Ginny Brooks

Western Mass & Kalamazoo, MI

What has been your favorite class at COA? Why?
Literature, Science and Spirituality. This course left me with more questions than answers about the nature of knowledge and how we gain it. Plus, we got to read some amazing works.

What classes have you taken at COA?
Human Ecology
Native American Literature
Marine Biology
Race and Gender in Southern Africa
Writing Seminar II
Biology
Mountain Poets of China and Japan
Culture of the Maine Organic Farmer
Literature, Science, and Spirituality
Intro to Guitar
Classic Shorts
Nature of Narrative
Group Dynamics
Cultural Ecology of Population Control Practices

What was your favorite discussion at COA? Why?
I remember going to a panel about discussion-based teaching in the Ed. Studies room sometime during Freshman year. Karen Waldron, Candice Stover, and John Visvader all discussed their teaching methods and answered questions in their own unique ways and they completely blew me away.

What is your dream occupation?
Currently, working at rural schools in Thailand and helping to incorporate conservation methods into the curriculum while rehabilitating monkeys and apes on the side. That, or open a used bookstore/cafe/flower shop/art gallery.

Do you work on or off campus? If yes, where?
I work on campus at Allied Whale and off campus at the Bar Harbor Whale Museum.

What do you see yourself doing after COA?
My dream occupation... maybe the Peace Corps to start off.

What country or state would you like to visit? Where would you love to live?
I want to go everywhere! But, I think, Western Massachusetts will always be home.

What is happiness to you?
Honestly, not having to worry about "being happy." That, and having no regrets.

Have you had an internship? If so, doing what? Where?
I spent last term at a Gibbon Sanctuary in Northern Thailand. I cared for abused and abandoned primates, learned to speak some Thai, gave tours, and chopped an unbelievable number of fruit and vegetables.

What are your ideas for your senior project?
I'm still mulling things over, but I would love to go back to Thailand and research rural school systems or help improve the lives of the many refugees living there.

What is one of your favorite childhood memories?
My little sister and I shared a room and we would play "the hot lava game" (oh, you know you've played it). We would spend hours drawing diagrams of the room so we could plan the best way to clamber over the desks and dressers and save all our stuffed animals from certain doom. At the end of the game I always felt very accomplished.

What is your favorite food to eat? What is your favorite thing to cook?
Apples just seem to be the picture of delicious simplicity. I don't really cook very much, but I'll boil water to make tea.

What do you like to do when you're not doing school work?
...I must have missed a memo somewhere -- I didn't realize that was an option. Just kidding, I usually end up gallivanting around with friends; we often go on epic adventures in search of ice cream, climbing a tree here or there, causing good-natured mayhem, etc.

What are your favorite colors?
I just realized most of my shirts are the same shade of lightish blue. Maybe that's subconsciously my favorite.

What are your favorite flowers?
buttercups are adorable, orchids are elegant, starfish flowers are armed to the teeth.

What are your favorite animals?
I have always loved primates, but someone just told me about a rogue beefalo on the island and I'm pretty much in love.

What came first, the chicken or the egg?
I just think it's annoying no one ever asks this question in reference to the platypus -- no one sticks up for monotremes anymore.

What is the motto you like to live by?
Moms Mabley said, "Life is like a game of poker: if you don't put any in the pot, there won't be any to take out."

Why did you choose to come to COA?
I grew up going to small schools in small towns and I loved (and still love) the sense of community. Also: the ocean, progressiveness, and personal agency.

What do you like to study?
Life and all the "between the lines stuff" that comes along with it.

Who are your favorite writers? Poets?
Oh dear...William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, David Sedaris, Don Delillo, Samuel Beckett, Annie Dillard, J.K. Rowling, Joseph Conrad, Ray Bradbury and a number of others.

Who are your favorite artists? Musicians?
I love the artwork of Shepard Fairey and I am unreasonably obsessed with the music of Sigur Ros. I will listen to Mississippi John Hurt or Taj Mahal any time, anywhere. Also, Josh Ritter, Michael Franti, and Florence and the Machine.

Who is your favorite fictional hero?
Hobbes from "Calvin and Hobbes" always seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.

What historical figure do you most admire?
Anyone who stood up against adversity for the well-being of themselves or others.

Who are your heroes today?
Ba Pharanee, who runs Highland Farm Gibbon sanctuary in Thailand, and my boss Nan, who opened a restaurant in my town after losing her home in Katrina. Both are incredibly resilient, independent women.

What do you value most in your friends?
Honesty, quirkiness and humor.

What do people say is your most marked characteristic?
Passion which sometimes blurs the line towards obsession. Sarcasm.

What talent do you wish you had?
Is certitude a talent?

What is your least favorite spice?
Star Anise. Bleck.

Do you have anything cool or unique you would like to share?
I am double-jointed and have had run-ins with lightning, cars, and lions.