Introducing Stasio

Hello, I’m Stasio. Here is my intro:

-I’m from Minnesota, I grew up and still live in Richfield.

-I attended The Blake School for the last 14 years, so this is my first real transition.

-I played soccer, hockey and lacrosse while attending Blake.

-My favorite music consists of all sorts of genres, but my favorite artists are Notorious B.I.G., Curren$y, Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Mac Miller, Deltron, Phoenix, CYNE, and Calvin Harris.

-I love the 80s! Ever since I was little I was watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and kickin’ it to the song Dance Hall Days, while playing with Legos. My love for the 80s was very well known throughout my high school by mostly students as well as faculty due to classmates of mine referencing my infatuation in their senior speeches as well as graduation speeches.

-My favorite movies are: Halloween III Season of the Witch (crappy 80s scary movie), Risky Business, Road House, See No Evil Hear No Evil, Point Break, The Big Lebowski, Pineapple Express, Superbad, Tron Legacy and many more.

-I consider myself an artist. I draw a lot, but I mostly print make, especially on t-shirts. I sort of have my own business where I sell t-shirts. I have a Facebook page for my business, it’s called Stasio Ramirez Designs, I keep it updated with new designs that I plan on printing.

-My dream job is to become a famous artist.


-My question to you is: What is your favorite place in the world you have been to?
Mine is California.

Introducing Youa Vang

Hello All. Well to start out, my name is Youa Vang, and I am the last one in my family to attend college, or the first one to attend a four year college. The reason why I joined the Fsem, Telling the Story Queer because I was always interested in the LGBT community. I sat in the LGBT club at school and listened to what others had to say, from being alone, bullied, and being misunderstood by their family and friends. I was disappointed because I always saw home as a safe place to be, " Home Sweet Home, " right?! So I'm ready to read graphic novels about this community.

I am the biggest Loser you'll ever meet in your whole lifetime because I'm a sucker for the stupidest and oddest things ever. Such as tattoos, computers, nerds, Hello Kitty, and tiny dogs. I'm also a sucker for romantic comedies.

There are many personalities that makes me who I am. I'm sure everyone can say the same thing but then I am a complicated person. Being the youngest girl in my family and having a little half-brother, a lot of people think that I'm just a spoil brat, but then no one understands that I work hard for everything I have and once I set my heart on something, I'm going through with it no matter what. Even though sometimes I am hard head, and out of control, I'm such a nerd and a sensitive Female.

Well, I don't know what else to write so please do tell me, if you could change your name to something else, what would it be?

I would change mine to Yokia because it symbolizes me as a whole. The reason why is because I have another name, a Hmong name which is, Kia, and then there is my American name, Youa. So I combine Youa and Kia to get Yokia.

The life of Nicholaus Widing

Hi, my name is Nicholaus Widing. I have lived in Somerset Wisconsin since I was twelve years old. I grew up in St. Paul Minnesota. I started skating when I was two years old. My whole family has played hockey all their lives. I love the game more than anything else, but at times hockey can get really old. People think the sport is played in the winter, but this is false. All my life I have trained all year round, so you can see why it can get old. My fathers name is also Nick. I do not go by Jr. though, because I have a different middle name than him. I have one younger sister that is 18 years old.

I really don't read to often. You can probably tell that by my writing. I enjoy playing video games with friends. It doesn't really matter what I am doing as long as I am with friends. Being alone kind of scares me. I am a really shy kid until I get comfortable with my surroundings. I like to joke around a lot. I'm never to serious about things unless I'm playing hockey.

Listening to music is one of my favorite things to do. Some of my favorite artist:

-Lil Wayne

-Wiz Khalifa

-Chip the Rip

-Third Eye Blind

I also love to see new movies at the theatre. I used to go all the time with my ex girlfriend but we broke up :( so now I need to find a new girlfriend to go to movies with me. Some of my favorite movies:

-Wedding Crashers

-Billy Madison

-Transformers

-GoodWill Hunting

Who do you like to watch movies with?

Have you ever tried skating or watched a hockey game?

How do you like it at Hamline so far?

Thank you for reading about who I am.

getting to know troy hesketh

Hi im Troy  I am from Minnetonka Minnesota, i am the youngest sibling in my family. i have an older brother who is 24. I love having a good time on the lake and hanging out with friends and family. I also love working out, it is such a big part of my life, there is nothing better than getting a good lift in then hanging out with friends and family. I love spending time with my girl friend and hanging out with her family as welll. I also play hockey, i have played hockey for 18 years now and my love of the game has never stopped. I will keep on striving to reach the top of the game until i physically can not do it any more. i have a never quit personality and i give my all into all things i do. to get away from hockey i enjoy playing video games or just working out like i said before. 

what are your favorite sports? what activities do you enjoy to do ?

