FALL 2008 - UW-Milwaukee

S T U D E N T P R O F I L EAnna Connors (Who I am)By Anna ConnorsAs a Myriad writer and a participant in the Life ImpactProgram (see page 8), we asked Anna Connors to writeher own profile! At 19, Connors is a senior at UWM,mother of a three-year-old daughter, member of theOjibwe Nation, and active participant with the CelticStudies Center and American Indian organizations.She is also one of the recipients of Sullivan-SpaightsScholarship, which made possible her trip to Ireland thispast summer for a study-abroad program. In addition,Connors’ essay, “The Dream Undeterred,” a heartwarmingstory about her struggles as a teenage mother,was accepted for publication in a book titled, Professor,Can I Bring My Baby to Class?My dad told me a story once.We were coming home from apowwow, and I was in kindergarten,I think. When we got into thecar, I held up my fist and said, “Did youknow my heart is this big?” Some thingI’d learned at school. My parentsreplied that yes, my heart was indeedthe size of my five-year-old fist. After athoughtful pause, I looked up at themand said, “I have an Indian heart,don’t I?”I’m not sure where my feeling ofidentity came from; I always say that it’sin my heart, and it can’t be changed.Like music, like writing, like the passionto learn, it’s something that just sitsthere, nestled in between my fierceindependence and my unyieldingstubbornness. It’s who I am, and I’venever questioned that.Yet when I started college, I avoidedtaking classes in Native history, Nativeculture, anything of the sort. Stubbornly,I told my parents I didn’t needsomeone else to tell me who I was,who my people were and are. As anAnthro pology major with a focus inArchaeology, my interests were plantedfirmly on the green shores of Irelandand Celtic history.Then came my first experience inmy beloved field of archaeology — arestoration project on Native Americanmounds near Wisconsin Dells. Beingthere with a Native archaeologist, seeingwhat other tribes had built, and helpingto restore and preserve my past showedme that studying my Native culture atthe university would help me not onlyin my career, but also in understandingmyself. So I began taking classes.In the classes I choose, I keep thatas my outlook, that no matter howmuch you think you know, you canalways learn more. The classes I tookon Indian culture, social change, andother American underrepresentedgroups have shown me that I don’tknow my own culture as well as Ithought I did.I can’t say that I grew up in terribleconditions, but I definitely wentthrough hardships to get here. At justsixteen, I was a mother-to-be and wentthrough emotional turmoil acceptingmy fate. My education was the mostimportant thing to me at the time,and with the support of family, friendsand teachers, I was able to graduateat the end of my junior year. Thatsummer, I was accepted into UW–Milwaukee, was offered a fullscholar ship, and in the fall, beganone of the greatest learning experiencesof my life.My goal is to take as much awaywith me as possible. I have sincelearned to slow down — smell theroses, you might say; whereas beforenow, I was afraid of being stung by ahidden bee. We are all students andwe are all teachers, and that is whatlife is. I have learned to put myself outthere, reaching for the stars. I’mconstantly meeting new people andgoing on exciting adventures, even ifit’s just through the dusty old bookshelvesin search of the perfect paper.I am always putting myself out onlimbs, pushing to stretch my armsfurther because sooner or later, thewind will pick up and I will fly away. Iremain stubborn and independent,but I know who I am, and my identity— Native, mother, friend, teacher,student — has taken root deep withinme and continues to bloom with eachnew experience.Fall 2008/Myriad 15