Spotted in: Lake Merritt, Oakland
Occupation: Student
What are you up to today?
I'm just taking some time for myself before I head into work—I work at Trader Joe's. I just moved here from San Diego in August, so I'm still getting to know the area. Hence, why I'm walking around, checking out the shops.
What were you doing out in San Diego?
I was going to school for anthropology.
How did you become interested in that?
It's the study of humans. I want to be a pediatrician, so I figured it's better to get my undergrad in the arts instead of a science—since med school is all about science—and get a more well-rounded education. I think it's important to understand the culture of people, that's why I'm getting my undergrad in cultural anthropology—in order to heal people more effectively.
What are you planning to focus on specifically?
I want to build healthy families from the ground up.
When did you realize that was something you wanted to do?
I've always kind of been a healer. I don't like the health system that we are subjected to, and so I feel in order to change it, we need to get in the system and then change it from within. So that's my plan. I'm not big into pharma, I'm not big into medications. I'm more into healing not the symptoms, but trying to help people change their lifestyles instead of just pushing medication on them.
Any current obsessions?
Yeah, actually—last weekend, on the 13th, I actually found out that I was pregnant.
Congratulations!
Thank you! So right now, that's been my obsession. Not so much reading up on becoming a mother, but just preparing my body for that and then just preparing my life to bring a child into the world!
What's been a recent challenge?
I guess having to leave my mother in San Diego. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer a couple years ago, and I moved her out to San Diego with me so I could help her heal, but I moved up here for school and had to leave her, so . . . I guess, just moving my life up here and starting over. That was a good challenge though.
So you were going to school down in San Diego, but you came up here for school as well?
It was school, and it was also always kind of my plan to make my way up north. The opportunity arose, and I took it while I could. I'm taking this semester off to travel, and then I'm going back to school in the summer and finishing my last two semesters before I transfer to university.
Where are are you planning to travel?
I was planning on going to Costa Rica, but then I just found out that I'm pregnant. I still could go, but then I had this change of heart and I felt like I kind of needed to do a road trip with my sister. So she and I are going to Arizona where she lives. I'm going to drive down there in May, and then we're going to head up to Chicago; she has family that's there and my partner will be graduating so we'll see all that. Then we'll head down to San Diego and see my mom for Mother's Day and kind of make a trip out of it.
What are your favorite places to hang out in the area?
The lake for sure! Running the lake is I think my favorite thing. Even just walking it with my dog, I have a black lab. So she and I we like to run and walk the lake, and just hang out and read a book. And people watching! I love to people watch, so this is a good spot.
How would you describe your personal style?
What's comfy is usually what I go for. It's funny, I usually change about three times before I leave the house because I'm very indecisive. But yeah, for me it's whatever's comfortable—some days I feel like dressing really girly and some days I feel like dressing kind of boyish. Depends on how I feel in the morning.
And how long have you had dreadlocks?
I've had them for a good four and a half years.
What inspired them?
I would say in my family what's considered beautiful is considered long, flowy straight hair. And for me, what's beautiful is what's inside the person, and not so much their outer appearance. So, acquiring dreads was kind of my statement of, it doesn't matter what's on your head, what matters is what's inside of you. And I've always been drawn to dreads. One day, I just decided to make them. It took me about a week, and it was long excruciating pain with my hands above my head, my arms were up for about a week and it was very grueling but it was definitely worth it.
So you did it yourself!
Yeah, I make them. I've made about 11 or 12 heads of dreads.
And where did your earrings come from? They're interesting.
My partner. They were his, and then he let his ears close up. So he gave them to me. They're wooden and hand-carved.
How did your tattoos come about?
So this one is a matching one that I have with my partner. When I first met him I found out he tattoos, but he didn't tell me—I found out through a friend. So he picked me up from work one day and I hit him on the shoulder and was like, why didn't you tell me you had a tattoo?! I want one! You need to tattoo me, doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's from you [laughs]. So he says, alright well I'll think about it. And we were visiting my mom in San Diego and randomly he said, let's get matching tattoos. And I was kind of like, uhhh . . . ok?
Uhh, this is kind of a commitment here!
[laughs] Right? Ok this is getting serious. So he's like, well let's get a skeleton key, because it reminds him of his grandmother—she had them in her house. I've always liked skeleton keys so I said, yeah, that's fine! So we got them, and in the middle of the triangle we have each other's initials. That wasn't really planned until we got to the tattoo shop, and he said, I'm going to get your initial, but you don't have to get mine, it's OK. And I said if you're going to get mine, then I should probably get yours! So yeah, I got his.
This tattoo above it is my sister's name—Julia Romae—and she's my rock in my life. She's my best friend. I've always said I was going to get her name tattooed on me. I've told her that too, growing up! She said, oh OK, that'd be awesome! And then when I actually did it and I sent her a picture, she's like What? You did it? No! People are going to think I'm dead! [laughs]. And I said, well I've been telling you for a while that I'm going to do this! The guy who did the tattoo, I grew up with him. He's amazing—he does tattoos out in Atlanta, that's where I'm from. I showed him a couple of pictures of styles that I liked and he just freehanded this little design.
