Mailbag: It's All About Me

Welcome to the last insertion of this three-part mailbag series! This doesn't mean I won't do any more mailbag posts anymore -- I definitely plan on doing more in the future if I get enough emails. Sorry that it took me so long to get to this post, I've just been busy with school and a small project I was working on with a friend of mine. Now that I'm here, let's get this show on the road!

By the way, somebody asked me about this via email, and I wanted to clarify:

Many of these emails were not submitted intentionally as questions for my blog. Many were sent to me as regular emails looking for conversation, and I asked the senders' permission to include them in this post. I may get a bit of traffic on my blog, but nowhere near enough that I get so much mail just asking me questions.

So, with that being said, let's answer some of those questions.

"Alexis, I saw your exchange with [name censored] on YouTube and your mentioning of how you grew up as a Protestant but turned to atheism. Care to talk about that at all? Also what is your view now on theists?"

There's a certain point in every child's life where they start to question the things they were taught, and I suppose it comes around age 10 or 11 at first where we begin to develop our autonomy. The big game changer in my life, on that note, would be when I started questioning the existence of God. I won't talk much about the transition, but I'll say that I'm glad there were already people who considered the potential arguments I had, because it would've been difficult to come to those conclusions on my own. In the end, it sparked my interest in science: knowledge in thermodynamics, genetics, and basic scientific discourse were all necessary to fully grasp the arguments being made on either side.

As far as how I view theists now, I don't mind. For many people, as I've said in the past, it can serve as a good basis for morality, although many ideas are questionable (e.g. opposition to homosexuality). However, theism becomes a problem when it interferes with one's ability to learn well-established facts. We've known evolution to be true for a long time now, yet according to the Gallup polls, 46% of people don't believe in it. That's far too large of a number, and that's where I find a problem with theism.

I also find a problem with theism when it's imposed. People such as [name censored] actively argue against evolution and the Big Bang theory, claiming that they're false, have no evidence, and that God is the truth. This is intentionally spreading misinformation, because these individuals haven't taken the time to learn the facts, and yet assert them as though they're so knowledgeable of all the material that they can safely say "it's a lie." When the facts are presented, they reject them. So, you can sum up the type of theists I reject in two categories: (1) militant theists; and, (2) science denialists. Even science denialists, though, can be tolerated if they just keep it to themselves.

Next question?

"Do you have a boyfriend yet, Lex? - John"

And please welcome that friend of mine I mentioned earlier: John! No John, I don't have a boyfriend yet.

"Why not?"

Yes, he actually asked that without me having given him a response to the first one.

I'm not interested in anybody new at the moment (people who are close to me know what that means). I'm also not sure what kind of person I would be interested in. I've thought about this idea before: a unique conversation. If I can have a conversation with somebody that is entirely unique, in that I've never had anything close to that type of conversation before, and if that conversation is inspiring, then perhaps I have a unique connection with that individual. This is just an idea, though, I'm not going to go drooling over a guy/girl just because they said something completely unprecedented to me.

Speaking of which:

"HtPYP,

I've seen you defend the idea of homosexuality before, and I'm wondering: is it because you're homosexual? There's nothing wrong with that, I'm just asking if you have a specific reason."

I defend homosexuality because I think people should be able to choose how they want to live without being forced into some other social norm by another person; however, as I suggested in the above paragraph, I'm not heterosexual. I identify as pansexual, which simply means that I don't see gender as being of significance in finding a partner; or rather, that I see the idea of a male-female relationship as being a social construction which is irrelevant in my own personal decisions. I hope that makes sense.

A few people have asked me different questions about my life, but one in particular asked me many of those questions in one email, and numbered, so I'll just answer them like that:

"Alexis, can I ask several questions?

1: You seem really really smart, how did you do in school? You don't need to say specific grades, but can you share GPA or class rank?

2: What instruments do you play?

3: Where did you learn to draw/paint/Photoshop?

Thanks!

Angela"

1: Aw, thank you. My unweighted GPA was a 3.94, and my weighted was a 4.13. I was fourth in my graduating class. Now, with this being said, I want to say something to anyone who might be reading this and thinking badly of themselves.

In my opinion, GPA and class rank mean barely anything in terms of how intelligent you are. I took some AP classes, and they helped to boost my weighted GPA up, but most of my classes for my unweighted GPA were just me slacking off. My class rank, then, was based on that. I can probably say that in the four years of my experience being in high school, the only time the top 5 people deserved to be in the top 5 was my junior year. There was one boy who worked his butt off night and day, expending any potential for a social life, to get into the top 5 in his class for a scholarship. He ended up being salutatorian; valedictorian was granted to somebody who, unfortunately, was well-known as a cheater. I don't consider myself to be anything special by having these numbers. They're just numbers.

Same goes for the SAT/ACT.

2: I have experience in a lot of instruments, and I "know" how to play a lot, but I'm only good with a few. For the ones I actually know how to play, if I were to order them from most experienced to least, it would be: piano, violin, guitar, bass guitar, drums, harp. I barely know how to play harp, and I only kinda know how to play drums. Piano and violin are my life. Guitar and bass guitar are pretty good, but they were just things I picked up on the side.

3: For drawing and painting, I went to weekly art classes starting at a young age (around 8 if I recall correctly) and I stopped going when I graduated high school (age 18). I honed my painting skills in my classes in college, and I taught myself how to Photoshop via online tutorials and general trial and error.

Alright, I've ranted enough. Last email? Let's make it a good one!

"Anti-racist is just a codeword for anti-White."

(I know, I couldn't resist).

No, anti-white is just a codeword for anti-racist.

Now seriously, last email from the mailbag:

"Ms. Delanoir,

I read your biography and saw that you've lived in New Jersey (US), Shinagawa (JP) and Toronto, Ontario (CA). Which do you like the best?"

That's a really tough question. It's great to live where I do now, in Toronto, because my house has a great view, it's big, and it has a backyard covered over my trees, which gives a great atmosphere. The city sucks, though. The US has a lot of great memories for me -- it's where my childhood is, and I miss the ocean. Shinagawa was amazing, and in general Japan was exciting. I didn't mind the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, I loved my trip to the beach while I was in Japan, and overall it was just an awesome experience.

So, I would have to say this:

New Jersey is best because of nostalgia.
Toronto is best because of the quality of my living.
Shinagawa is best, in general, as a place to live.

My answer to your question, then, would probably be Shinagawa.

Thanks to everyone for their questions! I'm putting the mailbag away for now, but feel free to keep sending me emails, and I'll do another one in the future!



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