Okay, I'm sure this intro/profile thing
you are about to read will sound
a little bit more like a personal
ad than I want it to, so I
apologize in advance. My name is
Christina Blair and I am a Psych
major/ Philosophy minor at Mount Holyoke College
in South Hadley, MA. I am a member
of the class of 2003, which makes
me a junior right now, as I update
this page. Who knows when I will update
it again. In addition to being a
full-time student, I am also the mother
of Kaela, my wonderful, creative, energetic
four-year-old daughter without whom my world
would not be complete. It is true that
I am a young mother, but she has
been worth every step of the struggle thatcomes
with teen parenthood. Although I do keep a room
at school for convenience (my "office"), my home
is in Westfield, MA with my grandparents
and Kaela. I love Westfield so much. I
could be the spokesperson for the city.Some basic facts: my birthday is April 4, 1981 and I am 5'8"tall. My lucky numbers are 4 and 12 and I LOVE Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream!
Being a young mother at Mount Holyoke is certainly unique. I haven't yet met anybody who understands what it's like to feel so connected to both college life and parenthood at the same time. I don't really expect anyone to understand either, but it does bother me when people pass judgements in the absence of that understanding. Both college and parenthood compete for my undivided attention, and I struggle with keeping the division equal on both sides. Kaela will always be my top priority, but living as a mom and a student is still often frustrating and confusing.
It's already quite challenging going to
school and being a mom, so it's
especially difficult squeezing in time for
extracurriculars. However, I would be miserable
if I wasn't at least semi-involved with
other activities, which is why I am
a member of
MASSPIRG at Mount Holyoke. (Go to this link
because I created all the pages on
the site!) I have to admit, I
haven't done much for MassPIRG this year,
but I plan to go back in my
senior year and spoof up my resume
a bit. Honestly, though, the reason
I am involved with MassPIRG is because
I love what the organization is about,
and it feels so good to be part
of a group that has made such a
difference in the world.I like to go out and experience the college scene, probably a little too much. My family, who has been completely understanding and supportive of me since Kaela was born (and, of course, before), lets me have fun and be the best student I can be by taking care of Kaela while I am in classes and doing classwork, as well as on many nights when I am craving a social life. I amlucky to have so many resources in friends and family. Kaela has so many people who love her, and although ours isn't the most typical kind of situation, whose is, right? One of my favorite sayings is "Normal People are the ones you don't know real well." I want to be successful, for both of us, and so I try to work really hard in school. I would like to live in my dream house someday (which I designed myself) and if that is going to happen, I need to have a good career because it will probably cost a million dollars to build. Hopefully, I can find something that I enjoy and makes a good living. It seems everything I am interested in will leave me begging on the streets.
My absolute favorite things to do are write and take pictures. Acting is just as thrilling, but I haven't really got the time to be in plays with the busy schedules of college productions. I write mostly creative writing-- a little poetry, things about my life, and fiction. My special talent is writing parodies. Look out Weird Al-- here comes Weird Blair! I take pictures of everything, but mostly Kaela. I make scrapbooks for her in my "free time". I wouldn't consider myself to be an athletic person, but I do like yoga. It's a great de-stressor, and believe me, I am stressed out often. I try to keep myself in shape. I've been slacking on the old work-out routine, but I'll get back to it. There's really no excuse not to exercise regularly when your school has a glorious gym hooked up with the works in weightroom equipment and fitness machines... all completely free. In addition to MassPIRG, I am also quasi-involved with Amnesty International, a Human Rights Organization, so, yes, I am completely against the Death Penalty. It feels so good to be a part of such amazing movements. Social change has always been a part of my agenda, and I hope to keep it there for as long as I live. I picture myself in retirement,still campaigning to save whatever it is that needs saving by then. I don't think I'd make a good politician, though. The creative side of me alwayswins. I'm a romanticist and a dreamer, not very realistic most of the time. Besides, I have no desire to sell out in that way. I'll leave the politics to the polititians, and just work on making them hear the voice of the people. As the saying goes, "If the people lead, eventually the leaders will follow."
