Evangeline Baker

Eva was initially allowed to fill the application out herself, but due to both her difficulty in maintaining attention and also her tendency to avoid her problems rather than address them, I, Dr. Irene Garber, have added supplemental information as necessary.

D.O.B: 27/04/1990
AGE: 22
GENDER: F
STREET ADDRESS: 1216 S Shepard Dr.
TOWN/CITY: Houston
STATE: Texas
HEIGHT: 5’ 3”
WEIGHT: 117
ETHNICITY: Asian
DISTINGUISHING MARKS: multiple ear piercings and a lotus tattoo on her right shoulder. Dyed hair.

Do you have any ongoing medical issues for which you require treatment or medication?:

No.

Are you aware of any allergies? If so, please list allergy, age of onset and any medications or treatments you require or recieve:

I’m allergic to dumbasses.

Eva has mild seasonal allergies, including dust and pollen.

Have you had any surgeries or invasive procedures in the past? If yes, please list reason and approximate age of procedure:

N/A

Do you take any medications or supplements daily? Do you follow any treatment plans? Please list medications or treatments, and reasons below:

Fucking quacks wanted to put me on something, but I don’t want that shit.

She is prescribed 50mg of Zoloft daily to deal with her disorder, but she often resists taking it.

Do you use tobacco, consume alcohol, or use any other drugs including street drugs and/or prescription medications not prescribed to you? If yes, please list number of packs a day, number of drinks a day, and/or drugs consumed below:

What the fuck do you care?

Eva smokes about half a pack of cigarettes a day. She avoids alcohol and drugs, fearing that they will cloud her mind and leave her vulnerable.


Please describe, to the best of your ability, your emotional and mental state of wellbeing:

Fucking dandy, can’t you tell?

It is clear, after five minutes of talking to Evangeline, that her symptoms of anger, confusion and occasionally depression are more than just typical moods or behavior. She is anxious and belligerent towards unfamiliar males, often behaving aggressively toward them or insisting that any off-hand comment is either a personal affront or else an example of sexism. These symptoms are coupled with paranoid tendencies, and a deep-seated sense of shame and self-loathing. Rarely, she exhibits depressive symptoms, where she claims to have lost hope. She shows a marked distress of darkened environments, refusing even to sleep without a light source.

Have you been diagnosed with any psychiatric or psychological ailments? Please list any diagnoses below, and the treatments or medications prescribed to you. Please include name of medications, dosage, and number of doses per day:

The quack is going to want to read this, so she can fill you in. She ought to do her fucking job for once.

I am of the opinion that she is suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, with the primary symptoms being a marked distrust of and aggression toward men, hypervigilance (including insomnia), and when she does sleep, she frequently has paralyzing nightmares usually involving an indistinct male figure. Eva insists that there is nothing wrong with her mental or emotional state, and that the problem lies, in fact, with the rest of the world. As above, she takes Zoloft, or at least she is supposed to. When not in inpatient treatment, Eva often refuses to take her medication, stating that taking it makes her feel 'weak'.

It should be noted that originally, Eva's symptoms centered on withdrawal, avoidance, and anxiety. She often didn't speak unless asked a direct question, showed anxiety rather than aggression at unfamiliar males, and had considerably more frequent depressive episodes. In the first year of her treatment, Eva would often take showers up to or exceeding one hour, or take multiple showers during the day. During this time, Eva kept a sketch diary in which she primarily drew superheroes and scenes of graphic violence. When asked about her artwork and its violent nature, Eva responded that it was perpetrated on 'bad guys' and thus 'didn't count'.

Over the course of the next few years, Eva began systematically quashing everything about herself that she thought made her seem 'weak'. She eschewed traditional femininity; cutting her hair short, refusing to wear skirts or dresses, and speaking derisively of traditional female roles, such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for children. She avoided drugs and alcohol for fear of making herself an 'easy target'. She also took self-defense courses.

