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| Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally |
Curveball Dodging: Miranda explores the importance of recognizing your own self-worth instead of placing value on other’s opinions.
This is a topic that’s super important to me.
When I was seventeen years old, I decided to apply for colleges outside of Tennessee. I wanted to try new things and see the world. I’d felt like that since I had gone to France when I was fourteen.
I applied to American University in Washington, D.C., and I was ecstatic when I got in. In high school, I had a 3.9 GPA and I made mostly As. Sure, I partied some and didn’t take school all that seriously, but I had drive and I knew I wanted to attend a great school so I would have great opportunities later in life.
After I received my acceptance letter to American University, the school guidance counselor called me into her office. She suggested that I go to the community college in the next town over, because I would probably fail in Washington, D.C. She thought I wouldn’t make it at a big school.
I went home, brokenhearted that she didn’t believe in me. But then I realized it didn’t matter what the stupid guidance counselor said. I wanted to go to D.C., so I was going there. End of story.
In my book Stealing Parker, Parker places way too much emphasis on what other people think. She lets the prejudices of others determine her behavior. People think Parker’s a lesbian just like her mother, so Parker decides to show them she’s not. She quits the softball team, loses 30 pounds, and makes out with lots of guys. Instead of people thinking, “Oh, Parker’s not a lesbian like her mom,” they think, “Oh, Parker’s kind of slutty.”
You can’t do something you don’t want to do in hopes of making people think a certain way about you, because nobody thinks the same way.
During the book, Parker learns what she thinks about herself is what’s important. She realizes that until she does what she wants to do, she’s never going to be happy and people aren’t going to know who the “real” Parker is.
Who is the real you? Have you ever let someone else decide your path?
Growing up in Tennessee, Miranda Kenneally dreamed of becoming an Atlanta Brave, a country singer (cliché!), or a UN interpreter. Instead she writes and works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., where George W. Bush once used her shoulder as an armrest. She loves Twitter, Star Trek and her husband.
Where to find her...
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