by Leah Crisman, executive editor
It would be hard to classify senior Heather Crow. Anime, books, video games and her animation class are all central components of her life. However, to combine these into some sort of stereotype would project a one-dimensional person which Crow is certainly not, despite what her quiet nature might have one believe.
“People will say I’m a nerd, then some people say I’m ‘emo.’ I’ve had people ask me that,” Crow said. “They’re like ‘you never talk; you always look sad,’ and I’m like ‘Okay, just because I’m not smiling means I’m sad?’”
Crow is used to this kind of behavior. She’s also used to ignoring it.
“[People] think I’m boring or something,” Crow said. “Usually they think I’m a boring person, but when they start talking to me they’re like ‘Woah, you’re crazy!’”
The beginning of her shyness, she says, stems from a tough period in her life. When she was in middle school, Crow was bullied by a group of girls who ostracized her and persuaded others to do the same.
“When [this group of girls] passed back papers to me they’d hold onto the edge like it was disease-ridden or something,” Crow said. “When I would sit down at a table, everybody would get up and move away, and I would just kind of sit there.”
Surprisingly though, Crow says she bears little grudge against the girls who bullied her and indeed feels sorry for them.
“I’m upset that they were so mean to me, but maybe they had a worse life at home and they were just being mean to me because of that,” Crow said.
The bullying stopped after middle school, but Crow says she has become more quiet because of it.
According to Crow, her interest in anime has helped her cope through past issues both internal and external. She has dealt with OCD, chronic migraines, ADHD, dyslexia and Tourette syndrome, all of which have calmed down in the past couple years, she said.
“Before [finding an outlet], I was really bad; I failed almost everything,” Crow said. “I got obsessed with anime and books, everything that wasn’t real.”
Crow explained that these outlets helped her focus and improve her grades. She began taking honors and AP classes, but migraines and dyslexia slowed her progress. She would have a stress-induced migraine almost every day through junior year, and making sense of AP exams were a struggle. The AP English test was especially trying for her, she said.
“I had to reread every sentence like twice,” Crow said. “I couldn’t get through everything. It just wasn’t clicking in my head. When they called time I panicked and everything started going black.”
Despite her past setbacks, Crow looks forward to entering college at either Texas A&M or Ringling (an animation college in Florida) and later (hopefully) working as an animator.
“I decided to do animation because there’s a lot of demand for entertainment,” Crow said. “It’s rewarding and it’s a growing business.”
