Vera Baker:  

I'm using the wizard to fill out this thing.... I hope my friends would remember me and still want to be my friend. I suffered an identity crisis growing up and always wanted to be someone else. I never talked openly about it. When I'm mad and want to blow off steam, I throw things--usually at the person who pissed me off. My favorite way to relax is getting away from everyone. I prefer to be left alone most of the time. The wildest thing I ever did in school can't be repeated here. The second wildest was when I flipped off the band during a photo shoot in Cache after a field marching contest. I did it because I was sick of the "we suck" attitude I was hearing from everyone. Even the band director didn't believe in us and I got into a fight with him about his attitude as well. I had a lot of pride and faith in the band and at that point, I'd had enough of everyone's negativity. I was never punished for it. Anyone else would have been kicked out of the band and suspended from school. If I had to work again, I'd have to be stoned to prevent myself from losing my temper and hurting someone. Axl Rose is my greatest inspiration because he stood up and said that child abuse is wrong. It was only after the speeches he gave in Oklahoma City and Chicago in 1992 that child abuse was finally taken seriously and prosecuted in Oklahoma. I've lived in Bradley for most of my life. The only time I ever moved around was to escape my parents' abuse. That didn't work, so now I just deal with it. The one person from my past I would most like to see again is Charles Isbell because he was the second man who told me that he loved me and no man has said that to me since and meant it. My obsessions are Axl Rose and epic films. My biggest surprise in life is that I haven't killed my mother and ended up in prison. If I could improve my home, I'd tear it down and have a new one built in its place. My dream home is a log cabin, cedar plank, or fieldstone house, either on a steel pier because I live in a flood zone or underground because I don't like the wind. I don't have children, but I certainly remember my childhood and I would never bring a child into an abusive home, nor would I choose an abusive man over my child. I liked most of the teachers I had in high school, but my favorite was actually principal Bill Owens who died of a heart attack shortly after I graduated. He did me a favor once and gave me several weeks of In School Suspension so I could do my homework and study for tests because I couldn't study at home. My favorite teacher and mentor from college, Dr. Magrath, died of cancer a few years ago. Everyone dreams of winning the lottery and I'm no exception. If I won, I'd build a new house, start a fund to provide free dentures for people on Medicaid, establish a child abuse organization called Rockers Against Child Abuse and have Axl Rose as the celebrity spokesperson, and I would create jobs in the Bradley/Lindsay area. I hated college dorm life and moved back into my house before th...Expand for more