By KARLA DOUGAN – Broadcast Editor
Update: The ODYSSEY Media Group will provide viewers with weekly stylized profiles that center on people in the Athens community telling their own stories.
Junior Mara Bastow grew up as a member of a military family and despite its hardships, she would not trade the experience for anything.
From Hawaii, to Tennessee, to Kansas, to Texas, to Washington, to Florida, to Germany, to Athens.
It was hectic. Every two years, Mara Bastow moved from place to place with her brother, sister, mother and father, who was in the Navy. Every two years, this military family packed up their things, left their friends and moved.
She says that after a while, you can get a sort of numbness to leaving people behind because you get so accustomed to the feeling. You can become numb to the fact that your friends are just people you know–you won’t see them after two years.
But she never became numb. She used photography as an outlet to document her experiences and the different cultures and traditions she was exposed to.
It was tough, and it was emotional and it was hectic. But she loved it.
Then her parents split up. She moved to Athens with her mom and her siblings.
She missed the traveling.
She loved getting to know Athens and all the corners of the downtown streets and all the best places to hang out. She loved starting trapeze at Canopy studio where she found her second family. She loved getting to evolve her interests in photography and writing.
But she missed the new people and the new places.
She loved not moving around.
But she loved moving around.
Her experiences of traveling at such a young age sparked her interest in learning about the world, an interest that she will forever be grateful for.
