Personal Identity: A Short Story

Currently, I am in the process of not only becoming comfortable in my identity, a black queer woman, but, also attempting to find solace in my identity as well. Something that all women, especially black queer women, should achieve in their lifetime. It is that dream that inspires me to travel to experience other cultures and to unite with women from various cultures across the black diaspora. Throughout many cultures, women’s identities are defined by their male counterparts and the labor they provide to them. Therefore, a major goal of mine is to create a space where women are able to exist outside the scope of their relationships with men and live uninhibitedly to become their best selves. That is why I find it pertinent to travel not only

I think I speak for many people when I say high school is a critical point in one’s life. Coming into high school, things seemed to be tightly-knitted between my peers and I; those of us who had just

High school, for many, is commonly termed as “the greatest four years of your life.” It is stopping for coffee with your friends while listening to your favorite songs on the way to school in the morning. It is staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring to finally go to your favorite class of the day. It is staying after a long day of class for meetings, clubs, or sports, or it is spending Friday nights with your best friends performing under the football field lights. High school can be many different experiences for different people, but most importantly, for me, it was learning essential values of life while shaping me into the person that I am today.

I remember the very first day of school, I felt isolated and misunderstood. When I got there all eyes were on me, looking at me as the new kid, I was sweating in the cold. I felt like going back home. In a classroom full of 7th graders, students were

High school is such a different experience for everyone. We all take different paths and learn new things everyday. We learn trigonometry, how to fix cars, how to dissect a frog, and different laws in the world. The things we learn in class are very important, but along the way of expanding our educations, one will tend to learn a lot about themselves and others. For me, I feel that my high school experience was not ideal and I constantly complain about the outcome. Looking back in grade eight, I had a different plan for me. It took me up until this year to realize that although my experience was not something worth bragging about, I've learned a lot about who I am. I've learned to take chances, be patient, and

Walking into school on my first day of high school, I felt out of place. My face covered in acne, my teeth covered in braces, and the callicks in my hair stuck up through the abnormally thick layer of hair gel that coated them. My middle school social anxiety still ruled over me as I could barely speak with any member of the opposite sex. Yet, I still had an odd confidence about me. I had always been one of the best students in my class, even without ever studying for a test. I viewed high school as a slight uptick from the curriculum I had easily passed in middle school. I was wrong. High school exists as a microcosm of society, in which I originally failed to acclimate myself to the challenges posed to me in a setting of increased

I remember walking into the band hall that Monday morning, looking around the room admiring all the tambourines and xylophones displayed in the back of the room. A wide grin shot across my face. As I came to my seat, there was a paper that had my name on it. On the paper it had a little section that said “Please write down the instrument you want to play.” Instantly, I knew what I had wanted to play, the trombone. The reason I picked the trombone is because I remember watching my brother marching on the field, playing his solo so beautifully. I knew from then I knew what I wanted to play. So a

My first day as a seventh grader was crazy. Once I got off the bus, I walked into the building and found myself not knowing what to do. So, I just followed the other kids to see where they were going. After following them, I found myself in the gym. Everyone was talking to their friends and comparing their schedules to see if they had any classes together. I looked to see if I could find any of my friends from last year, and fortunately I did. They were sitting on the other side of the gym at the top row. I walked up the bleachers stairs and sat by them. I had not seen some of them since the last day of sixth grade. Then, I saw Mrs. Grieb and Mrs. King come up to give us a first day of school speech.

1. Any theory of personal identity should be able to solve two problems: first, the problem of individuation; second, the problem of continuity or persistence. How would you in your own words characterize these problems? Also, do these problems matter at all? Are they actually important? Why or why not?

What do you want me to say? (Throws hands up in the air) That I am so excited to be moving to another foster home? That my parents didn’t want me to begin with in the first place? How can “parents” do that to someone? To be excited to be treated the same as I have been in every other home before? No. These people are going to be just like every other set of parents that I’ve always had, not excepting and judgmental. They will be excited at first to meet me, get to know me, and then a few years down the road, they will say that they can’t connect with me, and can’t do this anymore. If you’re wondering if I care, I don’t and I am not excited. (She turns her body to look at Mike) But you know what? All of this won’t even matter in a couple years, I’m going to be eighteen in a few days, I am not a baby

High school…what is there to say about it? Many would tell you that it’s like a jungle of sorts, others say it changes you. Many students including myself, go through all four years of high school setting goals and standards for themselves after they graduate. Your teachers and your councilors tell you that it’s a bumpy road but “you’ll get through it”. Well I can personally tell you that high school was none of that.

It is the first day of school, well it is for me because it’s my fourth day in the United States. Many of the students in the first grade classroom have been in class for a couple months. A teacher tries to make me feel better of the new surroundings, I have to face the school cafeteria for the first time and I make a lifelong friend. The two first experiences in school were tough, but I made a true friend on the fourth day in the country.

My high school experiences have become imprinted into my memory and parts of me. I changed entirely from the first day I walked in as a freshmen to the last day I walked across the stage with my diploma. Not only do I look different, but I act, think, and understand differently. Our identities are a process of social encounters with different groups of people, contrasting systems, and self-defining moments that we face in high school. I realize now that an individual’s character is largely constructed by other people’s opinions, unwritten rules, and a subliminal hierarchy. The reality of high school makes it difficult to escape the ideal image of a perfect student, friend, respectful significant other, and model child. With all these different forces pulling students back and forth, the primary goal is to be accepted, despite how much change one must undergo. From my high school experiences I know how to deal with peer pressure, alienation, and cliques. Thus, my former high school social lessons and knowledge allow me to reshape my perception, values, and self-image to this day.

Everybody has an identity, it makes them individual and unique, and it defines who you are as a person. This project about my identity showed me what makes me unique. I would have never known how much my friends mean to me or how my identities connect with each other. I have three identities that make me who I am, cultural, personal, and social. A specific quality that covers my cultural identity is being Czechoslovakian. Both sides of my family have at least a part of Czech in them. My great-grandparents are from Czech Republic and my grandpa was the first generation in America, he was born in Ohio. This is very important because I have always identified as Czech and it is a big part of me, as I am so interested in ancestry. For my personal identity, the biggest part is my personality, being loud and outgoing, has always been important to me. The reason being, it is how people view me. A lot of people know me as the loud person or the person who talks a lot. That is meaningful to me considering I like people to view me in a certain way The last identity, social, is one of the most important to me because it involves my friends, and through this project, I learned how vital they really are to my social identity. I realized that I have a good amount of friends in this project. It is nice to have people as a support system and to relate with. These qualities show that I value being loud and outgoing. It also says that I value my family and they are a big part of life. The last one, social, ties in with the first one because it shows I am outgoing and friendly.

Summer was great with the hot and steamy days, where you felt you could be surrounded by water for hours, but school was a week away. My first day of middle school was very close. That year I wanted to break out of my shell a little bit and meet new people, although I was always more of an introvert. I had gone to the school, I would see for a couple of years and had received my schedule. I now knew who my teachers were going to be, relieved, but worried I would be alone. The morning of my first day of school was fresh with a nice soft breeze. When I entered the gate I saw my friends dressed in their new clothes and quickly walked to them. We asked each other what our classes were, and fortunately, a couple of us had classes together. One