Faculty Feature: Life as a twin

By Ruth Montino

My name is Ruth Montino, and I am a professor of English here at Sauk Valley Community College.  My identical twin sister Rose Stauter is a tutor in SVCC’s writing center.   

So the family lore goes, our entry into the world turned the family dynamics upside down, causing our two older siblings a bit of jealousy and irritation. After all, we doubled the youngest kid status; we were blonde-haired, blue-eyed babies; and we were double the work for everyone, including our brother and sister who received the dubious honor of being in charge of one of us.

 As children, my twin and I would receive quite a bit of curious notice and passing questions from people. A common question asked, “Do you like being a twin?” This often puzzled us. If we hadn’t liked being a twin, it would have seemed tantamount to self-loathing. 

Another question ultimately silly to consider was to have someone hypothetically ponder, “Could you imagine life without a twin?” We would respond shyly, “No.” However, our interior mindsets were considerably more sarcastic as we would have been inclined to respond….had we been braver, “Well, can you imagine your life without limbs…..life without your body part or heart?” It simply, intrinsically is who we are. We couldn’t rationally consider this question

Despite this close identification, as older kids and eventually teenagers do, it became important to differentiate ourselves from each other. Though we are much, much more alike than different, I’ll begin by highlighting some key similarities:

• • Having grown up as avid readers and writers, it seemed naturally fitting that we both went onto earn a Masters of Arts in English and to put that education to use with various roles at SVCC—Ruth as a full-time English professor and Rose currently as a Writing Center tutor.
  • We love the satire and parody—lowbrow humor: any and all Mel Brooks movies, National Lampoon’s Vacation series, anything by the Coen Brothers—The Big Lebowski, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, Burn After Reading, etc.

• We both love-love true-crime shows: Forensic Files, Killer Couples, Snapped, Cold Case Files, etc.

• We also share a massive interest in cross-stitching, embroidery, needlepointing, crocheting, and knitting.
• We both enjoy sewing, but whereas, Ruth made quilts for her nieces, nephews, and for various school fundraisers, Rose, on the other hand, sews a lot, but for practical purposes—for teaching her daughter with Downs Syndrome how to sew for practical skills and for a booth Rose and Liz have at the Dixon Farmer’s Market as well as for inventory in an online Etsy shop we share.

Now for some differences between us:

• • Rose enjoys 1930s-1940s film noir (anything directed with Ida Lupino, Sunset Boulevard) and wacky 1950s sci-fi (The Blob, The Day the Earth Stood Still), the cheesier the better.

• Ruth really enjoys British detective/mystery shows and historical series (Outlander) as well (Midsomer Murders, Rosemary and Thyme, etc.) and mobster movies: A Bronx Tale, Goodfellas, etc.

• Ruth likes skiing and kayaking, but Rose does not like water at all—frozen or flowing.
• Ruth is a dog person, and Rose is a cat lady.

From our youth and onward, we strived to make our own mark—to show that we had our own interests and that we weren’t simply carbon copies of each other, but rather to be respected for our own ideas, thoughts, interests, and perspectives. 

We discovered that though we had vastly different tastes in music and literature, as we’ve grown older, we’ve discovered that our tastes have grown to much more closely to resemble each other’s interests. As readymade best friends throughout life, we now can find joy in and to appreciate that someone else out there has shared tastes in literature, tv-watching, music, thrifting, and crafting….Rose still hates the water though.