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"Describe the environment you come from - for example, your family, community, or school - and how this environment has made you a diverse member of society or affected/influenced your plans for the future."

 

 

Google, a company that I dreamed of working for before I realized my talents did not lie in mathematics or programming, has a simple company slogan that dictates their business plan: "Don't be evil." It seems obvious, but when you consider that they're in bed with countless advertising and telecommunication companies, and most recently, mobile phone service providers worldwide, the policy becomes incredibly challenging to live by. I've got a similar rule that sounds simple, but given who I am and what I want to do with my life, it gets just as complicated:

 

"Don't be crazy."

 

My family isn't in the best shape imaginable. To start, I was adopted from my birth mother, a Russian immigrant who wasn't particularly stable, mentally. I don't know much about my birth father besides that he was from France, and given my mother's profession, that's about as much as I can hope to learn. I have a biological half-sister though, adopted by my parents ten months after I was born. My adoptive parents love the both of us, but honestly, they were an awful couple. Mom's a compulsive shopper with anger issues and Dad's a stubborn miser that turns everything into a passive-aggressive debate; it turned out about as well as you'd think.

 

I'm going to point out that I said they "were" an awful couple; they divorced in Summer 2005.  They've been at each others' throats worse than ever, with Dad trying to get out of his Alimony through convoluted loopholes, and Mom blaming everything that goes wrong on Dad. They've both found new significant others; Dad's new girlfriend is a baker/florist that was Miss New Jersey USA in 1973, and Mom's boyfriend was the Police Chief in East Fallowfield, PA during Fall and Winter of 2009, presently a patrol cop. Neither are my biggest fans, but they don't hate me, and I don't have much else interesting to say on them.

 

My life's never been really fantastic. Most other kids my age either didn't care about or actively despised me; an incident involving a beehive at recess in first grade left me as kinda-sorta the school punching bag up until eighth grade. When I was about seven, a psychiatrist diagnosed me with Aspergers Disorder. I suppose it sort of fits, but it's not something I like to parade around. Not so much shame as being irritated at attention-whoring social refuse that self-diagnoses themselves with it as an excuse to act out and avoid punishment. As I was saying, in eighth grade, the school suggested my mom look into online classes (after an incident I'm not entirely proud of), and I was set up in 21st Century Cyber Charter school. If there's one thing I know, it's computers, and since "school" for me now meant "sitting in bed all day and goofing off online while doing work I could do in my sleep" (see my transcripts for more details on that). I'm told my attitude around then was remarkably similar to the freedom-induced laziness and complacency found in a College freshman (see the first World Geography score on my transcripts for more details on that). This was back in 2004, 2005, so I'd like to think I've gotten over that, and I might have an advantage over your standard freshman in that respect.

 

So, back to me. I realize an unhappy family, bully trouble, and Diet Autism isn't going to be much to ride on for the Diversity ticket, but I've been saving the best for last: I'm also transgendered, Male to Female. One of my earliest memories is dressing up in my sister's bathing suit when I was...I guess it must have been three or four? A few other shenanigans along those lines dot my early childhood, and my parents sort of got me out of it for a good while. I started reading about transwhatnot when I was about fourteen, and it sounded more or less spot-on. I came out to my parents in fall 2006, and they...weren't too pleased. I don't blame them, and they've mostly come around. I don't know if I want to call them SUPPORTIVE, but they don't hate it entirely.

 

This is, I suppose, the part of the essay where I sum things up and sort of cap off the whole thing. I'm a transgendered writer diagnosed Aspergers with divorced parents that hate each other, and I've been out of proper school for going on six years. Like I was saying, that seems like the recipe for a gourmet Drama Stew (serves twelve). Keeping that in mind, I'm pretty sure "Don't be crazy" is the best rule I could possibly have. Let's hope you guys agree. Also - double the recommended length!