Okay, now that I've posted a couple of times, I figure I ought to introduce
myself (particularly after my most recent rant).
I'm 24 years old, living in Bloomington, Illinois (about 2 hours south of
Chicago). I've been here in Bloomington 6 years after coming down here from
the Chicago suburbs to attend college. In my third year, I finally came to
the conclusion that I spent WAY more time working at the student newspaper
than doing my schoolwork, and as I had already fallen behind, I decided to
"take some time off." That was about three years ago now, and I'm finally at
a point where I'd like to go back to school. Of course, now that I want to
go, it's not looking like I'll be able to go for some time. (I swear, if I
had a time machine some days I'd go back and kick myself.)
I first discovered sf as a kid (say 7 or 8 years old), and would watch Star
Trek with my dad every Saturday afternoon in syndication. Then somewhere
along the way I kind of fell away from sf and I'm not sure what I read for a
few years there. Then at about 11 years old I rediscovered science fiction
and I haven't looked back since. At the time I was wildly unpopular among my
schoolmates and so had plenty of free time to read as ravenous as I liked,
and so I did. The other big influence in my life was Girl Scouting. I was a
Girl Scout for 13 years and while I spent a few years staying in Girl
Scouting just so I could go to camp in the summers, as I got older it was
became for me like church is for some people. (By this I mean that for some
people church can be a source of great joy and strength, and this is what
Girl Scouting was for me.)
I attended camp every year from the time I was 11 and so grew to believe very
strongly in the strength of women. Since there were no men there except the
caretaker and an occasional cook, and we stayed in tents with no electricity
and limited running water (i.e. we had sinks but had to make do with
latrines), I had a great example of women making decisions and carrying them
out and taking fine care of themselves without the "aid" of men.
In college I began to learn more about feminism, including taking a few
women's studies courses. Since leaving college I've tried to continue
studying feminism (and a few other subjects - I was a double major in English
and biology while in college) although I don't always have much time.
Currently I'm working as a temporary and trying to find permanent work along
the way. I'd like to one day get into desktop publishing, but I'm getting
the message that I won't have much success at it until I get my degree. I've
been living with my boyfriend for three years now and we'll most likely get
married one day, but I'm in no hurry (I was engaged once before and it was a
disaster, so I'm in no blind rush). Unfortunately we have no pets, but would
love to get a dog (or a few) someday, when we have enough steady money to
support a pet.
I have an adorable almost-two-year-old nephew of whom I am inordinately
proud, and I also spend a lot of time trying to support my sister (his
mother) in her struggles as a single mother.
That's about all I can think of to tell you all about me - wait, also, I
found the list goofing off on Yahoo! under "Grrrly Stuff" or some such
heading.
So far I've really enjoyed my time on the list, and am looking forward to
even more very interesting discussions.
Barbara Benesch
BJBenesch@aol.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:52 PDT