Getting to know Jamie

Introduce yourself. Tell us a bit about who you are.

Hello all!

My name is Jamie, I don't have a hometown and am currently a Junior at Shepherd University studying Sociology with a double minor in Gender and Women Studies and Photography. Below are some fun facts about myself!

I am legally blind and was born with a rare genetic condition called Oculocutaneous Albinism (this caused my legal blindness at birth and significantly affects the production of melanin in my skin, hair and eyes!) Through high school I was diagnosed with Glaucoma, yet another eye condition but one more commonly known; also something I've lost more vision from so quickly.

A photo from "Rams Rally for Respect" last fall.

I love to take photographs to enhance my experience in the everyday world and I implement many of my daily adaptations into the hobby (i.e. deciding when I can take the best photos, what doesn't work for me, etc.) I share pictures I take on Instagram with others and other VI friends who also take part in the hobby. If you'd like to follow me, my photography Instagram is (@sightless_landscapes).

These photos are just some different pieces of work and what kind of things I take pictures of as a visually impaired Photographer, my beset and favorites are silhouettes during sunset because that's the time of day I can see at my best for the short time the sun is setting from the sky!

love to swim (I swam competitively for six years), go hiking and travel when I am not conditioning for Goalball. I even travel often for the sport! Currently I am a USABA goalball athlete and play for the women's Washington D.C. team, in hopes to make Team USA in the future.

I've also met and gotten to play against girls on the USA team during goalball nationals and another tournament last year!

I own two pet rats, Remy (names from Ratatouille) and Charlotte (aka "Lottie.") Lottie (and former pet rat Shara) also were born with Albinism, Remy (and former pet rat Molly) both were born with blue eyes and very different and unique fur patterns of brownish/gray and white. Two of them were taught tricks!

This is a photo collage of all my past and present rats.

Left picture is current rat Remy, top right photo (left to right) is Shara and Charlotte and the bottom right photograph is of my first rat, Molly.

Also, something I find very intriguing to learn about is Witchcraft or "Wicca", recently I've been implementing some remedies to my daily life I've gotten from texts and researched information, and have been reading/listening to podcasts about the history of the topic. In a generalization, history is also very interesting to me.

Why are you taking this class? What do you hope to learn or gain from it? 

I am taking this course because it is required for the Gender and Women Studies minor, it's also a great topic to learn about from a Sociological perspective!

The outcome I will work to receive from this course is more knowledge about why women/LGBTQA+ members look to comedy as a path to express their emotions, opinions and more. Though women such as Ann Frank, Hellen Keller, etc. weren't involved in comedy, they are just a few examples of women in history I follow and love to learn so much about.

What makes you laugh? Who are some of your favorite funny people and why?

Making others giggle and being able to laugh about ridiculously random things around and with others definitely fills me with joy. Playing with animals always will give me happiness, including ones in which are my favorites! Isla also makes me laugh on a daily with her goofy wiggles, snorts and eye-brow raises in and out of harness, she really is just a super smart goof.

I absolutely adore Ellen DeGeneres as my most favorite comedian, her sense of humor, smile and laugh makes me happy even on the worst of days! So many things make me smile and chuckle it's difficult for me to put into a short paragraph!

One of the ways she makes me laugh daily, by posing for pictures in such a confident way, showing off her golden features and smiling! We were walking across the bridge to go on the trail on the other side of the river.