During my freshman year at Forest Grove High School, I met who would one day become one of my closest friends. Molly Graham and I met when we had Creative Writing together, and we wrote a short story with another student, Kaeden Wise. Ever since then, we’ve been good friends. One thing I’ve learned about Molly is that she always has interesting perspectives and something fun to talk about, so I’ve decided to take a deeper look into how she lives life.

Starting with something easy, I asked her what her favorite thing to do after school. 

“Honestly sit on my bed and play Warthunder because school poops me. I always choose the American tanks and not the German tanks because I am not a freak.” 

Personally, I don’t play many video games, so I’ve never played this game, but Molly makes everything fun, so I’m sure it’s a great game. 

I asked her about what she does on weekends/in her spare time when she isn’t “pooped” from school. She has many hobbies and is extremely passionate about each of them. 

“I dirtbike (I used to ride a Honda but now I have a Buscadero Pit bike). I play vocals in a band, I like to punch my punching bag. I go to my neighbor’s house and eat all his food. I like to eat a lot. My favorite food is Beef Pelmeni and pickle sauce, because they remind me of home. Like when I go to my extended family’s house and they come out with a huge bucket of beef pelmeni and pickle sauce and we would eat that with walnuts. I also like to do whatever my dad calls me down to do, whether it be taking the motor out of his old military Hummer to killing a squirrel. I like to go outside when I’m sad. I like to watch films about war among other things, my absolute favorite film is Trainspotting.”

I wanted to continue with the trend of what Molly enjoys, so I asked her about her favorite memory that she can remember. 

“When I went to see DRI [Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, a punk band] in 2022.” When asked why it’s her favorite memory, she responded with, “I met my best friends there,” Lee and Emet, who she now hangs out with often. 

One of the first things one notices when they look at Molly, is that she looks really cool, so I decided to ask how she got her sense of style or inspiration for everyday outfits.

“I used to look at old pictures of my dad, specifically in the 90s when he first came to America and was assimilated into the culture [An important part of Molly’s family history, is the fact that her father is a Russian immigrant], he only hung out with dirt biking people and punk-rockers, and he would wear the wackiest things, so he dressed like Steve-O from jackass when he was off drugs.” 

“All my friends also influenced me, I don’t look like them or dress like them but they influenced how I present myself.”

She really enjoyed the way the “wacky” outfits looked, so she decided to adopt the style. To get more insight on where she literally got her style, I asked her where she got her clothes from.

“A lot of my clothes came from my dad, and my cousin, Gabbers, and my friends who have influenced me, but I just go for pockets and comfort.”

To better understand where she gets her mindset from, I asked her who her inspiration in life is and why. 

“Ian S., he taught me how to do vocals, he taught me how to speak for the trees, and he taught me political philosophy, and he gave me books on how to be a good anarchist. It’s ironic because we look alike, which is funny because we’re kinda the same person [personality-wise]. He’s me if I was a guy and buff.”

Curious about the people in her life, I asked who her favorite person is and why. 

“Cleatus Evers, because he lives right next door to me. He’s my best friend, so we talk mad smack and even though we are complete opposites to the naked eye, we are on the same wavelength.”

Another important part of Molly is the scene that she’s in. I asked her what her favorite music genre is and why she started listening to it. 

“Punk. I started listening to it because my dad’s friends would always blare it when I was young. I started really liking it and getting into it in my own way when I was 11 and had my little iPad. I only really liked classical punk but then I started getting into hardcore because of the scene in Portland. All my friends really like Oi! [A subgenre in the Punk-Rock category] so that’s what I really stick by.”

And lastly, I decided to ask about her childhood, and how she thinks it affected the way she grew up. 

“Growing up I grew up in the middle of nowhere, like in the woods, so I was around a lot of people but I couldn’t just ride my bike to see my friends. I didn’t really have friends as a kid. It didn’t affect me negatively, but I had some trouble going into upper grades and socializing with people because I really only was around my mom, dad, and siblings. But I was always outgoing and I’m known as the social one now. I just really like trees, it’s the only thing I got out of it because I grew out of the social awkwardness.”

I see that Molly has had many important experiences that have led her to who she is today. She values her childhood, sure to look at the good aspects and use them to benefit her everyday life nowadays. She looks at the good parts of the people she surrounds herself with and models her own behaviors on those that she finds serviceable. I believe that she will continue to live life exactly the way she wants to while leaving her mark on the world in the best ways possible.