The Freshman Experiment

A former teacher told me to always describe myself as a writer but that is too constricting. I do like lists though so I could bullet my “Likes,” “Dislikes,” and “Favorites,” but that’s too impersonal. Or I could just leave it blank to say that I’m unwritten, not yet discovered…but I’m not an asshole. So, let’s just start and see where it goes:

I was born and adopted in a small town in a small state. My family, however, is not so small. Headed by two lesbians we became the modern-day Rainbow Tribe, scaring off conservatives and raising eyebrows everywhere we went. When I was nine or ten we moved to another small town in a small state. There I spent my time listening to N*SYNC or the Spice Girls, buying my first set of bras, becoming a girlfriend for all of high school, and finally graduating. Now in order to keep this blog shrouded in a blanket of ambiguity I can’t write much more about my background. I can say that I’m eighteen, I turn a year older every spring, I am an (unhealthy) lover of cats - particularly fat cats, and have survived a week and a half on Ramen alone (a skill that I’ll be utilizing more frequently).

And, well, I am a writer and if I’m feeling up to it, a poet, too. There is nothing I love more than the shape of a pencil and using fiction to expose the truth. Sometimes it seems like every overly emotional teenage girl considers herself a writer, but I know my passion for it is legitimate. It’s only a matter of time before I happily assume the role of Another Struggling Writer.

In late August, however, I’ll be Another Broke College Student when I move to (surprise, surprise) a small town in a small state to attend a liberal arts college. This blog is going to be the virtual documentation of that experience. Hopefully my freshman year will be exciting enough to be made into a musical, but there’s no way to tell. Then again I’ll be spending my time with horny, over-worked, parentless freshmen, so it’s bound to get interesting.

About Christine Coke’s Characters

Drawing inspiration from our nickname “The Rainbow Tribe” I’ve decided to re-name my siblings after a color.

Family

• Olive Green
  1. Is the traditional color of peace.
  2. My youngest sister who has put herself on the fringes of our family, rarely getting involved in the commotion that pervades our home. When she was a child loud noises would make her jump, and when the shrieks of my siblings reach her ears sometimes we can hear her softly saying “just stop” or the slow creak of her door shutting
  3. Green famously symbolizes money and my sister has an affinity for all things high-end. She hasn’t memorized her times tables past ten, but she can spew off the prices of designer bags, shoes, and clothes.
• Light Blue
  1. Is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness.
  2. My sister whose presence can soften any tense situation. Her struggles reshaped my family’s perspective on how we should live our lives amidst the tribulations and misfortunes that were continually placed in front of us.
• Red
  1. Is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.
  2. My older sister has long rid herself of any conventional thinking. Her boisterous attitude and disregard for authority, her elders, her peers - hell, just her disregard for people in general has made her The Problem Child numerous times. Although she says she’s determined to live only for herself she still has a fierce loyalty toward our family, and her fiery nature has turned away anyone who has any animosity towards us.

Since most of my brothers and sisters are older than me I, unfortunately, don’t keep in contact with all of them. The three listed above are going to be prominent in my life while I’m away at college.

• Mamajay
  1. One of my mothers, considered the “femme” by onlookers. I used to think girls who claimed their mothers were their best friends were absurd, but over the past two years I have grown closer to her and now consider her my greatest confidante. She’s an incredibly strong woman but her children and partner know how to push her buttons.
• Dean
  1. My second mother. Her name is actually quite appropriate because she was the iron fist in our household before she moved out. For thirteen years she was always a brusque and abrasive woman but her personality has changed drastically. Now she’s extremely emotional but if she’s around the family for longer than a few days she starts to fall back into old habits.

Friends

• The Girls
  1. My main group of girlfriends from high school. Over the last few months of school we hung around each other so much that we turned into one unit. I enjoy being with all six of them, but there are three who I’ve grown closest to.
     1. Ginger - my redheaded friend who is the most independent of all of us and is taking a gap year…or years.
     2. Spastic - loudmouth, spontaneous, and a music junkie.
     3. Nuzzler - has a sometimes irritating habit of nuzzling against us like a cat. She’s affectionate, caring, and calls us all “baby” or “cutes” more than she does our actual names.
• BW
  1. One of the coolest chicks I know outside of The Girls and the most sarcastic. She left me for the South but has kept her promise with weekly phone calls to me, detailing her drunken mistakes. Once school starts I think I’ll be able to contribute to the conversation more.
• TK
  1. I’ve always been a little guarded around The Girls, keeping them at arm’s length, but when I met TK at a summer program for college I met my long lost twin. We can laugh about and say stupid things, get shitfaced drunk, and joke about sexually explicit topics. And then we can spend two hours on the phone opening up about our lives, families, and failed romances. Needless to say, I know he’s going to be one of my closest friends this year.

I need more friends.