This is a great topic!!
Reminds me of an exercise in journalism school -- we had to write our own obit. lol
1. Survived as an obvious queer child in a small, conservative Michigan town (population 4500), even though I never fit in. I survived by constructing my own inner world, and my survival mechanisms.
2. Paid for my own college education because I wanted to be a journalist. My father wanted me in pre-med or pre-law, so he refused to give me a dime. I worked my ass off all summer, every summer, and worked 3 part-time jobs during school and took out loans so I could pay for everything myself.
3. Was the first person on my mom's side of the family to go to college, and graduate.
4. Paid off my school loans before I was 30, and bought my first house that same year.
5. Had the privilege to be a part of history in Michigan by working on the campaign staff that elected the first female Governor in our state's history.
6. Worked 3 years for that governor as her deputy press secretary and speechwriter.
7. Received an award from a state-wide GLBTQ organization as an Advocate for the Community because of my out, proud public service career in state government.
8. I am now chief of an entire division within a department of Michigan state government, working for an awesome boss who is a national leader in her field.
9. I am a great and fun uncle (though they call me "aunt") to two amazing, beautiful three year-old nieces.
10. I saw Europe...well, the Netherlands and Belgium....when I never thought a small-town kid like me would ever travel abroad. Especially after I chose to play it safe after college and stay stateside to work as a journalist when I really wanted to be a war correspondent and photographer in a place far away.
|