so sister #3 wrote a paper about me. it’s weird, me the star of a paper. you can read it if’n you want.

I should have known interviewing a former high school newspaper reporter and college newspaper editor was going to be difficult. My oldest sister Jodi, a copy writer by profession and novelist by heart wasn’t going to settle for just any old interview. A self-described lover of words, Jodi made sure I conducted the most professional, heartfelt interview of my life. We went over the questions, twice. We even made up some questions of our own, because in her opinion, the ones I had for class were ‘too vague.’ Sitting in her apartment in Prior Lake, surrounded by book shelves with literally hundreds of books on them, Jodi opened up to me, like so many of the books she’s read. I left her apartment in awe, never had I heard my sister sound so beautiful. In this paper, I hope to convey what an intelligent, independent and unselfish person Jodi is. I believe she raised me and my other sisters. She gave so much of herself to make us who we are today. A role model to me, I also hope to make her proud.

At 32, Jodi describes herself as witty, smart and interesting, but that’s only to herself. If you ask her to describe herself to others, she says, tall, honest, independent and loud. Why the difference? ‘ I don’t want to tell people that I’m smart and interesting. I want them to figure it out on their own.’ One obvious statement that can be made about Jodi is that she is tall. Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, she’s not your average size woman. Growing up, she disliked being tall, she felt uncomfortable and embarrassed. As a child, she thought ‘I was supposed to be a boy, but God screwed up.’ Now she sees herself as ‘just Jodi. Biology makes me a woman, but I don’t define myself as a woman.’ Life’s experiences have helped her become more comfortable with her physical self. She doesn’t think of herself as so freakishly tall anymore and even sees her height as a positive trait. She believes she doesn’t have the ‘diminutive feminine thing that a lot of women have to deal with.’ Jodi realizes hair, make-up and clothes don’t make a woman a woman, ‘it’s just biology that makes you a woman.’

Since she was 16 years old, Jodi has known she’s wanted to be a writer. Words, books, and journals have been some of the most important and influential things in her life. She’s always loved expressing herself through words. She’s reluctant to talk about her long term goals, but being a Novelist is a dream she can’t deny. Jodi has an undeniable talent for writing. She knows she’s been given a gift and has done so much in her life to share it with others. She’s kept an online journal for years, she requests her family doesn’t read it, but her website is a success and has hundreds of readers daily. She has also contributed to online magazines and has had a few short stories published online. She had also been successful as a high school newspaper reporter and college newspaper editor. Jodi has made scrapbooks of her writings and has also included numerous awards she has won for her writing. The scrapbooks are impressive.

Along with her writing, her sisters have also been very important to Jodi. The relationship she has with her sisters ‘is unlike any other relationship’. Her friends have come and gone, but her sisters have always been there for her. ‘We’ve helped raise each other. There’s a bond there that can’t be broken.’ Jodi doesn’t feel that same closeness or bond with her parents. Her biological father left our mother after finding out she was pregnant. She was adopted by the man she calls Dad, when she was 5 years old. Jodi describes both of our parents as nobody we could ever really count on. Our mom was always loving, but she never felt comfortable showing it. Our dad played favorites, and let us know he cherished his first born over all of us. As difficult as her relationship with our father has been for her, she knows that he has made her who she is today. Always harder on her than he was the rest of us, Jodi was pushed to be an overachiever. Our father’s ‘inability to love me for just being Jodi, indirectly, in a sort of negative way, influenced me in a positive way.’ Trying to stay out of the watchful, hard eye of our dad, Jodi escaped into books. After school she would rush into her room and spend hours reading . It was in these hours, that she fell in love with words. She also began to write and express her feelings in her journals. Another difficult lesson for Jodi came about when she was 17. Our family decided to move to Wisconsin to open up a family restaurant. Jodi, a senior in high school, decided to stay behind. At 17, with her family in another state, she gained her independence. Jodi was able to blossom and become more of herself. She was still the overachiever, but she was a little more comfortable being herself. She believes her decision to stay behind was one the best decisions of her life.

After finishing high school, she moved to Wisconsin and went to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. During her college years, she really grew and matured into the woman she is today. She excelled in school and soon became the editor of her college newspaper. It was here that Jodi ran into one of the most difficult moral situations of her life. As the editor of the college newspaper, Jodi was asked to run some anti-homosexual and anti-abortion advertisements. She had just finished an internship with the local AIDS Project, she was very familiar and friendly with the gay community. Her training as a journalism major, and deep belief in the right of freedom of speech clashed with her morals and her desire to protect her friends. She ‘didn’t want to endorse the ad’, but she also knew the ad had a right to be seen. Jodi decided to run the ads. The ads opened up a dialog in the community, started panel boards discussions and ended up having a positive outcome.

As for her own outcome, Jodi isn’t sure how she wants that to turn out. She says it’s frustrating because she has no goals. She ‘doesn’t dream about the future.’ ‘I can’t see what’s going to be happening in 15 years, so I’m not going to worry about it.’ In her personal life, she’d like to find someone to share life with. Another one of her goals is to let down her guard and share more of herself, whether it be with a husband, family or just a great group of friends. In her professional life, she’d like to be published. She’s always been a very career oriented person. She’s talented and she knows it. With her determination and heart, I’m sure all of her goals will be achieved.

In conclusion, and as I stated in my beginning paragraph, Jodi has been a role model for me. She has taught me about being tolerant of others and to ‘just respect people for who they are.’ Since she has done so much to help raise her sisters, I think we’re all indebted to her. Even though I have learned my morals from Jodi, we are still two very different people. Jodi is a calm, relaxed and a stop and smell the roses kind of girl. I, on the other hand am the typical type-A personality. I get stressed out easily and like to hurry through everything. I am also a shy, quiet person compared to Jodi’s loud, free spirited self. In class, we read stories about women who made magnificent strides for women’s rights. To her sisters, Jodi is one of those women. Jodi has endured so many hardships so her sisters could be who we are today. We grew up in the same house, but not under the same rules. She’s learned things the hard way and passed on her lessons to us. Our differences come because I think just watching someone else struggle gives you an appreciation for your life, but it’s not the same appreciation the struggler walks away with. She’s earned her way through life, and I feel like I’ve just tagged along for the ride.’