Termite TV - Life Stories

My name is Lisa Davis and I’m from Boston, Massachusetts and I go to school here at the University of Tennessee. I had a really weird childhood. I grew up in a neighborhood that was like Whoville or Mister Roger’s Neighborhood where you drive down the street and everyone would kind of wave, come out, get their paper in the morning and it was really weird. I grew up really really sheltered in this neighborhood, and my parents are still together and I went to catholic school. So I was a little private school girl and I hated it so much. And through high school, at the catholic school, I don’t know, I was a cheerleader and I played tennis. My mother’s really a very conservative person. She always cared about, like, what I looked like, and what I was doing and how I represented myself, which I totally rebelled against. You know? She hated smoking cigarettes, I smoked cigarettes, did drugs, did all that stuff. I would get in trouble, but you know. Because of cheerleading, that’s actually why I came to the University of Tennessee. I thought, like, I was going to be a professional cheerleader or something. Then I decided it wasn’t me. It was about time for me to be myself and who I really was so I didn’t do that here. I love traveling. Through high school I went over to Europe. I went to France and England and Italy. Just this past summer I lived over in France and I studied over there. Then I traveled by myself. I went to England. I went to Belgium, I went to Amsterdam and that was really scary because I was all alone. It’s really freaky being alone, traveling in a foreign country and you can’t speak the language of anybody, not even having a friend to like, you know? And I went and saw a lot of great things but it was sad because I saw3 like Stonehenge in England and it was so beautiful. I couldn’t even turn to anyone and be like, you know, “this is great.” But, God, I don’t know. So, I have 2 older brothers and it’s pretty typical. The oldest one is like God’s gift to my parents, like he’s married and has a little child. Then there’s my middle brother. He was kind of rebellious and he lives out in San Diego and he’s just kind of partying, kind of like, he’s more like me. We get along better. He always used to tease me really bad when I was younger and torture me. It was hard growing up with 2 older brothers, especially being so much older than me. They’re 27 and 30 and I’m only 20. So, I’d have boyfriends come over and they’d just sit in chairs and stare at them, give them looks, and call them names and just be really mean. It sucked so bad but I don’t know. My parents are, like, weird. They’re still married but they got married really young. My mother was 20. My dad was 22. They’re still together but I think they’re still together just because they’re comfortable with each other. You know? Why else would they not be. My mom’s from a big Italian family where there’s- you know a lot of Italian families have a lot of hidden secrets and don’t tell lots of things so. When I was younger I thought I grew up in the perfect family and nothing was wrong with it. As I got older and came to college, my dad informed me about all this crazy stuff, the Italian secrets that go on. So, my grandparents are really weird and really messed up but, I don’t know. I’m the type of person that likes to be where everything is happening. I like to party a lot. I drink a lot, do a lot of drugs but I’m in college, I’m young so… I went to Woodstock this summer. That was pretty interesting. It was crazy. Lots of bon fires and craziness like that. I love music. I try to go to as many concerts as I can. Although I can’t play music. I try to play guitar but it just doesn’t work. My fingers are really small. Um, I don’t know. Tennessee’s weird! From being up North. That was a culture shock for me coming down here, coming down south from- you know, I’m still from Boston, I go home there on Christmas, and December and all that stuff. It was really weird coming down here. I came from a mean environment and everyone’s nice down here. And that’s all.