Post by DarkPhoenix on Nov 4, 2007 19:02:42 GMT -6
Everything you've ever wanted to know about the author of "When Cliques Collide."
Name:
Jennifer
Major:
Counseling, with an undergraduate degree in psychology
Interests:
Reading, drawing, writing, listening to music of all kinds, hanging out with friends, playing The Sims 2, needlepoint and cross-stitch, working in the campus gameroom, South Park, Metalocalypse, The Boondocks, learning as much as I can, women's studies literature, psychology, sociology, animals, movies
Dislikes:
Seafood, stupidity, boredom, jerks, snobs, airheads, women who show too much skin, visible underwear, wearing dresses and skirts, superficial people, too much noise, country music, people who don't learn from their experiences, abuse of any kind, drugs
Biography:
I was born in New Orleans and proved to be quite advanced, reading at the age of three. Around age six, my parents separated, and my mother got custody of me. However, my mother and I did not get along well with each other, as she wanted me to be feminine and wear skimpy clothes. However, not wanting to follow in her path and fearing that I too would end up having a child at the age of fourteen, decided at age thirteen to move in with my dad and grandparents.
Throughout my years in school, I was frequently picked on by my classmates for numerous things, such as doing an assignment about how the media portrays unrealistic images of what people should look like, as well as even getting beaten up in class by a guy who got angry that I wouldn't tell him what I made on a test. I suffered depression throughout a good portion of my sophomore year. My junior year, I dated someone who turned out to be abusive and addicted to drugs. I left him and had a reasonably good senior year, although not without its problems. What made these problems tolerable was a wonderful teacher named Gina Graham, who encouraged my creativity with her unique writing assignments and kind words. When I asked her to sign my senior year memory book, she wrote a message that included the sentence "Make me famous." At the time, this had no real meaning for me, but it soon would.
I graduated in spring of 2005 and entered college in fall of that year. Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, and forced me to take that semester's courses online. That following semester, not long after returning to college, I learned that Gina Graham had died. I went to her funeral (the only student who went), and her family was very kind to me and pleased that she'd made such an impact on a student's life. With her words "Make me famous" firmly in mind, I set out to do just that, but wasn't sure how. Around this time, I began writing the start of "When Cliques Collide." The first chapter alone took three months to finish up. The second and third took far less time.
In July of 2007, I decided to begin putting up "When Cliques Collide," mostly as a way of thanking a man who had served as my mentor, friend, and unofficial editor, Brian, whom I'd met on a Sims 2 forum (in fact, his pet iguanas, Mae, Louie, and LB appear in the story, as humans).
Since July, WCC has been more or less regularly updated, and every word is in honor of those people who helped me through the rough times.
Name:
Jennifer
Major:
Counseling, with an undergraduate degree in psychology
Interests:
Reading, drawing, writing, listening to music of all kinds, hanging out with friends, playing The Sims 2, needlepoint and cross-stitch, working in the campus gameroom, South Park, Metalocalypse, The Boondocks, learning as much as I can, women's studies literature, psychology, sociology, animals, movies
Dislikes:
Seafood, stupidity, boredom, jerks, snobs, airheads, women who show too much skin, visible underwear, wearing dresses and skirts, superficial people, too much noise, country music, people who don't learn from their experiences, abuse of any kind, drugs
Biography:
I was born in New Orleans and proved to be quite advanced, reading at the age of three. Around age six, my parents separated, and my mother got custody of me. However, my mother and I did not get along well with each other, as she wanted me to be feminine and wear skimpy clothes. However, not wanting to follow in her path and fearing that I too would end up having a child at the age of fourteen, decided at age thirteen to move in with my dad and grandparents.
Throughout my years in school, I was frequently picked on by my classmates for numerous things, such as doing an assignment about how the media portrays unrealistic images of what people should look like, as well as even getting beaten up in class by a guy who got angry that I wouldn't tell him what I made on a test. I suffered depression throughout a good portion of my sophomore year. My junior year, I dated someone who turned out to be abusive and addicted to drugs. I left him and had a reasonably good senior year, although not without its problems. What made these problems tolerable was a wonderful teacher named Gina Graham, who encouraged my creativity with her unique writing assignments and kind words. When I asked her to sign my senior year memory book, she wrote a message that included the sentence "Make me famous." At the time, this had no real meaning for me, but it soon would.
I graduated in spring of 2005 and entered college in fall of that year. Hurricane Katrina devastated the area, and forced me to take that semester's courses online. That following semester, not long after returning to college, I learned that Gina Graham had died. I went to her funeral (the only student who went), and her family was very kind to me and pleased that she'd made such an impact on a student's life. With her words "Make me famous" firmly in mind, I set out to do just that, but wasn't sure how. Around this time, I began writing the start of "When Cliques Collide." The first chapter alone took three months to finish up. The second and third took far less time.
In July of 2007, I decided to begin putting up "When Cliques Collide," mostly as a way of thanking a man who had served as my mentor, friend, and unofficial editor, Brian, whom I'd met on a Sims 2 forum (in fact, his pet iguanas, Mae, Louie, and LB appear in the story, as humans).
Since July, WCC has been more or less regularly updated, and every word is in honor of those people who helped me through the rough times.