Post by ANNIE COLLEEN MILLER on May 21, 2012 13:57:25 GMT -5
| [atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 460px; background-image: url(http://i44.tinypic.com/34fb0ns.jpg);-moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; border: 4px ridge #7a9aa9, bTable][tr][cs=2] annie colleen miller. nineteen. local. jennifer lawrence. | |
[rs=2] | State your name for the record, please. Annie. Annie Miller. Is Annie short for something? No. It’s just Annie. That’s what it says on my birth certificate. And how old are you, Annie? Nineteen. And where are you from? Miami, Florida. Annie Miller, nineteen, from Florida. You’re part of a series of interviews with children of families living below the poverty line in metropolitan areas. For the purpose of sociological research. You understand this? Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’m getting paid for this? Two hundred dollars, right? That's what the ad said. That’s correct. Then ask me whatever you like. Tell us about your family. Sure. My mom got knocked up in high school. She and my daddy got married. I say my daddy, but I don’t know. She didn’t know. He could just be some guy she slept with once, but… credit where credit is due, you know? He raised me. (laughs) My mama, she was fond of telling me she had a bright future. That I came along and ruined it. But she didn’t have no bright future that anyone else could see. Anyway, she walked out when I was five, six, maybe. Since then it was just me and my daddy. Is he still around? Still drinking himself to death on the couch? Yeah. As far as I know. You don’t have much of a relationship with him? When did I say that? The man raised me. I’m round there every Sunday, you know. I clean up after him, cook him something to eat so he doesn’t completely waste away. When it’s not too hot out, I tidy up the yard. He likes it when the yard is nice. So where do you live, if not with your father? I have my own apartment. How do you pay the rent? Do you work? Of course I do. I have two jobs. What do you do? I waitress. It’s not glamorous, but you know what it’s like here in Miami. Total tourist trap. There are greasy little diners everywhere and the trade is good. Tips are good, too. What else? Huh? You said you have two jobs. What else do you do? (indecipherable) Sorry? I do some work on the Internet. On the Internet? There are lots of lonely old guys with disposable income on the Internet, okay? You get a web cam, you take your clothes off, and you’re set. Okay? God. So you’re a stripper? A vir-tu-al stripper. It’s different, okay? To what you’re thinking. I don’t work in some nasty little club. I don’t whore myself out. It’s tasteful. I get to control it. You seem defensive. (silence) Tell us about your schooling. What about my schooling? I’m not very smart. I’m just another white trash kid that got overlooked by the system. Coasted right on through and out the other side. Everyone’s known for years I was going nowhere. You don’t seem stupid, Annie. Well, what do you know about it? I’ve spoken to a lot of bright kids held back by their station in life. Have you ever thought about college? (laughs) No college is fool enough to take me on. No, no, I’ve not thought about it. And I hated school so much I don’t want to pay for more of it. You know what I mean? You hated school, did you? I hated it. I wasn’t good at anything. And I didn’t have any friends or… anything, so… Why didn’t you have friends? (rolls eyes) You’re studying poor, dumb kids, right? You must have heard it all before. Parents warn their kids away from people like me. ‘Oh, that Annie Miller has a mouth like a sewer, stay away from her’. ‘The Millers are trash – drunks and thieves and liars’. ‘That Miller girl has loose morals. She’s easy. Don’t mix yourself up in that’. Is any of that true, do you think? Well, I do have a mouth like a sewer. And my daddy is a drunk, and my mama was a liar, and I did steal a pack of gum balls from the convenience store when I was ten or so. People remember stuff like that. And the loose morals? I suppose it sure looks that way, don’t it? But no. That part isn’t true. Would you believe me if I said I was a virgin? I’d believe you, Annie. Well, I’m a virgin. Once, there was this guy. We were fifteen, I think. We’d gone out a couple of times and he said he really liked me. I didn’t want to do it, but he really did. He tried to persuade me. He wheedled, pleaded, yelled when that didn’t work. But I didn’t want to do it, so I didn’t. He still told everyone I did though. He told everyone I was a whore. And then his friends started doing it, too. Lying about having sex with me, in their cars, on the beach, behind the bleachers. Whatever. Of course the more I denied it, the more suspicious it looked. So in the end I just stopped denying it, and that just made it worse. Whatever I did, it looked like what they were saying was true, and before I know it I had this reputation that I’d never earned. Figures. You’ve had a lot of negative interaction with your peers. That’s right. Do you think this has had any great effect on the way you interact with people now that you’re a self-sufficient adult? I guess. I talk to people. Most people would say I’m friendly as you like. Most people don’t know me very well. With people I do know… people I like… I’m not as nice as with strangers. Kinda mean, actually. I guess I don’t know how else to express affection. Is that what you’re looking for? Me being socially crippled. ‘Cos I’m not. Not that much. It’s just that, really. It’s not like I don’t trust people or nothing. And what do you think of your upbringing having an effect on the way you are today? This whole nature versus nurture thing, is it? ‘Cos either way I drew the short straw. My parents are losers and I am a loser too, both ‘cos of genetics and the way they raised me. Is that what you want to hear? Not at all. Just an honest answer. (pause) Sure, I mean. It had an effect. But it’s not all bad, you know? I mean, take my daddy, for instance. He’s a drunk. A lot of the time he couldn’t take care of me. But you see how that’s a good thing too? ‘Cos I know how to take care of myself. And I know how to take of drunk people, too. Better than anyone. That’s an optimistic way to look at things. That’s another thing that I know – who I am. And I guess I’m an optimist at heart. Now isn’t that something? It seems like a nice way to round up the interview. Thank you for your time, Annie. And thank you for your money, sir. I still get paid, yeah? |
pun. nineteen. seven-ish. |
