- It hurt a lot
because it was the thing I loved the most,
but they were using that word
and insulting me with it.
Okay, so I got called a Trekkie.
I guess when I was younger
I didn't realize I wasn't cool,
and the stuff that I was into wasn't cool.
- Venom is this spiderman character
that is made of black goo,
and he has big white eyes and really jagged teeth.
- It's probably surprising or hard to imagine,
but when I was a little kid
my skin was even fairer than it is now.
- My existence from the age of 11
until the age of 17, when I left high school,
was miserable.
- My hair was very short
and I didn't have very straight teeth.
So I think when people saw me
I just resembled the character to them.
- It was really hurtful,
because I cared so much about Star Trek
and thought it was so neat.
And instead, it turned into an insult, and...
Yeah, it hurt a lot.
- Probably the most common name
that they called me was ghost.
Any time there was a scary story
they'd be like, "and it was Hannah at the end."
- Not only did I get called ugly
but I had a bottle thrown at my head one time.
I got slammed into a door.
- Started this whole insecure downward spiral
of me as a teen, going to tanning beds all the time
and trying to be something I wasn't.
- I did really well for myself.
I got out of that town,
I got a master's from Columbia
on a competitive scholarship.
So thanks for, I guess...
that shitty experience made me into a very strong person.
(uplifting music)
- When it exploded it felt really good
to just see it just boom up like that.
- It feels like it takes the word away from them.
And now it can be my word.
- Kind of a thing that lingers and weighs on you.
So I was not expecting to feel so happy
after doing that.
But I'm overjoyed right now.
- We're all in this together.
We should be nice, we should be kind to each other.
And just make it as pleasant as possible
while we're here.