Dallas, TX

"I love history! It’s kinda sad what got me started on it, but one of my favorite presidents is JFK and what started my fascination with JFK was that he was assassinated here in Dallas. I remember in 5th grade, we were doing projects, and we would present a project and then we had to do a small play covering whatever the topic was. My topic was the Kennedy presidency. So what I ended up doing for my little act, I did the Kennedy assassination. Funny thing was, we had to use the people in the classroom, we couldn’t use anyone else. So I was JFK... [and] you had Jackie, Joe Kennedy, and then we had Lee Harvey Oswald. Funny thing was, because of who we had in our classroom, Lee Harvey Oswald was female.

Transilient: So what do you now with history? Do you watch a lot of documentaries, do you read books?

Nicole: Let me put it this way — if you were to look in my closet, I have so many history books it’s not even funny. Because I am a vet, and I’ve been through the beaches of Iwo Jima, and I was stationed in Okinawa, it only deepened my love of the Pacific side of WWII. I would say that the historical moment I most love was when we finally left our flag on Iwo Jima. For the simple fact that the armed forces at that time was still segregated, when they left the flag on Iwo Jima, that was for everyone. And I actually have sand from the beaches of Iwo Jima.

Transilient: Woah! Just like in a jar in your room?

Nicole: Yeah.

Transilient: Cool!”