Ask Ms. Jessica Issue 39 – The wonderful years of mutant college (Patreon)

(The content for Ask Ms. Jessica comes from real questions from real people sent to AskMsJessica@gmail.com)

Dear Ms. Jessica

I have a personal question for you.

How did you feel when you were first mutated, and how did it impact your life, positive or negative?

Well I never thought I would be talking about myself, but alright. I grew up in southern California to a pretty simple family. My dad worked in business and my mom was a schoolteacher. She was a mutant too. Because of that I was checked for the mutant gene at birth and, sure enough, I had it. For me, it was never a question of if I would mutate, but when.

Luckily, my hometown was fairly progressive and more progressive cities always come with higher mutant populations. So I was never ashamed of my mother, or my impeding mutation. Rather, I was curious about it. I met a lot of other mutant girls, asked them about their life. I began studying mutant science at a very young age, and I had an aptitude for it. I was doing college level biology in early high school… er… not to humble brag or anything.

My mutation was actually a rather slow one. It started about halfway through my freshman year of high school and continued for a rather long time. It took months just for a single pair of arms to grow in. It wasn’t painful or anything, just slow. I needed to go to the doctor a LOT and, well, there were a couple kids that would make fun of me and my half formed body. I had to wear really, really, really thick corrective glasses as my new eyes came in. It was a preventative measure though, so that I wouldn’t have to wear them when they were fully formed.

By the time I hit senior year I was already fully mutated. I always wanted to pursue an education in mutant studies so I applied for Port Solei University. The idea of studying abroad was a bit scary, but there really wasn’t any better place to study mutant biology. I also got a pretty hefty scholarship. I suppose that was one way that my mutation helped me out.

Once I knew I had been accepted to my university of choice… well I kind of had a hefty bout of senioritis. I slacked off in school a bit, but I still got good grades. That summer me and a couple of my mutant friends toured the country, following our favorite bands. Have you ever been in a mutant mosh pit? Let me tell you, when mutants throw hands, they throw a lot of hands!

I had never really thought about my mutation much. It was just part of who I was. Sure, some people would make fun of me for it, but growing up with a mutant mother simply made me more accepting of the idea from a young age.

But college… wow. As you might expect, Port Solei University has a large mutant student body. Even a significant percentage of the male student were mutants, and male mutants are pretty rare. It was… freeing you know. Everywhere else it felt like we were mutants in a human’s world. Even if you had a good life like mine, you were still kind of the aberration, the different creature in a sea of people with two arms, two legs, and two eyes. But at PSU, mutants were free to just be… well mutants. We loved our bodies. We expressed ourselves. We… partied… like we partied a lot. I’m a little embarrassed now that I think back to it. It was a lot of drinking, a lot of garage concerts, a lot of…. well we explored our sexuality, let’s put it that way.

They say you go to college for the experience, rather than the education, and this was absolutely true. The experience taught me not to just be curious academically about mutant, but to be proud to be a mutant.

I kind of decided I was never going to leave… and so I didn’t. I stuck at PSU for my graduate studies, and then got a position as a professor and research assistant after that. Later on, I decided to transfer from the university to one of the local high schools so that I could ensure that more young mutant girls had an experience like mine.

I guess maybe I’m a bit of the exception rather than the rule there. I always knew I was going to be a mutant and I always was proud of it. I had supportive family, supportive friends, and a really wild college life. I really never had much mutant hardship. It was pretty much all positive for me, and I guess I always hoped I could pay it forward.

All this reminiscing has gotten me nostalgic for my days in college. Do you know I used to play a double-necked electric bass? I thought I could have been famous!

… I sounded horrible. It kind of feels like every college student thinks they can be in a rock band.

I think I’ll stick with mutant biology as my day job.

Dr. Jessica Park

AskMsJessica@gmail.com