Public Image and Private Person

 

 

When I was a child, I was taller than my peers. but not actually out of proportion with my weight.

 

I was teased for being bigger.

 

We moved from New Westminster to Chilliwhack just after I started 8th grade

 

it was a culture shock to move from an urban area to a rural one – and no longer be able to head off to the movies or the park or anywhere I wanted to go

 

we had a farm on Keith Wilson Road, 3 miles from anywhere and no transit system

 

I went from a high school of 3000 students to only 800 – most of whom, were going up in the same house they were born in.

I had already lived in Vancouver, Richmond and New Westminster before Chilliwack.

 

I became fat in high school because of depression.

The loss of my routine and friends – the access to self entertain and activities.

 

Starting over is hard.

 

I was also teased for being a dyke – mostly based on that I included Olivia Newton-John in the mix of mostly male celebrities in my locker montage.

 

Being teased for being fat was hurtful, but the teasing about being queer didn’t

 

mostly because .. well I knew that gay men existed, but I didn’t really know that lesbians existed because when I was 5, my Mom told me that women didn’t feel that way about other women.

 

so these kids at school had no idea what they were talking about, right?

 

sure. I came out at 23.

I didn’t date in high school or college or university.

 

so when I watched Bridesmaids last year – the line about slutty college years, was really funny to me

 

because when I was at Simon Fraser University, which is sometimes called Super Feminist University

 

it seemed like every third woman told me they were a lesbian

 

to which I would respond positively and then return the conversation to whatever topic they had inserted this non-sequiter into.

 

yeah. I was that big a dork and oblivious….

 

 

Nina in review – 2012