I got out. And I’m always going to be amazed by that.

2.) You can only pick one tv show or movie to watch for the rest of your life. That's it, just one, nothing new. It is your only consumable media. What do you pick and why?
West Wing because it is, hands down, my favorite show. It’s interesting, it’s intriguing, and there are plot lines within plotlines that I still haven’t quite grokked, despite having seen the series more than once. It’s a shared family obsession—it was Dad who got Kia and I hooked, and the two of us have gone back and forth on West Wing for years. And it’s Dad who I’m currently battling for control of those self-same DVDs. (He’s got the upper hand at the moment; he’s far enough away that he can keep them away when I’m gone for the semester. But I will be victorious at Christmas.)

3.) I know you wanted to travel abroad this school year but couldn't because you started getting sick. If you could cure your health ailments, but doing so would mean you could never leave the U.S., even on vacation, would you?

Damn, but you want to make me delve into personal stuff, don’t you? On the one hand, I would love it if my health spontaneously went back to where it was five years ago or even to where it was at the beginning of my first year of college. It’s getting there slowly as is; I have more energy on a regular basis than I have in a long time. That’s never going to change the fact that I would be thrilled if I woke up tomorrow and had the energy levels that I used to, the stamina I took for granted, and the ability to eat anything. It would be awesome to get rid of the need to have my pills with me at all times and the need to keep my prescriptions up to date. And if I never had to go through another blood test, hormone test, or MRI again? I’d be incredibly thankful. But I honestly don’t know if I could resign myself to staying within the boundaries of the United States and its territories. I have issues with being confined to one area—it’s another reason why it made sense to go somewhere else for college. I got bored. I still get bored when I’m in one area for too long. It’s one of the reasons why I was planning to go abroad in the first place! I hate feeling trapped. So…I think it would depend—if I kept getting worse, I might make the trade. Maybe.

4.) Related, oddly: what foriegn country would you most like to live in?
I have to only pick one? So not on. I’m a fan of England—I loved being abroad there for a month last year. But I also like the Caribbean area. And I want to get to South America—Brazil and Peru come to mind. And Australia sounds interesting. The idea of living in Canada is always going to appeal to me. I’ve never heard anything but good things about Scotland. And I have a friend in Egypt.

…Okay, so I have to pick one. This is unfortunate. I’d probably live in England or somesuch, but on the other hand, if I move abroad, it’ll probably to be to Brazil or Peru or somesuch. (And I am totally living in Canada eventually.)

5.) Name the best and worst parts, to you, about Alaska.

The smartass in me wants to snap, “Sarah Palin. And Outsiders” in answer to the “worst part.” Palin’s a thorn in my side and toward most of those who have to split their time between Outside and Alaska. But she’s nothing more than nuisance as far as I’m concerned. But on the other hand? Outsiders get my goat every single time. They do stupid shit, they destroy our land, and then they’re surprised when we get a bit upset. Or even better, when the really stupid stunts wind up with one of them dead, they don’t understand why Alaskans—real ones—are staring at them like they have lost their minds.

But on the other hand, I love my state regardless of the stupid tourists and the thrill seekers. I love the community that I can’t find anywhere else. I love the fact that I can play two degrees of separation between myself and most people I encounter. This is lends itself to a sense of belonging that I don’t have anywhere else and that I cannot shake, no matter how many times I move.

 Today is day nine over at 14valentines , and they're focusing on athletics today.

I've mentioned a time or two that I was a competitive baton twirler from seventh grade until the day I graduated from high school; to this day, I still twirl knives with a marching band and grab my batons when I'm frustrated and need a good workout. I'm still very connected to the corps that I twirled with because I spent my adolescence twirling. I know more about the dramas there than I do about the boys I dated during that period. 

I wrote this during my first year of college for an assignment that wanted us to look at sexuality in an environment that we knew well. I chose to look at the way that the athletic environment I grew up in—a competitive baton corps—constructed heterosexuality in such a way that every day norms are magnified to the point that an outsider would find them repulsive. For example, how many people have dealt with the angel/whore dichotomy? It is one thing to know that many men expect you to dress like a whore but act like an angel (or vice versa). However, the time I spent dealing with this attitude in an athletic arena remains one of the weirdest periods of my life partially because it was understood that no one talked about that particular attitude and its manifestation in our lives. And yet, it’s very hard to ignore when you’re wearing costumes that cling to every curve on your body complete with a skirt that barely covers your ass and yet you're still expected to act like a wholesome little angel.

For the purposes of “athletics day” there are many different ways I could have explored the six years I spent as a competitive baton twirler—I could have contrasted my own experience with that of a friend who twirled in a marching band in Texas. We had very different experiences—for instance, I know people who have competed on a national and international stage; she doesn’t know half the tricks I’d learned by the end of my first year.  Looking at how the athleticism and prowess my corps was expected to display as opposed to the fact that she was just supposed to be “showy” produced two very different types of twirlers would be interesting. Or for that matter, why a basketball player is accepted as an athlete but a baton twirler is generally not would also be an interesting topic. Instead, because this was originally written for a class, I focused on the intersection of normative heterosexuality and a specific class of athletes—the competitive baton twirlers who I grew up with. Hopefully, this is at least semi-enlightening.  

Today is the third day of 14valentines  and the topic is Health. I was going to post a fanmix, but the only one I can come up for health this year is a mourning mix. </lj>

February is the American Heart Month.  To quote the American Heart Association, “cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are this nation’s number one killer.”