| Q1. | Could you tell me your name? |
| A1. | My name is Emily Squires |
| Q. | And where are you from? |
| A. | I'm from St. Louis, Missouri, and I go to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I'm a second year student. |
| Q2. | When you were in high school, did you have any favorite classes? |
| A2. | Yeah, um... I really enjoyed my AP Art History class, um... a pretty western, but still a pretty good overview of the development of art from the western perspective. And also, my AP Art Portfolio class in the art school here, so... I had a very close relationship with my art teacher. Pretty much from day one we've done a lot of work... I've done a lot of independent studies with her. |
| Q3. | Uh, do you have a goal in life? |
| A3. | Hmm... I have... lots of goals in life, I think. Um... I would say one of them is to... be a balanced human being... in the sense... in the sense that... I think our culture, American culture in particular, spends a lot of time, uh, marketing the "package deal" to kids. Especially kids my age, you know, going to college, trying to figure out what they want to do... "what do I major in," you know, "I have to spend the rest of my life doing this," um, you know. And just go to college, get your business degree, go out, you know, and become an investment banker and you're done. You're set for the rest of your life and... I don't really, um... I guess have a lot of respect for that philosophy just in the sense that I want to be balanced mentally, and I want to be balanced physically, and spiritually, and socially, and I need, I need um... like, my life is going to be lived kind of how I see fit, as opposed to... that's my goal: is to try to and do that, and not fall into the system, I suppose. |
| Q4. | Um... that's pretty abstract |
| A4. | Yeah. |
| Q. | But I mean... |
| A. | Um, I spent some time this summer in up-state New Hampshire working as a camp counselor, and, um... the, sort-of, philosophy of the camp was balanced living, and sort of spent some time refocusing on what it means to, like, take care of yourself, and make sure that you still have personal time to go and, you know, go to my dance class when I want to, and to meditate in the morning, and to... take some time reading books that aren't necessarily for my classes, but I'm going to get something out of. And to... spend time with my friends that isn't necessarily for a project, or for this meeting, or that meeting, but just to, like, hang out and develop a relationship. Um... so... I mean it's definitely something that I'm still putting together, but it has given more direction in the sense that... the typical, you know, four-year track doesn't really... I figured out that the four-year track doesn't really apply to me, because it's not one of my goals, it's not what I want to do. |
| Q5. | You talked about... a couple of things you said, well, spiritual life, and meditation; can you tell me more about that? |
| A5. | Um, yeah... um... I wasn't really raised in a particularly religious family atmosphere, and my mother was raised pretty strictly catholic. My father was raised pretty fundamentalist Christian. Uh... and I... They raised me and my sister with pretty much no religious affiliation. Um... and all of the classes I went... that I had in elementary school and high school just, sort of... I mean I certainly have never taken a comparative religions class, but I've had some exposure to... different, or to major religious faiths in the world, and while I don't particularly affiliate with an organized religion, I would still definitely consider myself a spiritual person. And...I'm still... and I'm still figuring out, like, whether I believe in a god, or whether I believe in just a greater presence that is doing something out there. Um... and I like to meditate simply because it calms me down, it refocuses me, it... swimming and dancing do the same thing for me, but when I don't have time I can just sneak 10 or 15 minutes in and go sit by myself... sort of refocus. |
| Q6. | And... what makes you different from a lot of other students that maybe aren't involved in social like... social organizations, for example. Some groups that are working on social change, they might be in a fraternity or a sorority, I mean... is there something different in... that happened to you in your life? Or people you met, or a person? |
| A6. | Um... I mean, yeah, I... was blessed, really, with some phenomenal mentors at a very early age. Um... who, I mean... my mother has always, uhh... been a role model in the sense that she told me "never be nice to anyone" in the sense that "nice girls take care of the kids, and nice girls do this..." she has drilled into me from day one to never be nice. Um... so while neither of my parents consider themselves "political," um... I was raised in an atmosphere that was conducive to thinking about politics. Um... and similar issues... and I just had some really phenomenal teachers who, uh... introduced me to ideas and sort of helped me to muddle through them. Uh... it probably started my freshman year of high school, and so by the time I came to college I had just, sort of, figured out that like, all right, something... some things need to be adjusted and... and I knew that once I came here it would just be a matter of me finding the right group to help me keep going on that path, so that I could learn more. |
| Q7. | You said your mother told you "never to be nice?" What... that sounds... I... I think I know what you mean, does that mean you can't be nice to people? |
| A7. | No! Not... not "nice" in the, like, you know, "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you," "golden rule" type sense. "Nice" in the sense that, um... you know, gender politics in America are pretty crazy, and... I mean, basically most stereotypes for women are "be nice, be passive, be passive," you know, "be... uh, quiet," you know, "do what guys tell you to do, don't rock the boat"... "be nice." And so my mother always said "don't be nice," she was basically saying "stand up for yourself and don't take shit from anyone else." |