What's in a Name?

Jade Walsh

Jade Walsh- Thai, Chinese, Dutch ancestry (mother); African American (father);  Jade is a sensitive, edgy, slightly neurotic girl with a desire to understand and to be understood. She becomes Rafe Nichols good friend during their college years together at Syracuse University once she and Rafe bond over their mutual love of art and discover a shared intellectual chemistry with each other. As an art major, her leisure time is often dedicated to sketching, her poetry writings and similar artistic pursuits, and she likes dumplings with a pork and shrimp flavor called Khanom jeeb. She is a self-proclaimed "military brat" and "art hoe" who hails from the outskirts of Watertown, New York and suffers from acute social phobia, hence her repeatedly avoiding contact with her peers. Jade has many alternate personalities that she is secretly trying to reconcile, as she may sacrifice some weaker morals for success. Authentic and reserved, she has a good sense of what is right and fair and would not sell her soul for the sake of approval, which makes her highly stubborn and very resistant to external corruption. A laconic outsider, her mind never quits bustling with conviction, as she claims to lack the ability to stop "intuiting" and be unable to keep herself from deep thought for more than a few seconds. She easily sees people's public personas, their outer shells, but more than anything, she is looking for the core of the individual. Jade is described as an intricate, multi-faceted young woman all-around, with an uneasy, temperamental demeanor that only a select people can penetrate and discern. She often wants to discuss philosophical interests, as well as big-picture plans and visions, leading her to feel bored with the focus on boys, style, and popularity. 

She can appear somewhat antisocial and claims to be exhausted by social situations, causing her to project a false friendliness to maintain people at arm length. Motivated by her father's personal struggles with schizophrenia, she also shows an interest in personality theory and enjoys analyzing others during her interactions, hoping to get her master's in Research and Experimental Psychology at Vassar College. Jade feels compelled to find the logic to every situation as she interacts with her environment, but because of her reticence, is very isolated from her peers and the outside world. She describes herself as genderfluid and a feminist, which makes her a strong advocate for the LGBTQ community and women's rights, in addition to being hypersexual and polyamorous. She considers herself a highly sensitive person and responds to what she sees and connects with from the world around her, which gives her great emotional depth. She has trouble managing some of her occasional intrusive thoughts as well, which can lead to patterns of negative thinking and slight skepticism, particularly when she is caught in the moment. Jade leads a very liberal lifestyle and despite seeming somewhat aloof and detached initially, is warm and has a deep capacity for caring, often placing emphasis on the feelings of others and their well-being. For most of her life, she has been satisfied with being quietly eccentric and mostly invisible at school, which makes her seem slightly neurotic. While she is compassionate, she is also vengeful and does not forgive others easily, putting on a "mean girl" facade because she does not want to be seen as weak in her mother's eyes. 

She tends to be much more analytical than people realize and enjoys being able to process and understand information, which was a big cause for her previous reputation as a nihilist. Jade is perceptive of people's thoughts and quickly understands how others feel, as well as the situation that has caused them to be the way they are. She is seen as "eccentric" and never quite on the same wavelength as her peers, as she is the type of people who will think about thinking and analyze information nearly to death. She is just as curious about the psychology of the cheerleader as she is the psychology of the misfit, although she is more attracted to outsiders and people who don't fit the mold. She is also very observant and feels conflicted between adhering to social norms and standards and embracing her core self. Previously diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder, Jade dislikes boredom and monotony and is prone to melancholic episodes. She depresses easily and tends to be more cynical and realistic, which makes her resort to dark humor and as a means of protecting herself. This can make her somewhat pessimistic as she anticipates the worst outcome, resulting in her becoming overwhelmed with the bare minimum and struggling to finish the simplest tasks. Despite claiming to "know it all", she can be wishy-washy and frequently seeks outside validation in her decision-making. Clumsy and easily triggered, Jade is awkward within social settings, regardless of her cynical and ironic disposition. Her sharp tongue and remarkable wit are nonetheless evident in her interactions, despite this ungainliness. She isn't much fond of schoolwork and would often prefer spending supine days dreaming about on her couch, yet proves nonetheless to be very intelligent and incisive.