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[27 Jul 2009|04:42pm] |
Born in Utica, New York in February, 1986, Jem Bennett is the youngest child of Philip and Bruna Bennett, an American choreographer and German ballet dancer. Jem has three older siblings, Peter, 29, Max, 28, and Ophelia, 28 (Max and Ophelia are twins). Jem was never close to any of his siblings growing up. He was too far in age from Peter to truly bond with him, and Max and Ophelia always had each other, they were not really interested in their little brother. Jem was a loner within the family and outside of it. In school, he was a brooding, introverted boy who would speak when spoken to but otherwise preferred to keep to himself.
As Jem got older he became more inclined to initiate conversations but you still couldn't exactly call him outspoken. He would never be a member of the debate team and would rather fall silent and sullen than engage in an argument. If he did get into rows, the more likely option was that he would let his fists do the talking. At 6'2 by the age of 16, it wasn't a stupid idea for him to fall back on violence - at least in terms of physicality. If he'd used his common sense it would have become obvious that beating someone up because they disagreed with him was never going to end well. He was suspended from school a few times but miraculously never kicked out. It was more luck than anything, luck and the fact that his principal saw some good in him and accepted that he wasn't fighting because he was innately trouble but because he just didn't know how to express himself.
After his high school graduation, Jem found himself with no friends and couldn't see a future where that would change. The summer before he was due to go to college at NYU, he took an overdose of the sleeping pills he'd been given to help him with his insomnia. The aim was to die but it didn't happen. Instead his stomach was pumped and he was admitted to a psychiatric ward for what was supposed to be a fortnight. Instead he ended up there for nearly four months and missed the beginning of college. He's never really forgiven his parents for making sure he stayed there so long, because he doesn't believe that it was best for him. All it served to do was make him an outcast when he did go to college a year late, because he was older than the majority of his fellow students, if only by a year. At least, that was how Jem saw it.
He studied Literature with a minor in Classics at NYU when he finally did get there. As he predicted, he didn't make many friends at the school. Jem didn't find he minded the lack of social activity too much, in the end. He was very focussed on his work and tried out every aspect of the course.
He graduated in early 2009, a year later than he should've, and currently works at St Mark's Bookshop in the East Village and has done since the summer. He's by no means the longest serving member of the staff, in fact he's one of the newest, but he semi-enjoys his work. He doesn't really like dealing with customers, which is a shame because it's a big part of working retail, but he does like making recommendations, even if he's not very personable about it and will tell the customer frankly if what they're buying is shit. Thankfully his boss is reasonably laidback about it and shares taste with Jem, finding the boy's attitude refreshing as he doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to sharing his opinion, so Jem has kept his job so far. He lives in Queens with a roommate and doesn't see much of his family any more even though they're relatively close by.
Jem's grandma Rosalie was diagnosed with cancer of the liver in mid 2009. The only member of the family Jem was close to, it hit him hard. He took a break from work from August, going to Poughkeepsie to stay with Rosalie while she was unwell. Unfortunately, she died in October, which prompted Jem to return to work. His boss accepted his excuse for being absent and let him come back to his job. He picked up his first shift in early November and moved back into his apartment in Queens. |
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