In grammar school some of the girls had problems with me. My face was too light. My hair was too long. It was the black-consciousness period, and I felt really bad.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was the only black girl at my junior high school. I had an afro, a Jamaican accent, I looked really old.
I spent the first fourteen years of my life convinced that my looks were hideous. Adolescence is painful for everyone, I know, but mine was plain weird.
I knew from a very young age that there was something very wrong with me.
I went to a predominantly white school, and I was the only black girl. I can remember thinking, 'I don't want to be as dark as I am - I want to be a little fairer.' I didn't want to be me.
At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox.
When I was 14, I thought I looked terrible. I wore these typical Slavic shoes with metal bottoms so you could always hear me coming and this really ugly princess skirt and blouse with the top button closed. I had a boy haircut, a baby face covered with pimples, and a really big nose.
I felt alienated at school, and I never did well with girls.
I had my shortcomings - crazy hair, braces, bad skin and all that stuff. I went through it all.
In school, I was the quietest girl ever! I had a lot of trouble in school. Kids were mean to me.
Boys never liked me at school. They made fun of me 'cos I had dark skin.