Who I am...
My name is Miranda and my autobiography starts in New York, New York in 1987. Between then and now, I have moved to nine different cities and packed up my belongings and moved into a new bedroom 23 times. My parents divorced when I was ten years old, and I have attended eight different schools. These pieces of my childhood have fostered an acceptance and understanding of change and resiliency that is deeply ingrained in who I am today.
There are many labels I keep for myself. Included in this list are; social worker, college student, passionate learner, lesbian, liberal activist, computer geek, snowboarder, music lover, disc jockey, smoker, Oscar owner, intern, and spiritualist. Through my education, both in college and through personal inquiry, I have learned that labels are not who you are, but pieces of the context that makes up who you are. These things that I have told you only shed light on glimpses of who I am, and what I care about.
One large glimpse of who I am comes from the understanding of the degree I will receive in May, and what it means to me. I will be graduating with my Bachelors of Social Work, and the experience I have had and the course work I have done to achieve this degree is integral to who I am. When I arrived at Northern 1000 miles away from my parents to do Fall make-up orientation I knew I wanted to study social work. I did not know how eye opening and fulfilling this program would be. In a profession where individuality and empowerment are the most poignant part of our work, we need to be trained to know how to work with clients whose values and beliefs may be in stark contrast with our own personal values and beliefs, and still give them the same large amounts of respect and dignity we give to any clients we work with. This means that if I should be put in an agency working in a group for men who batter women, and have a client who is republican and homophobic, I need to use my professional training to understand that my beliefs and values are my own. I need to use that training to know the best course of assistance I can offer him in this group may be to focus on the rigid family values he holds as a republican. I need to use that training to give him the dignity and respect I would want any of the people I love to have because he is a human being who is in pain, and has suffered so much that he has taken it out on other people in his life. And I am so glad to have the training I have, and look forward to the day when I have that piece of paper that symbolizes all of the lessons and practice I have done to have that degree.
Another large glimpse of who I am is to know that I am queer. Queer is a term that is being retaken by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community to be an encompassing term for the LGBT activist community. I have done extensive research in this community to learn and understand it’s many diverse and interesting facets. My current life goal is to use my degree to work with queer youth in the problems and adversity they face. I enjoy discussing sexuality and gender expression and learning more about both of these topics. One of the best venue’s I have found is the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference, which I have attended for five years, and have found it to be one of the best experiences of my college career.
Everyone is more than the pieces of their lives their labels represent. I am no exception. My labels intertwine and come together to make up the picture of who Miranda Larocque is. In the next year I am hoping that my labels come together to have me in Milwaukee working with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center’s youth program Project Q. I hope to be living a content life, working to improve the lives of queer youth while enjoying my hobbies and pets. Maybe I’ll quit smoking and pick up a new label. That’s the joy of life, everything is changing all the time.
There are many labels I keep for myself. Included in this list are; social worker, college student, passionate learner, lesbian, liberal activist, computer geek, snowboarder, music lover, disc jockey, smoker, Oscar owner, intern, and spiritualist. Through my education, both in college and through personal inquiry, I have learned that labels are not who you are, but pieces of the context that makes up who you are. These things that I have told you only shed light on glimpses of who I am, and what I care about.
One large glimpse of who I am comes from the understanding of the degree I will receive in May, and what it means to me. I will be graduating with my Bachelors of Social Work, and the experience I have had and the course work I have done to achieve this degree is integral to who I am. When I arrived at Northern 1000 miles away from my parents to do Fall make-up orientation I knew I wanted to study social work. I did not know how eye opening and fulfilling this program would be. In a profession where individuality and empowerment are the most poignant part of our work, we need to be trained to know how to work with clients whose values and beliefs may be in stark contrast with our own personal values and beliefs, and still give them the same large amounts of respect and dignity we give to any clients we work with. This means that if I should be put in an agency working in a group for men who batter women, and have a client who is republican and homophobic, I need to use my professional training to understand that my beliefs and values are my own. I need to use that training to know the best course of assistance I can offer him in this group may be to focus on the rigid family values he holds as a republican. I need to use that training to give him the dignity and respect I would want any of the people I love to have because he is a human being who is in pain, and has suffered so much that he has taken it out on other people in his life. And I am so glad to have the training I have, and look forward to the day when I have that piece of paper that symbolizes all of the lessons and practice I have done to have that degree.
Another large glimpse of who I am is to know that I am queer. Queer is a term that is being retaken by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community to be an encompassing term for the LGBT activist community. I have done extensive research in this community to learn and understand it’s many diverse and interesting facets. My current life goal is to use my degree to work with queer youth in the problems and adversity they face. I enjoy discussing sexuality and gender expression and learning more about both of these topics. One of the best venue’s I have found is the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference, which I have attended for five years, and have found it to be one of the best experiences of my college career.
Everyone is more than the pieces of their lives their labels represent. I am no exception. My labels intertwine and come together to make up the picture of who Miranda Larocque is. In the next year I am hoping that my labels come together to have me in Milwaukee working with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center’s youth program Project Q. I hope to be living a content life, working to improve the lives of queer youth while enjoying my hobbies and pets. Maybe I’ll quit smoking and pick up a new label. That’s the joy of life, everything is changing all the time.