Welcome to my blog. This blog is a work of autobiography for a graduate course in Online Life Writing at the University of Waterloo (UW) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. I will be using the experience of writing this personal blog to complete some of my course requirements.
I’ve decided to write my blog on the experience of being a tall woman. How did I pick this topic for my blog, you ask? Well, since this work is autobiographical I was searching for something that I
(a) have experienced for a significant amount of time,
(b) have fairly strong opinions about,
(c) can write about from multiple angles – the serious angle, the humorous angle, etc. and
(d) believe is a salient feature of what makes up ‘me’.
Now you are likely wondering a little more about me and how tall I am. I find it funny that as I have grown taller my name has continued to shrink. I started out as Katherine Anne when I was born on February 21, 1983. That name didn’t stick for long and I went by Katie for most of my life. I don’t remember thinking that I was taller than average until I was about 12 or 13 when I started to gain inches on my peers. Now at about 5’10” or so I’ve cut a vowel from my name and just go by Kate.
What does someone named Kate who is about 5’10” or so do to fill her days? I recently started school again to complete my Masters degree in Rhetoric and Communication Design at UW. I’m working part-time doing marketing for a big technology company. I like to spend time with my family and my friends as much as possible. I love to garden – especially orchids (I have six). I don’t play basketball or volleyball professionally (a shock to many people who talk to me about my height). Oh, and I can reach things that other people can’t! You will rarely if ever catch me walking around in high heels.
I think that is enough about me for now. Over the next six weeks I’m going to discuss how being tall has shaped certain experiences I’ve had and my day-to-day life. Part of my goal is to embrace my height more than I already have. You’ll hopefully see through my blog that I’ve come a long way since high school, but to be honest sometimes it is still a challenge. I’ve reached out to a few other tall women I know to get their take on the topic and to get my mind thinking broadly about height. Thanks to Ansley, Avery, Jenn, Meghan, and Whitney for their discussions with me prior to starting this blog.
I look forward to the journey ahead!
Kate