I like to cook, especially to create
my very own dishes. Grammy says I
will make a man very happy someday
if the way to his heart is truly
through his stomach, but if that's the
case, I think I will also make him
very fat. Lean Cuisine is not my
specialty.I like to design things, too. My dream home is an example, but I also consider working on Kaela's scrapbooks to be a form of design. Interior design is especiallyfun as well. I can get into decorating for hours at a time and sometimes spend bouts of what could be boredom, brainstorming about room decor. Listen to me, I sound like some sort of decorative nerd. I guess that description isn't too far off, though, because I usually spend gift money on decorations for my room. I just can't wait to fill my own house with adornments someday. I designed the tattoo I want to one day display on my lower back (to the left). Oh yeah, and I designed this website! I want to learn how to integrate some high-tech special effects with my simple little site, but for now, it doesn't get much better than Netscape Composer and the occasional HTML command.
Aside from creating, I love to explore. I'm pretty fond of driving all overthe place and getting lost in the beauty or culture of New England. Until recently, I had never been south of D.C., north of Northern Maine, or west of Pennsylvania, but I do loveto discover new places. My car, Chip (named for the chipped silver paint that envelopes him) isn't really fit for driving too far away, but we go where we can, spreading messages of joy through Chip's many Bumper Stickers!
As much as I love to drive, I had yearned to fly for years. I was supposed to go to France in my sophomore year of High School, but I was kicked off the trip at the last minute because I was five months pregnant when the trip occurred. I lost 1/3 of the money for it too. (Can you tell I'm still bitter?) Well, I still haven't traveled outside of the country yet (no, not even to Canada), but finally, in September of 2001, Iflew on a plane for the first time... to San Francisco with my friend Devon to work for her father's company and help with the Great American Cross Country Race there! I Loved Flying! It was worth waiting 20 years I guess.
I like all different kinds of music... Napster was good to me, and Audiogalaxy is even better. I LOVE Aerosmith-- they're my all-time favorite. Also, I like the Grateful Dead, Goo Goo Dolls, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, The Doors, Bush, and many other bands, as well as so many songs by artists who I am less familiar with overall. In recent years, I have really been getting into a lot of less mainstream bands and realizing that they are much more entertaining than what's on the radio all the time. I love to go to shows, especially Jam Bands, like the Disco Biscuits and Max Creek. Jump, Little Children puts on a really good show too. And the best place to listen to a band, in my opinion, is at a music festival!
I am usually one of those people who is always happy. I live by several branches of a personal philosophy on life, one of which is, in my opinion, the ultimate advice: Always improve the present moment! I have added to this to form my senior quote for high school-- ". . . and in the meantime, keep the memories of your past closeby as you follow your dreams one step at a time."
I have so many dreams and plans and goals, and I do, of course, want to reach some of them, but just imagining these things is the most exciting part. Maybe that's why I love to write. I can create my dreams exactly as I wish them. I try to follow the rule, no expectations, no anticipations, but it conflicts with my dream theory sometimes. I do anticipate my dreams, but otherwise this outlook keeps me a little more carefree.
This is my sweet little Kaela.
Here she is the day she "graduated" from her first year of preschool.
This is Kaela and her best friend, Sarah.
Kaela loves Dalmations. She wants me to get her 6 of them when I finish school!
As I mentioned, I love to write. I basically like to write anything, but I am not much of a poet, so most of what I write is prose. I hope to publish some of my work someday. Ultimately, I want to write children's books and other literature, but I am not relying on those plans. A life as a professional photographer is appealing also. I adore photography. Right now, I have a Cannon EOS Rebel G and that's great and very versatile, but I'd really like some fancy schmancy equipment and my own enlarger. (A darkroom to put the enlarger in would, of course, be quite useful as well.) I have always loved theatre, especially acting, and I take enough theatre courses to minor in it. I am also intrigued by Philosophy, and so that is my minor, because I think it compliments the Psych major nicely. I am facinated by psychology, but don't have any career plans yet. I figure whatever I study, as long as it interests me, will never go to waste because I can use what I learn in my writing. Who knows where I'll end up.
See more Pictures!!!!!
