The CT Love Connection: Amelia Kirby
“Stay gold, pony boy.”
The CT Love Connection
Amelia Kirby
Sophomore, sculpture
What she sent us
Hi, CT!
My name is Amelia Kirby, and I hail from Leesburg, Va. I’m a freshman here at VCU and majoring in International Social Justice. I row on the VCU Crew team, something that takes up a lot of my time but is also the best part of my everyday life. After I graduate, I plan on either doing something with my degree and working for a nonprofit or the State Dept., etc. If not, I plan on traveling to Switzerland and working on the Olympic Committee for rowing.
I’m looking for a man who’s as active as I am. I run, hike, swim, rock climb and work out constantly, and I want someone I can do these things with. Outdoorsy and healthy men are very attractive to me. They also need to be well-read and able to discuss intelligent things with me, not some ding dong that doesn’t even read things assigned in class (but not pretentious either). I tend to lean towards taller guys (I’m 5 feet 6 inches tall), but honestly a good personality can compensate for that. Most importantly, they just need to be really nice and have a great sense of humor. I love laughing and making other people laugh. And he must love dogs. But actually, that’s not a joke.
I hope you can hook me up!
Our interview with Amelia
AK I have an interest in different cultures and societies and stuff, but … it’s also a little deeper than that. I look forward to helping people, but I don’t have the medical skills to do Doctors Without Borders or anything or the interest really. I’m mostly interested in people’s experiences and the betterment of that, and such.
CT How did you come to sign up for the date of your life?
AK I applied half on a whim and half “Oh, that’d be fun, actually.” I didn’t want to take it completely seriously because I have too much pride. I feel like I’m outgoing enough that it doesn’t freak me out as much as it could.
CT How has Richmond treated you your first year here?
AK Actually the weird thing that I’ve noticed in Richmond is that … when people make comments to you on the street, they’re rarely rude. They’re usually like, “Have a great day” or “bless ya” or “peace and blessin’s.” … But then there’s the homeless guy that meows at people on bikes. Have you seen that guy? He’s like <meows>.
CT There’s a guy that quacks.
AK Yeah. I think it’s probably the same person. Looks like Cornell West? Maybe he’s extended his repertory.
CT What sticks out in your head as your greatest success in life?
AK Greatest success would be graduating high school and then having the ambition to move to college because that wasn’t always what I wanted. I didn’t want to go until my senior year, I think, and I was like, “S—, wait – what else am I going to do?” … I went through phases where I was like, “I’m just gonna do whatever, like roller blade across America” or something.
I kind of realized that I wanted to learn more, and I wanted an education. And that I wasn’t going to get that from, like … sitting around and not contributing or making myself a better person. When I realized that, it was a big thing.
CT I’m interested to know if you have any stand-out childhood traumas.
AK In elementary school, I actually used to wear … dark purplish brown overalls. Every day. But this is without a shirt underneath them – until I was in, like, the fifth grade. I don’t understand why my mom – I don’t even know how to describe them. My mom has these pictures.
I remember I got a tutu for Christmas or something. And I’m wearing my stupid overalls, and I put on my tutu over my overalls.
CT That sounds adorable, actually.
AK And then … I had a really bad habit of cutting my own hair. … And other people’s hair. And of course I was obsessed with the Spice Girls. Baby Spice was my favorite. And she was famous for having those two really blond pigtails.
At the time I guess I just didn’t understand the dynamic of a pigtail, because I thought they were … oh, this is so bad.
CT It’s okay. You can tell us.
AK I thought they were … two really long strands of hair on each side, and you cut the middle part short. … I just cut off the middle chunk of my hair. Played it off like my parents weren’t going to notice, and casually wandered over and was like “Hey Mom, can you put my hair in pigtails?” thinking she was going to be like, “Oh, your hair looks great!” … I literally had a bald spot.
Maybe I should show up for the date in mauve overalls and a weird tutu.
CT What would your ideal date be like? Aside from the tutu.
AK Well I love food, so. A meal is key. … I also think you can tell a lot about someone by food. Picky eaters, pet peeve.
Activity-wise, I’d like to do something … any kind of activity where you have to put away your cool card. I think that’s a big attractive thing for me, if someone is able to be silly in front of someone they’ve never met before. … This is so weird, this is so weird that I’m saying this, but something like fishing would be really fun. I really like fishing. Which is weird also.
CT This is your platform – if you had one thing you’d like to broadcast to the greater VCU community.
AK “Stay gold, pony boy.”
Photos by Amber-Lynn Taber