This accompanied a shift in her behaviors from being withdrawn and anxious to out-spoken and aggressive. At first, I was sure that this was a positive step for Eva, but instead, her hostility was just another way for her to mask her fear and expel her perceived 'weakness'.

Have you ever been hospitalised or referred to regular outpatient care due to these ailments or associated incidents? If so, please note where, and at roughly what age:

The quack has been seeing me for years. Before that, there was another one, but he was a fucking pig and I refused to deal with his oppressive bullshit. My folks sent me to a few nuthouses because they just couldn’t deal. Whatever.

Evangeline was first referred to my colleague, Dr. Osbourne, after her first suicide attempt while she was in high school. She made little progress in his care, due to trust issues towards males. After she assaulted him, she was placed in our facility's inpatient program for more intense treatment. It didn't go well. Eva refused to speak or eat, and eventually had to be fed intravenously, although if she was not supervised or restrained, she attempted to pull the IV from her arm. After she was released to her family, I became her primary therapist.

Due to truancy issues, she was sent to Contemporary Learning Center (CLC), an HISD program for students who have trouble succeeding in traditional school environments, although her continuing truancy meant that she was eventually expelled from public school. Afterwards, she attended a local private high school for troubled students. It was during this time that she first began to act aggressively toward males, including both students and school faculty. Eventually, Eva took her high school equivalency test and passed, earning her GED. About a year ago, after she assaulted a security guard in the parking structure of a cinema while he was merely trying to return the car keys she’d dropped, she was placed in a different inpatient program rather than face jail time.

How have these ailments affected you and your life? Are there any major life instances you feel have been directly affected by these ailments, such as suicide attempts, criminal activities, etc?:

The quack is going tell you that I've attempted suicide but that is bullshit.

In her sophomore year of high school, Eva tried to overdose on PM pain medication, and although she claims that this was only supposed to be cure for her insomnia, she ingested much more than the recommended dosage.

Her aggressive behavior towards males is becoming more pronounced, especially after the classmate who sexually assaulted her was found not guilty of the charges, about a month ago. She has become so angry that even male friends of hers are now seen as potentially hostile. The only males she is not aggressive towards are her adoptive father and brothers, although the way she speaks about them suggests that she thinks of them as being somewhat sub-human.

What is your social life like? Do you have many friends or relationships? How are your family relationships?:

I keep busy. I’m not some loser asshole who hangs around in their parents’ basement all day. My family’s alright, most of the time. My mom is super into established gender roles, though, so that makes us clash sometimes.

Eva is mostly socially active via social justice organizations, particularly ones that promote feminism and women’s issues. Lately, she has subscribed to increasingly radical forms of feminism.

Do you believe your life circumstances have contributed to any ailments? If so, what circumstances, and why do you feel they have contributed?:

Fuck. This. Shit.

During her last stay in inpatient care, Eva admitted to being repeatedly sexually harassed by one of her former classmates, including a few instances of molestation and rape. The timing of these incidents coincides with her mistrust and fear of males. Due to a lack of evidence, her attacker was never convicted, a disappointment which Eva did not take well. Eva is uncomfortable speaking about these events, and has closed herself off to the possibility of any sexual or romantic relationships.

If you could change one past event that has happened to you, what would it be, and why?:

Maybe I should have been sent home with a different American family. Maybe my goddamned birth parents should have realized that prizing one gender over the other was going to result in a seriously fucked country later on and by deciding that they’d rather have a son they were not only fucking up China, but also keeping oppression firmly in place. Either way, I kinda wish my adoption had worked out differently.


Do you wish to rehabilitate from your ailment(s)? If so, how do you feel this would best be accomplished?:

There is nothing wrong with me.


Where did you grow up? Please list the location(s) and describe what it was like growing up there:

Houston, Texas, the Upper Kirby/Braeswood Place neighborhoods to be more precise. It was alright, I guess. When Mom and Dad were first married, they lived in a fancy apartment downtown, but after two boys, one on the way, and adoption papers in the works, I guess they figured it'd be too cramped. And, since Mom refuses to live in the suburbs, they stayed in the city.

