I am a student,
and as a student, I have worked long hours and spent days agonizing over a few
sentences. As a student, I have felt excited and grateful when discovering a new concept
or idea. As an undergraduate, I struggled with justifying an
English degree and a writing minor. As a graduate student, I struggled with
focusing my research interests to something more narrow than the legal and social
implications of mass communications. I have discovered that defining my
research and academic goals cannot be separated from other aspects of my
personality or experience.
I am also a daughter,
and as a daughter I have struggled against my parent's
influence. I tried to separate their values from my own so that I
could discover "who I am." Nevertheless, I have also discovered that when I
argue or when I laugh, I sound exactly like my mother. Despite my struggles, my parents
gradually became two of my closest friends.
I am sister, and as a
sister, I have felt both rivalry and comaderie. I enjoy the security of knowing that
in my old age, I will likely have someone that I can argue with about the past. Someone who
actually knows my past.
I am a friend, and as a
friend, I have discovered that moderation in all things is necessary.
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