Blog Post #2 "I Once Was Miss America" by Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay’s text “I Once Was Miss America” resonated with me in three ways with her discussion of nostalgia, inspiration from characters and role models, and representation in these role models. When we are young, humans are very impressionable. Even if we are presented with something that deeper analysis would reveal to be more un-relatable to us than relatable, our minds will latch and fixate on the pieces that resonate with us. This would explain the phenomena where any piece of one’s childhood may be sweeter in memory than when looked at with the more critical mind when we are older. I particularly related to the feeling that stems from re-reading books you enjoyed as a child and the feeling of heartache for that dreamy feeling of entering another world when you were younger. It is one of the many reasons why on some lazy days you just wish to escape into that world by re-reading the whole series to relive those feelings from when you first read it just as Roxane Gay describes with her “Sweet Valley” books. Roxane Gay talks about how when we are young and inspired by these characters we want to be like them, which ultimately results in us mimicking them to certain degrees. I definitely relate to this one deeply. Just like Roxanne Gay, I draw inspiration from the characters I read about or see or from role models. Personally, I gravitate to and draw inspiration from characters whose personalities and strengths match mine the most. However, there are some cases where we may find ourselves so in awe of a character’s quality that we try to adopt it in some way too. Roxane Gay discusses frequently in this text the idea that “beauty is white, thin, and blonde” and is often portrayed this way as perfection. As someone with two immigrant parents (similar to Roxane Gay) and tan skin, I remember always trying to relate to characters since characters like me aren’t very common and was so excited to imagine Hermione Granger, the “brightest witch of her age” and brave Gryffindor, from Harry Potter as tan since her skin color is never clearly specified or to actually see Katara, strong, talented, and sassy, from the show Avatar The Last Airbender with the same complexion as me. I relate to these characters very much and would enjoy imagining myself in their place through the stories. Because of this, I feel that the messages and inspirations of the stories I enjoyed have that nostalgic feeling since they are deeply rooted in our memories formed by imagination. This representation was very important to me just like seeing Vanessa Williams become Miss America was for Roxane Gay.