Identity Crisis

Identity.

i·den·ti·ty

ˌīˈden(t)ədē/

noun.

     1.

the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.

"he knows the identity of the man"

Our identity is supposed to be what makes us who we are. We are all uniquely made individuals. We live in a time that everyone claims to celebrate individuality, yet we are at an all time high for hate crimes. I can smell the irony from here.

We all have an identity. The fact of being who or what a person or thing is. Our identities are made up of so many intricate part, but most people do not question their identity. Society has created boxes in which they expect certain people to fit; how boys should behave, what girls should wear. If you fit within the box, you usually do not question the box. The people who do not it in the box are the ones who society says should define their identity… but what about me? I fit in every box that had been predetermined for me. I am a heterosexual, white, employed, educated, Christian, adult female who enjoys coffee, boots, doing her makeup, and dying her hair. If I was to check off boxes on a paper, from the outside I would look “normal”. I identify with boxes that are already available to me. Yet, I have no idea who I am? My identity is in jeopardy. I do not want to lose myself to society.

I never question things the way I do, until my freshman year of college sitting in my sociology class, listening to a woman and her wife of 50 years talk about how she lived the first 60 years of her life as a man’s-man, how her wife supported her full transition from man to woman over the last 12 years, and how she now fully embodies who she always knew she should be. I sat back in my chair and tried to figure out how in the hell she could have known her whole life that she was supposed to be a woman when I do not even know how to answer the typical ice breaker question of what my favorite hobby is. I began to question everything I thought I knew about myself.

Who are you? Join us this Friday, for the one place it doesn't matter who you are. Identity Fest was created to embrace you, our free spirited beasts, and celebrate individuality. Check out our event on Facebook for more information. 

Be you. Be here. Be epic.