And so it begins

My name is Peter (A doppelganger I am) however I am many things besides a combination of aesthetically pleasing letters alluding to the Bible. First and foremost I am a pacifist and humanitarian opposed to both war and apathy. I believe we need to take care of our environment and not meddle with the courses of Nature. Inside my heart lays a desire reserved for nymphets with red locks of fire and curls; they are downy creatures of another race that I find irresistable. I am wealthy, but it was my fate to be born to a brilliant father and oppress the poor in order to better serve the world as a whole. I am a vegan; I don't believe in the ill treatment of any of God's creatures. And speaking of God, I am devout Christian of a pious nature, attending church whenever possible. Through my relationship with my pastor, I have also recently become a Rehab counselor and mentor for those struggling with all forms addiction. At the meetings I often take the responsibility of cooking for each of the struggling addicts and the loved ones there to support them. Together we share hearty meals, but my favorite is steak and eggs which I believe is good not only for the body, but the soul. And the people I work with are not any different than you or I; they often struggle with problems of an incomprehensible nature. I love the earth: trees, skies, mountains, fields, gardens, oceans, valleys, canyons, glaciers, etc. I love the senses; I adore the exhilaration and rapture I experience when tantalizing them with hours spent in opium dens; the feelings which I feel emoted within myself are the most relaxing sentiments a man can find. I enjoy my Saturdays volunteering with a local Girls Scout troop and occasionally chaperoning their dances. I voted for President Obama in the last election, because I myself am a socialist and will not heed the demands of the rich for their own personal pursuit. Before the moon is full, I set the forests ablaze and bask in the glory of the ephemeral nature of life and lasting servitude of death. Lastly, I believe satire is a reflection of cynicism, which is for those who don't understand the true wondrous wonderfulness of the life in which we are so very fortunate to live. I hate the word “that” and I hate the word “is”.

Your honest cooperation is absolutely necessary for the question I am about to pose. And do not object with benevolent outcries in outrageous objection, because under those high pitch shrieks and low pitch groans is fear generating from preconceived notions about civilty, dogmatic ideals, and detrimental thoughts about what others thinks about you. Please (I ask not only for the sake of this blog, but for the sake of your happiness) to leave those sentiments behind.

I think it would fascinating to find out whether or not you would entertain in the practice of sexual intercouse with yourself. In this hypothetical situation your sexual inclinations transform in correlation with your prior self. If you are heterosexual, you are a now a woman or man of opposite gender. If you are homosexual, you either another man or a woman other than yourself. And I am not going to provide an easy way out with another question, that you can simply forget when you close this window and return to something that you believe is of higher importance. And in all regards it may very well be, however you do not have a choice. And indeed yes I do know you are an American

Thank you (waves with right hand, nods head upwards (exposing the carotid artery as a sign of peace) and smiles)

Peter

Hey, I'm Sam.

Let's see. I'm the youngest in my family. My older sister is 27 and my brother is 24. I look almost exactly like my brother, it's kind of freaky. I started playing hockey when I was 3 years old, and it's been 15 long years of passion and effort. I also enjoy playing guitar, pina coladas and long walks on the beach. ;) Just kidding about those last two parts...

I'm not one to really share much about myself, so this post will be short.

My favorite color is yellow, my favorite animal is a duck (because they're almost as awkward as me), and my favorite food is sandwiches. I love sandwiches. I want to marry sandwiches. I miss all the food back home in Chicago, like Portillo's and Taco Burrito King. My favorite things to do are eat, sleep and play old school video games such as:

The Legend of Zelda
Mario Kart 64
Galaga
007
and StarFox.

and maybe some new games like Portal 2 and Bioshock.

Let me know what your favorite video games are. Or if you don't like video games, tell me about your family.

Introducing Taty

Hi my name is Tatyana Benson, but you can call me Taty. I am part of the Telling the Story Queer FYSEM. I chose this FYSEM for a few reasons. First, I picked it because of the relation to the LGBTQ community. Although I am part of the community I wanted to develop a deeper understanding of it through texts that relate to it. Second, I love exploring different types of literature and gaining a deeper understanding of it. Third, I think the weird queer can describe many different types of things and trying to define queer through literature drew my attention. I think that the FYSEM didn’t quite turn out the way I expected but that doesn’t mean I love it any less. I think that I’m going to learn a lot through what we talk about as a group. Plus I love the people that we have in the class!