When I was little, Dad used to take us to the museums, the zoo, and like that whenever he was between projects. By the time I was ten, I had my own bus pass, and knew enough to get back and forth from school, and how to work out bus schedules so I could figure out how to get other places. I also had a cell phone in case I got lost and so I could check in with my parents. It was only one of those pre-paid things, but I still thought it was cool.

I could kind of tell Mom didn't like the fact that I've always been something of a tomboy, and when I finally convinced her to let me decorate my room the way I wanted, she was kind of irritated that the first thing I did was take down the pink wallpaper, paint everything black, and stick those plastic, glow-in-the-dark stars everywhere. She said it was too dark, but I thought it looked awesome, like you were just floating in the sky.

What was your family life like? Did you spend much time with your parents? Do you have any siblings? If so, what are your relationships like?:

Dad’s pretty busy with work most of the time. He works at a company that dubs and distributes anime and Japanese video games for and English audience. Dude is a major weaboo. Bet he was pretty tickled when he got an Asian daughter. Mom is just mostly disappointed that her hand-picked female child ended up being just as masculine as her sons. Fuck her. If she can’t deal, then it’s her problem. Three brothers: Ben, Wes, and Drew. Drew is like six months older than me, and we’ve always been close. Ben and Wes are older; Wes is almost thirty, and Ben is twenty-six.

What was school like? Did you have any problems? Did you enjoy school? What were your grades like?:

I've always kinda had big problems with shit like sitting still, paying attention, remembering my "inside voice" and like that. On the flip side, I've always been great at the sports stuff in gym class. My grades were never stellar or anything, but if I concentrated, I could keep a high C, low B thing going.

Eva's school records indicate that when she was younger, she was something of the class clown. Her parents report that Eva was fairly popular throughout grade school.

Did you engage in any extracurricular activities, such as academic, artistic, or sporting clubs?:

Well, I was on the track team from 7th-9th grade. I got kicked off the team when I missed enough school to get sent to CLC. I took some art classes, learned some cool shit.

What was work like? Did you have any problems? Did you enjoy your work? What were your coworker relationships like?:

My work history is kinda spotty. Some fuckers are just so full of the oppressive bullshit in our culture, and they just don’t get it. My last job was pretty good until that cunt had to start shit with me.

Eva’s antagonistic attitudes towards males have made her difficult to employ. She frequently disrespects male coworkers or superiors, and is rude to male customers. Her last employment was working at a women’s shelter, where most of her co-workers were female. She was terminated after engaging in a physical fight with a co-worker, after the woman called Eva a ‘dyke’ behind her back and Eva overheard. Eva claims that the woman had been making inflammatory remarks for weeks, regarding Eva’s work with social justice organizations, her sexual orientation, and her mode of dress.

Have you ever been convicted of a crime or misdemeanor? If yes, please explain, list conviction, and list any sentences associated with convictions:

A few bullshit public nuisance charges. As usual, fucking pigs don’t like it when you point out corruption. Oh, right, and I “assaulted” that rent-a-cop. Asshole should know better than to sneak up on people in a parking garage. When I was a kid, I had a shit ton of truancy charges.

Eva has been held in police custody for a total of ninety-six hours following various protests, usually involving women’s issues such as reproductive rights and domestic abuse. The public nuisance charges were after a topless protest over sexual equality.

Her assault charges were minimized due to her ongoing therapy and evidence of psychological trauma, although she was mandated to six months of inpatient treatment, as well as being forced to pay fines.

Upon completion of her GED, her truancy charges were expunged from her record.

Lastly, please tell us about yourself. How do you feel about yourself and what you have done with your life? If you have committed crimes, how do you feel about those now? What are your hopes for the future?:

Is this the part where I’m supposed to be contrite and so fucking sorry for shit that I didn’t even start? Fuck that. What was I supposed to fucking do? I refuse to take shit lying down. I am no one’s goddamned doormat.




