The paleontologist. That is who I am going to talk about. No, not William Buckland famous for discovering the dinosaur fossil known as the megalosaurus and not Ross Geller from Friends either. This is Jess Goodwin The Paleontologist.
It truly began with Denny’s dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets that were sold on their kids’ menu back in the early 2000s. But, that isn’t when she was awarded this title. In high school, Jess had a group of friends. They called each other “The GC” later explained to mean “The Gay Club.” Their group chat on all platforms held this title and when they would leave their houses to hang out they would say, “I’m hanging out with The GC” to their parents. Were they all gay? No. But their group pretty much included the entire LGBTQIA spectrum. There was Keri who identified as pansexual, Haley who identified as bisexual, Jackolyn who identified as asexual and Jess who identified as an ally but would makeout with Cara Delevingne if given the chance.
This group would hang out almost every day of the summer break of 2015. One night they were all at Jackolyn’s place, the designated house of the summer, and we're sitting in her furnished basement that was covered in her parent’s Pittsburg Steelers memorabilia. It was late into the night when the discussion of vegetarianism came up. Keri had been practicing vegetarianism for a year at this point, and Jackolyn was thinking about taking it up as well. As A.M. discussions usually go, Jess decided to pipe in with her two-since by claiming that she was a “paleontologist” because the only meat she ate was chicken. She was thinking of a pollotarian. This late-night word vomit of a reveal led to Jess obtaining an entirely new personality trait - dinosaurs.
After that night Jess’s name was immediately changed to “Jess The Paleontologist” in all of The GC’s phones and group chats. For her birthday that same summer the girls of The GC bought her dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets that came with a “Happy 5th Birthday” dinosaur card. Almost five years later the nickname, as well as the newly learned obsession of dinosaurs, still resonates with Jess. For every holiday and birthday, she receives some type of dinosaur memorabilia. This Christmas she received dinosaur magnets for her fridge and for Valentines’ Day she got another stuffed dinosaur to add to her collection that can be seen scratted decoratively throughout her apartment.
As The GC grew up and went their separate ways Keri and Jess still keep in touch and Jess’s name still remains as “Jess The Paleontologist” in Keri’s phone, and Jess wears the necklace her now long-distance best friend gave her when they left for college that resembles a tiny golden dinosaur.
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