I come from a semi-conservative family. As a kid I was not allowed to listen to any music other than Christian music until I was about ten years old. After that I was only allowed to listen to Radio Disney. If you do not know what Radio Disney is turn to 1440 AM on your radio one day and you will understand why this is funny. My parents tried to protect me and isolate my innocence as long as possible. Though they tried to keep me from certain types of music I started to explore as I got older. I started dipping into types of hip-hop and rock, artists such as:
· Any 101.3 artist
· Eminem
· Korn
· Green Day
· Fall Out Boy
· Panic Of The Disco

Those bands were my starting access to what I thought was “the real world”. Yeah I know I was a sheltered child. Over the years my music taste has grown a little bit, although I still love my old beginners music. I am not picky with my music at all I dip into almost anything and am open to listening to new stuff because I like to expand my music collection. My favorite bands/artists lately are either what my friends like to call “hopeless romantic” music. Also local rap artists that I have seen either at work or at local underground places. Some of my favorite bands/artists lately are:
· Matt White Band
· The Script
· Guante
· The Spill Canvas
· Zac HB
· Parachute
· John Mayer
· Maroon 5
· Adele

Just like some of my music choices I am complete hopeless romantic when it comes to my book choices as well. I love the stereotypical love stories and I know that I should somehow grow out of it but for some reason it never gets old. Other than that I am really random when it comes to my favorite books. I don’t really have a lot of them anymore because honestly I have not really read for fun lately. My favorite author though is Sarah Dessen and I love the Harry Potter series.

For watching movies my favorite movies mirror my personality. I love romantic awkward comedies that people cringe at like The Proposal, She’s Out of My League, Friends with Benefits and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I have been told by my friends that I mirror some of the guys in the movies which I am still not sure if I am okay with or not.

I used to watch a lot of television shows before I started working but now I just watch a lot of them on Netflex. Some of my favorites are Greys Anatomy, Glee and Bones.

So my tastes in music, television shows and movies have changed over the years drastically. How have your tastes changed over the years?

Introducing Lauren!

Hello! My name is Lauren, and I am a member of the Telling the Story Queer FYSEM. I chose this FYSEM for a few reasons. First, I am fascinated by human sexuality, and the original course description mentioned reading books with LGBTQIA themes/characters. Second, I happen to be very, very weird, so queerness always draws my attention. Third, I love reading, especially books that are different than your usual run-of-the-mill stories.

I suppose it might be relevant to illustrate why I would call myself "weird." I grew up with two brothers, and, because of that, I have never really fit in with most girls. I'm incredibly introverted and shy, so I spent most of my childhood reading books. I hate almost all junk food. Even though I'm tiny and a girl, I somehow became the Master Carpenter in my school's theatre guild. I find math fascinating. I develop obsessions extremely quickly; if I find something I am interested in, I will usually know every bit of information I can find about that subject within a week. I like anagramming words and phrases. I have always ended up making friends with people who are as weird as I am, which is how I became a LARPer. If you're not sure what that means, watch the movie Role Models. I also have a very strange and slightly obnoxious obsession with the artist Claude Monet.

Keeping with the tradition, some of my favorite bands/artists/composers are: Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, Mumford and Sons, The Postal Service, Wakey!Wakey!, Beethoven, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky. I also listen to a lot of musical theatre, my favorite being bare: A Pop Opera.

My favorite books are: To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky), Looking for Alaska (John Green), the Harry Potter series (JK Rowling), A Home at the End of the World (Michael Cunningham), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Mark Haddon), and a five-way-tie between all of Markus Zusak's books. I also really enjoy Ralph Waldo Emerson, Kurt Vonnegut, ee cummings, Raegan Butcher, Charles Bukowski, and Anis Mojgani.

I like a lot of television shows, including: Doctor Who, Merlin, ER, How I Met Your Mother, Supernatural, The Mentalist, Life, Law and Order: SVU, Grey's Anatomy, Six Feet Under, Parenthood, and Project Runway.

I don't watch many movies, but my favorites are: Adam, Milk, Imaginary Heroes, Ink, A Home at the End of the World, Evil Dead, Python, In the Blood, and Quest for Camelot.

I think that fish are the most beautiful and fascinating creatures in existence.
What is/are your favorite animal(s), movie(s), or artist(s)?

Introducing Theresa :)

My name is Theresa but most people make up some form of a nickname for me. I'm a first year college student in the FYSEM "Telling the Story Queer." I picked the FYSEM only because it was one of few options left it seemed like the most interesting of the ones left. I'm glad I picked this one over the others because I am absolutely in love with this FYSEM. It really makes me think outside of the box and I love that.

I also picked this FYSEM because it involved a lot of reading interesting books. Some of my favorite books include:

• Harry Potter series
• 13 Reasons Why
• The Weatherman
• The Pretty Little Liars series
• The Lying Game series
• The Evermore series

When I'm not reading or doing fun college essays for homework I'm more than likely watching television. Some of my favorite television shows include:

• Pretty Little Liars
• Vampire Diaries
• True Blood
• The Secret Circle
• Jersey Shore
• The Real World
• Teen Mom
• 16 and Pregnant

Fun Facts :) :

• My favorite veggie is carrots
• My favorite fruit is strawberries
• I hate outdoors activities
• ......I love snowballs fights.....ironic no?
• I put ranch dressing on just about everything I can
• Just about every electronic thing I own is pink
• • I have an animal obsession
  • Tinkerbell is my favorite cartoon character
  
  
  
  
  Well that's enough about me. Tell me something about you! What's your favorite book, television show or cartoon character?

