Making of a Fangirl: Justina Bowe

When I thinking of who I would want to be my inaugural interview, there was really only one option in my mind of who to ask. Justina is someone who has a lot to say about a lot of things & can be very witty while doing it. She learned that from me. As my younger sister, I have witnessed her in each of her eras & I was very curious to talk to her about them.

When we got on our facetime call she seemed a bit nervous. Unsure about what was about to happen & what I was going to ask. She looked very cozy in her childhood room with our four legged nephew Khristofferson looking on as I assured Justina it would a fairly quick conversation. Once she overcame her trepidation, we began.

I tried my best to ease her into the conversation by starting off with what I felt would set the tone for the rest of the interview, did she consider herself a fangirl?

Thankfully, this was met with an overly enthusiastic ‘hell yeah.’ If the answer was anything different, I would’ve had to reconsider both this interview & whether I should consider her my sister. She claims that she is the biggest fangirl, almost to a fault. To her, she is a major hyperfixator, so when she becomes a fan of something it can kind of consume her in a big way.

Having grown up with her & being slightly older, hearing about the things that she remembers versus how I remember certain things from our child & the opportunity to compare notes is always one that I like to take.

So, asking her about what she remembers being the first thing she fangirled over while already having the answer of what I remember it being, this was a fun experiment. Thank goodness, we both had the same answer.

“High School Musical. I wanted to be Gabriella. I literally made you guys call me Gabriella. The music. The clothes. I wanted to live it. High School Musical everything. And Troy was cute, which means if I was Gabriella, I had Troy too. Sharpay too! Her outfits were everything & when I went to High school I wanted a pink locker.”

This made me laugh out loud because I can remember so vividly this part of life. We lived in Florida when the first 2 movies came out & my mom even threw her a birthday party with the HSM theme & a premiere party for the second. All while having to call her Gabriella. To this day one of our uncles calls her Gabriella, she can try all she wants but it will always be a part of her life. She owns it & wears it like a badge of honor.

She then felt the need to bring up what she remembers being the first fangirl moment for me. To her, she recalls it being Percy Jackson & Hunger Games. Which, I am clearly still going through. I spent a month in college with my roommates rewatching the Hunger Games movies & I am buying myself collector editions of the Percy Jackson series. She went on to further say that she also remembers me fangirling over Selena Gomez & Taylor Swift. That she was so jealous of the Taylor Swift perfumes I was gifted at Christmas several years in a row. Honestly, I didn’t think it was that big of a phase for me but to her, it was a major period of my life. Even though, she brings up great points, as I am fans of all of those things. I recall my first fangirl moment being for the icon & legend herself: Dora.

Time jumping to present day, I am curious as to what 22 year old Justina is currently fangirling over. Since we live in different states right now, I felt this was a good time to figure out what she’s into.

“Have you ever heard of something called RHONY?” (Real Housewives of New York) She says this jokingly because I have been binging this for the last month. “I guess, reality TV. It’s almost like a science experiment. Like no one acts like this. No one would throw their prosthetic leg across the room at a dinner. It’s fascinating. But also, it makes me feel a little bit more sane.”

Since I consider her to be the queen of reality tv I had to follow up and ask which Real Housewives franchise is her favorite.

“RHONY. No one is doing it like those women. It’s insane. New Jersey is a close second. They had dips but RHONY is like if a mental institution had a camera crew following patients around.”

It would’ve been a massive mistake to have this interview without Justina talking about the love of her life.

“I also love animals. We understand each other & we talk all of the time.” I asked if there is one she loves more than the others. “Dogs.”

Naturally I got curious if there was an animal she has ever come across that she hasn’t liked. “I have no animal that I hate or would not like. Some are stupid. Like why do they exist? What’s your purpose? You’re cute & I love you but you know? I just feel so connected to them. They are so misunderstood by people. They love their humans and people without judgement. They are so special and so smart. I feel like I am very in tune with my emotions and they are emotional beings so I feel like it lets me understand them & advocate for them better.”

This speech makes the most sense to me. Justina is known to make friends with any animal she comes across, no matter where she is. There are pictures of her wrangling a snake in a park in San Francisco & hanging out with wild dogs in a parking lot in Italy to petting cats in a church in Mykonos. She doesn’t discriminate & has so much love to give those animals.

With all of this discussion of what she loves now, what I really wanted to know was if there was a fandom that she wished she was a part of. This answer came out the quickest of any of the other answers she provided.

“Bills Mafia. Where are they based out out of? I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about Buffalo except the sauce.” I made her stop talking for a second so I could laugh without messing up what I was typing. “I grew up playing sports & the energy you get when everyone is so hyped and coming together and on the same team. That’s what it seems like for them. And I am not the biggest football fan, I only watch when someone else is watching it or clips are on social media. Buffalo seems like a day time rave and an all day bender. It seems like the best time. You know what did it for me? Jason Kelce ripping his shirt off in the snow & 20 degree weather. I need this energy in my life. Oh, I also love their uniforms & I love Josh Allen & his wife.”

Finally, I was really curious about what fandom she doesn’t really understand. I had an idea in mind of what she was going to say & really I should’ve known what the initial response would be.

“Men.” “Why are they doing so much all of the time & then not enough when they need to be doing more.”

I shared with her that I thought she was going to say Swifties.

“I love being a fangirl. But, there is a line that I think people cross & it starts to irk me. The Swifities for examples. When I see a fan account and then to realize its being run by a person with a 40 hour a week job. Maybe if I took my meds regularly & I could find the time. Yeah, I don’t know. Wouldn't you be tired from overanalyzing everything all of the time. Just enjoy what they create and enjoy it when it comes to you.”

Quickly followed up with, “Also KPOP Demon Hunters. What is that. I don’t get KPOP hype.”

As a last last question, I asked who she would want me to talk to next about their fandoms. That was also a quick answer.

“Ghazal. And record it. I would love to hear it because she is a tell you how it is girl and doesn’t hold back but is the sweetest ball of joy ever. Also, just hilarious.”

A big thanks to Justina for being my test subject for interviewing! I was also a bit nervous about all of this but I really wanted to try out something new for the blog. I hope you all enjoyed & let me know who I should talk to next.

Ily a milli & talk soon.