Joneka Percentie ENG1103

Hello Professor Campbell, The fall of 2013 is here and with that means the start of classes at UNC Charlotte. I am so excited to begin this semester in English, but before it starts there are few things that Id like to share about myself. I will start with my name because it usually brings up many questions. Joneka Raedell Percentie, quite an odd combination of vowels and consonants. My first name comes from my father John. He, and my mother, threw eka on the end, got rid of the h, and deemed it appropriate for a girl. My mothers parents are Ray and Birdell. Raybir and Dellbirray were too strange I guess and so my middle name became Raedell. The last name has a legacy of sorts. It traces back to my fathers family from Eleuthera, Bahamas, where nearly the entire island is populated by Percenties who run the local stores and businesses. I am originally from Miami, Florida, but in 2007 my family made the big move to Charlotte for a change of scenery--whatever that means. I have three sisters who were just as apathetic about moving to North Carolina, but we are super close and made the best of our reality. We were used to moving around though; in the 12 years that my family lived in Miami we moved almost every year. Six different elementary schools, three different middle schools, and one high school. The high school is most important. I attended Northwest School of the Arts, a performing arts high school in Charlotte that exposed me to opportunities that changed my life. Performing in musicals, singing for thousands of people, dancing a duet to tribute a teachers sick family member, Northwest showed me the power the arts has not only on an audience, but also on the artist. The discipline that the arts has taught me translates into all aspects of my life, my attitude towards academics, the relationships I make, and even my spirituality. My spirituality has become more and more important to me in recent years, especially when I began to study the bible with Jehovahs Witnesses. My faith and understanding of the bible is so strongly reinforced and the love from the congregation is incomparable. Ive also found that personal relationships that I make improved after understanding this huge part of my life. I leave campus to attend weekly bible discourse meetings Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. While it may seem strange to others, I wouldnt be able to make it through the week without the encouraging words and support from the congregation. Its a place where I am completely comfortable. I have however been in a few situations that were far from my comfort zone.

This July I participated in a month long backpacking trip in the Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming. The course was designed for community building in our scholarship program and leadership skills. The month was unforgettable. After 110 miles and over 24,000 feet in elevation gain, our entire group knew everyone (perhaps a bit too well) and we built a community of friends that we could rely on during the transition to college. I got to see a true starry sky, elk, sights from 12,026 foot peak, the remains of a forest fire, and bear tracks. Quite an exciting time! During NOLS I learned so much about my strengths and weaknesses, my role in group settings, and my leadership style. What I really appreciated during NOLS was all of the time we had to reflect and write. Writing has always been an integral part of my life. In elementary school, writing was a stream of consciousness. In middle school, writing was filling composition notebooks with rants on Twilight and my fears of high school. Once I made it to high school writing became a whole new monster. My sophomore year I began writing for my schools newspaper Intermission. We were a student-run publication without peer review, so we had free reign on a range of different articles. Some of my personal favorites range from the legalization of marijuana, street harassment, racism, SlutWalk, eating disorders, and Twitter feuds. It was so powerful to witness the impact our publication had on the student body; students would stop to commend us, some would berate us, but they were reading the articles and speaking out about them. These somewhat controversial articles lead to writing about feminism, where I feel I can truly and passionately articulate myself in the way that I want. Writing more and more about feminism inspired me to translate my words into actions. Earlier this summer I joined a feminist blog community and its changing my life. SexualizationProtestActionResistanceKnowledge, or SPARK, fights the sexualization of young girls in the media through petition campaigns, blogs, TEDTalks, vlogging, and many other resources. I was so excited to take all of the ideas that Id put in writing and shape them into physical campaigns and movements. Like other blogging communities, mostly all of the brainstorming and collaborating is done online. Fortunately, SPARK arranges a yearly retreat where bloggers can meet each other IRL (in real life, face-to-face interaction oh my!) and participate in workshops and writing sessions with prominent women in the feminist community. The SPARK team flew from all over the world to a small retreat center in New Jersey. The nature and wooded surroundings gave us a summer camp feel; roasting marshmallows over the fire discussing intersectionality and heteronormativity--you know the usual. The friendships made online were only solidified once we met in person and bonded on shared experiences and struggles. Sadly, my time at the retreat was cut short. Moving into my dorm room took precedent over the last two days of the retreat, but I took the joy and excitement with me as I packed the rest of my belongings and drove the 20 minutes from my house to campus.

Now Im here, settled into my dorm room, anticipating the first day of classes and the exciting adventure that I am about to begin a UNC Charlotte. I look forward to this semester which will surely bring its trials and tribulations, but not without a ton of fun along the way.