Katie Deal: More than Meets the Bull's-Eye

Katie Deal: More than Meets the Bull's-Eye

By Scott McDonough, ENGL 336.001

Music, guns, and ice cream—just three of the many interests that make up Katie Deal’s interesting world. Even more interesting is how the many fascinating aspects defining Katie Deal come as a sudden surprise given her cool, calm, and collected demeanor and humility during a normal interaction.

With her reddish-brown hair down and relaxed, a modest height of 5’0”, an assured but not-at-all flamboyant style, and an unassuming vibe about her, one would never guess that the description of twenty year old Katie Deal includes “steady with a shotgun.” As a result, a rare and powerful effect is felt when Katie drops a bombshell about herself such as “I’m a certified expert marksman.” Still, as Katie elaborates on her unexpected hobby involving guns and firearms with the expertise of a professional gunslinger, discussing the technical aspects of her sport including her favorite firearm, a SIG SAUER P250 9mm, she does so as casually as if she was discussing the daily weather. Even as a certified expert marksman, Katie explains the development of her gun-toting skills with modesty, “I come from a very redneck school and marksmanship was our sport. It’s basically just target shooting.” For Katie, shooting guns on the level of an expert marksman is no big deal, because as she nonchalantly puts it, it is simply just “good for stress.”

Speaking in a consistently laid-back manner, the topic of conversation transitions from guns and ammunition to music and musical instruments as Katie reveals her musical talent and passion. From teaching herself viola, keeping rhythm on the bass guitar, creating melodies on the keyboard, playing with many bands, to rounding everything off with “a little bit of drums” for good measure, Katie reveals how her steady hands, talent, and skills in marksmanship extend to steady hands, talent, and skills in musicianship on a variety of instruments.  Likewise, Katie keeps her taste in music diverse as she enjoys listening to various musical genres including indie rock and heavy metal. 

Aside from her intriguing hobbies, Katie holds a particular liking for Quentin Tarantino films and ice cream. Although her favorite ice cream flavor is Ben & Jerry’s Clusterfluff with caramel cluster pieces, marshmallow, and peanut buttery swirls, Katie is quick to make one very important point, “I’m not really picky, just a little bit when it comes to guns.” Most importantly, Katie makes sure to keep her aim focused on academics. Graduating in May with a degree in Law and Society, Katie plans on using all of the law knowledge gained through her studies at Frostburg State University to become a paralegal and perhaps, “attend grad school far off into the future.”  Of course, such plans following graduation will have to wait a short while as Katie would first like to take a month or so off in Pittsburgh, a place she likes to visit often.  Regardless of her future plans, Katie is just excited to leave her hometown of Salisbury, Pennsylvania which she describes as a “very small town with a very high Amish population.”

At first glance, an initial impression of Katie Deal would most likely include her calm demeanor, laid-back disposition, and humble attitude. While such an impression correctly describes Katie on the surface, underneath all of the modesty lays the real description of Katie Deal—expert marksman, talented musician, hard-working student, enthusiastic fan of ice cream and Tarantino films, and all-around very interesting individual.