Introducing Stephen

I am Stephen, and I am in the FYSEM Telling the Story Queer. I chose it because I wanted to experience unconventional pieces of literature and often ignored voices.

I read a lot as a kid, but in retrospect I wish I had read even more. I write some - mostly poetry.

I was raised in a conservative christian family, but I've since swung way to the opposite direction. I'm a very left wing atheist now. Some days I'm a ray of sunshine, other days I feel like the crazy girl in all black from The Breakfast Club.

Musically, I'm pretty eclectic depending on my mood, but my favorites are Patti Smith, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and MGMT. My favorite movies are The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, and Doubt. My favorite books are The Picture of Dorian Gray, Beloved, Cat's Cradle, and The Bell Jar.

Introducing Jessica!

My name is Jess, and I'm a member of our "Telling the Story Queer" FYSEM class. I decided to take this class for a number of reasons. For starters, the name really jumped at me. It seemed less mundane in comparison to many of the other courses offered here for FYSEMs. Secondly, while I may not be an incredibly unique person, I am definitely not a very normal person either. I also really enjoy getting to know new people, especially those with unique personalities. Finally, I love to read, and I love to read new and interesting books. Reading "queer" texts in a college class seems to me like it could be an interesting adventure.

I have loved to read for a long time. As a child, I was likely to be found reading under a tree in the back yard instead of in front of the television. I spent my summers at the library, reading as many books as possible. Overtime, my taste for books has developed into a love of science fiction and fantasy. Books I am in love with include, but are not limited to:

• Harry Potter!
• Slaughterhouse-5 (Actually, all Vonnegut books.)
• Sookie Stackhouse Novels (TrueBlood)
• Anything by Isaac Asimov
• Lord of the Rings

Additionally, I have a few other passions. I love sports; specifically watching football and playing volleyball, basketball, and throwing in Track and Field. I am on Hamline's Track and Field Team. I love horror movies as well. Specifically, the movies "The Last Exorcism", "Paranormal Activity", "P2", and "Hide and Seek" make me pee myself in terror. Psychological thrillers are the best. My favorite things to do are sleep, read, write, and perform music. As for my music tastes, I can tolerate anything. However, if I am given the choice, I will listen to:

• Pierce the Veil
• Motionless in White
• Pink Floyd
• Black Veil Brides
• These Hearts
• Iron and Wine
• D.R.U.G.S.
• Chiodos
• Four Year Strong
• A Day to Remember
• Asking Alexandria
• and more

I really enjoy going to concerts and I have had the privilege of seeing almost all of my favorite bands in concert. I would do anything to see Pink Floyd back together again with its original members, including the late and great Syd Barrett. I also really love Christian Music. This is because my ultimate goal in life, in the career aspect, is to be a pastor.

I'm not sure if any of the information I have shared is relevant to our blog as a whole. However, I do know that it displays my personality, which will be intrinsic to the understanding of any analyses I will do of our "queer" texts.

What about you could make a difference in your analyses of different texts? What is your favorite musician?

Introducing the Blog Prof

After I was asked to teach a first-year seminar, I decided I'd like to engage students with some of my favorite novels. So, I made a list.

The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, by M.T. Anderson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson
In the Night Garden, by Catherynne Valente
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
Meanwhile, by Jason Shiga

Reflecting on the list, I realized part of what I loved in each of these works was that they broke the rules of your normal, everyday story. I'd hit on my theme for the course: Telling the Story Queer. In the posts that follow, students will introduce themselves and then reflect on the novels, stories, and film that we're exploring together over the course of the semester.

Until then, a bit more about me.

Why do I like stories that bend or break the rules?

• Could it be that I was raised by social-justice minded parents who took my brother and me to protests and encouraged us to question authority? 
• Could it be that both my dad and mom were (and are) feminists who encouraged me to break through gender barriers?
• Could it be that I'm a philosopher and so love questions about what reality is like and love my mind being blown by theories that present whole new ways of looking at reality?
• Could it be that since college I've been part of the LGBTQIA community?
• Could it be that in high school, I was a straight-A getting, new-wave wanna-be with bi-level hair? (In other words, I was both a freak and a geek - a bespeckled, crazy-haired kid in the midst of my permed/feathered/contact lensed peers.)

Likely, it's all of the above. Of course, I'm often drawn to more conventional story-telling, too--especially in movies. There's nothing more comforting for me than a bowl of popcorn and a good romantic comedy or period piece. (I've a huge crush on both Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet).

What are your favorite books--that you've recently read or from childhood? Are there themes to what you love to read or watch?