Saturday, February 27, 2010

Fear of raw meat contributes to corky personality

She really hates kids…the smaller the child the more afraid she is,” best friend and roommate Sarah Luckasson said.

Jessica Pedersen’s hatred for children may be the least of her corky personality features and her independent attitude is what makes her who she is.

As a toddler, her independent outlook on life began. Suzanne Vigeland, Pedersen’s mother and an organization developer at Humana in Louisville, KY said, Pedersen use to move chairs in the kitchen to climb on counters and get into cupboards. “She was a very good baby. It was six months before I even heard her cry,” Vigeland said.

Pedersen, 21, is originally from Green Bay, WI where she lived with her mother and younger brother Jon Pedersen. She graduated from De Pere High School and immediately moved to Milwaukee, WI to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she is a journalism student.

Jon Pedersen also attends classes at UWM and said he is grateful he is at the same school as his big sister. “She is very considerate and always helps me whenever she can,” Pedersen’s brother said.

When she isn’t getting dirty listening to her favorite grunge-rock band Alice in Chains, Pedersen munches on an assortment of cheeses and samples wines. “She will go to Trader Joe’s and come back with 9 different wine bottles and cheese,” Luckasson said. Pedersen’s brother, Jon Pedersen, said he believes she picked it up from her mom because she was a big wine drinker.

Pedersen works as a cashier in the UWM student union’s restaurant operations. “She is a very good worker, really dependable and knowledgeable,” Student Manager Donna Whitenight said. Pedersen previously worked for UWM telefund as a telephone specialist according to her Weebly.com résumé.

On typical Thursdays, Pedersen and company, including her roommates and co-workers, go to the Gasthaus in the basement of the student union. She is also a big St. Patrick’s Day fan and has already purchased the appropriate Patty’s day gear including pajama pants according to friend Sarah Vanover.

Among some of the other corks in Pedersen’s personality are her problems with raw meat. “Jesse has real issues with food textures,” Pedersen’s mom said. She also owns a massive amount of nail polish.

In a telephone interview, Pedersen’s mom elaborated on the corky personality with a corky story about her daughter. She said when her daughter was a teenager they were on their way up north. Vigeland was driving, her son was in the front passenger seat and Pedersen was sleeping in her back, reclined seat. Pedersen snorted during her nap and woke herself up with her own earthy sound effects. She then asked Vigeland and her brother who or what made the sound. “We were laughing so hard, we couldn’t answer her,” Vigeland said.


After she finishes her degree program at UWM she plans to move to Louisville, KY where she will join her mother. In the meanwhile, she hopes to get an internship at the Milwaukee County Zoo writing, perhaps where she will learn to conquer her fear of raw meat.

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