Hi, I am Rachel Massey. I am from Houston, Texas and have lived there all my life. Contrary to popular belief, bring from Texas does not mean that I grew up on a farm, I know how to milk a cow, or that I am a competitive horse riding athlete. Like many other people from big cities, I grew up around busy streets, tall buildings and a lot of people trying to get to a lor of places. I am proud of where I am from but I would not say that it defines me. Just as my favorite color (forest green, just so ya know) does not clarify my character, I would say that the environment I grew up in is just one piece to the puzzle that is me.

My avatar is a picture taken of me this past summer during my work at the William Way LGBTQ Community Center. Bryn Mawr sent a photographer to take pictures of me for the upcoming November issue of the Alumnae magazine. In addition to my work at the center I am one of the head organizers of the Philadelphia Dyke March. The William Way Center honored us this past year by allowing us to create a physical "15 years of the PDM" exhibit. The space was amazing and was on display for three months. When Bryn Mawr contacted me about sending a photographer I knew I wanted the pictures to show my more radical work like Dyke March. This shot is definitely my favorite. 

My avatar is a picture of Lucille Bluth of Arrested Development pasted onto the body of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka from the 1971 film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I suppose I could go in depth about the characters, describing the attributes that match up with mine, Willy Wonka's ability to lead children, how Lucille quietly assesses and judges things, or the way they both find whimsy in worlds which can be otherwise dark and boring. But in a less abstract way, the selection of the picture speaks a lot to how I tend to operate. I can always be counted on to take references from different spaces and blending them to be applicable to a variety of situations. Also, they're almost always related to TV. 

I selected my avatar photo thinking (foolishly) that it was something it is not.  A long while ago, I was collecting aesthetically pleasing backgrounds for my computer, and, because I happen to like his work, Googled “Caravaggio.”  Stumbling through the realms of cyberspace a ventured upon a curiously beautiful painting, one that struck me as such in comparison to Caravaggio’s other, gorier works.  I’ve always loved portraits; there’s something about them, beauty, yet anonymity.  I stare at a woman’s face, touched by her beauty and wonder her story.  Who was she to the painter, and was she this beautiful, or was she amplified somehow, her true image tainted by a lover’s paint strokes? Sometimes there is a name—but is it really hers?

Hey! I'm Alisha Clark from King of Prussia, PA. Although that is my home now,  I was originally born in Philadelphia. Throughout my life, I've travled a bit. A lot of times, I would travel by car arcoss states---watching the moon and the moon watching me. I've lived in North Carolina and Delaware before coming back to Philadelphia. Over the years, I've learned that I am very artisy and sensitive. Although I am very private and or conservative when it comes to things that involve my personal life, you can find some things within my art. I didn't draw my avatar, but I find it cool because the moon is apart of my horoscope. My horoscope is usually very true. 

In the search for an avatar I thought I would Google photos of Lisa Simpson, a character from one of my favorite TV shows who I've always admired and identified with. She is the competent, ever-learning little sister in a family that is hilarious and strange and, more than occassionally, hard to live with. I stumbled across this image of Lisa in a witch's hat saying, "Why is it when a woman is confident and powerful, they call her a witch?" The scene and quote stood out to me, and not only because I thought I was a witch for a majority of my childhood. I think it speaks to the lives of many strong women in my life who have faced opposition and hate when they prove themselves to be intelligent individuals who refuse to be quiet for convention's sake.

I had a hard time choosing an avatar, but ended up going with a picture that captured both myself and two of my passions--theatre and LGBTQ activism. The image is of an enormous puppet I created as part of my internship this past summer, with The Theater Offensive in Boston. The organization is a nonprofit theatre company dedicated to work by and for the LGBTQ/POC community. I had known about TTO for some time, as the executive director is the uncle of a close friend of mine, and I was ecstatic when I was accepted into their summer internship program. 

As soon as we started talking about choosing an avatar that ties into our identity, I knew the exact picture I wanted to use. It's from a trip my family took, and I remember virtually nothing from this trip, as I was only about seven years old. We (left to right, it's me, my father, and my older sister) are laying on  a section of the Cliffs of Moher outside Shannon, Ireland, and of these I remember only that: 1, the faces of the cliffs were covered with puffins; and 2, we wandered all the way to the edge in spite of my mother's most adament protests.

Though extroverted, I characterize most of my life as silent observation. I have never been a person to jump into new situations with new people and start talking; I realize that everyone has a certain way of being and I like discovering that and acting accordingly, in order to make them as comfortable as possible. I think this avatar is rather fitting with that image; I am used to looking out, but through this 360, I look forward to looking inward and seeing how I have developed my own identity (especially through my interactions with others).