What are they not telling us? What secrets do they have to hide? What back story are we not hearing? This is where you can tell us all the things your character wouldn't put on an application, or others don't know.:

Eva's attacker was not just some random classmate, he was her best friend's boyfriend. When Eva attempted to tell her friend what was going on, she was met with disbelief and the two had a falling out. This prompted her to say nothing for a long time. Even now, she harbors resentment not only toward males, but towards women she perceives as being 'complacent' towards social injustice, including women who value traditional femininity, like her mother.

Your Nickname: Musica, Musie, Mo
Your Chatango Screen Name: MusicaChick
Your Character's Playby: Mika Nakashima

I hope that about takes care of it.

Ms. Baker's original letter home

Quote :

Mom,

You were right. I did not pack enough warm clothes. Can you grab me some of Wesley and Ben's old stuff? I know you have a whole box in the attic that they never took with them after they moved out. Don't bother buying me anything new, especially since you and I both know that our tastes don't exactly match up. I need a good thick jacket too. Winter in Houston is considered a pleasant spring day here, so, yeah. I'm totally unprepared.

Let me be perfectly blunt with you, Mom. Don't go out and buy me new sweaters and a coat. Don't bother sending me anything pink or overtly girly. I would rather freeze to death.

Enjoy your Christmas. I hope things are more pleasant without your screw-up daughter around.

-Eva

The Version that was mailed

Quote :

Mom,

You were right. I did not pack enough warm clothes. Can you grab me some of Wesley and Ben's old stuff, please? I know you have a whole box in the attic that they never took with them after they moved out. Don't bother buying me anything new, especially since you and I both know that our tastes don't exactly match up. I need a good thick jacket too. Winter in Houston is considered a pleasant spring day here, so, yeah. I'm totally unprepared.

Let me be perfectly blunt with you, Mom. Don't go out and buy me new sweaters and a coat. Don't bother sending me anything pink or overtly girly. I would rather freeze to death. I would really appreciate you just sending me what's in the box of Wesley and Ben's stuff, nothing new, you know our tastes don't exactly match up

Enjoy your Merry Christmas. I hope things are more pleasant without your screw-up daughter around.

-Eva

Date: 12/13/12
Attending: Dr. Rose Lewis
Session With: Dr. Rose Lewis
Session: Group Therapy

Therapy Notes: As we began the session, it was obvious that some people were not keen on participating. I explained that we would be listening to different songs in effort to elicit responses and measure our emotions. I wanted to make a connection between the types of memories that could be triggered and the emotions that they feel in an effort to help them understand their control. Some were nonplussed, though Luce stated that he would give it a chance. With “Make someone happy” Joey explained she thought of her father. Moira interjected that it “explained a lot” and we discussed why the song made Joey feel this way. Upon playing “Home”, I asked Elijah about his response. He resisted and then had an emotional outburst, commenting on the death of his wife. He then refused to participate and left the room. “Shake it out” was played next, and I chose Adriana to answer. She had a positive memory of the song, thinking of when she was first promoted. “Last Night I heard Everything in Slow Motion” was the song for Luce, and he explained that it reminded him of “Well, there was this lovely young lady I knew in Tampa who liked music like that. One of the more pleasant times in my life. A real woman, that one - never hit me for trying to be decent.” This elicited a negative response from Eva, as the two had come to blows outside of the session. “Glory Days” was for Eva, and she stated she did not “dwell on the past” and that she didn’t have any such glory days. Moira was last, but refused to participate stating “Because I think this is pretty fucking stupid.” I dismissed the rest of the group and spoke with her one-on-one.

Additional: Evan did not appear to enjoy the session at all. She talked throughout the session and was resistant to answering questions about the music and her experience.

Follow-Up: She must learn to control her anger and get a better understanding of how to communicate effectively with others. She must not let those who make comments affect her as personally as she does now.

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