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Brittany A. Mickens
Profesora Sipin
English 211
January 19, 2015
Life Isn`t All that Bad
I was born December 8, 1995, in Saint Mary`s Hospital, my time is unknown. I weighed
1 pound and 6 ounces. I was supposed to be a summer baby, but instead I decided I would come
just a little earlier than expected. My mother, Faye Michelle Smith, dark-skinned with a heavy
hour glass figure, and my father, Robert Edward James Mickens, a short, light skinned man soon
got married after just a few months of my arrival. My Great great grandmother was an Indian
named Jenny Mickens. When I was first born people could really see the Indian side of me
because I was so light skinned, but unfortunately I got darker within age. I got my first
nickname Pea from my Grandpa. He was a big man with big hands and he said I could fit
inside of one of his hands like a pea.
My family wasn`t like most of the African-American families that lived around us, well
at least not what society would call a normal African American family. No one in my family has
ever lived in a run-down house or apartment. We were always surrounded by Caucasians or
another higher race. My parents and other family members were always employed. Even the
family members in Louisa lived like they had everything in the world. They would have the
biggest houses and were usually the only blacks in that nehborhood. So in my mind and to
everybody else that has met me and know me, I am an intelligent, privileged, African American
girl. If my family was any different I probably wouldn`t be where I am today, I probably

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wouldn`t be the person that I am today, and I probably wouldn`t have the same goals that I hope
to achieve in the future.
I left the city of Richmond when I was about five years old, my father job moved so
when they moved, we moved. We ended up at a little town called Louisa, full of country white
people that weren`t too fond of our kind. It only had one Middle school and one High school
which was a little different for me since I was used to having schools every block. There weren`t
many black kids, at least not in the schools. I was the only black in all of my classes. My
mother always told me that I needed to do better than the next person in anything because
everyone looks for less in and African American. All through school I had all honor classes and
it always felt like my teachers would just hand me my grade because they probably thought I felt
a little left out. At first I slacked on all my work because I knew my teachers would just hand
me a passing grade, but then I had to stop and actually put some effort into my work because I
wasnt really learning anything. Being the only black person in my class got lonely and I started
to look for friends that werent in my class, which is how I met my two best friends.
Elaine and Kalecia are what society would call normal African Americans. They came
from poor families with divorced parents. Till this day Im not really sure how we all became
friends. I didn`t know until two years into our friendship that Elaine and I were actually first
cousins. Kalecia on the other hand was a different story, I think she was my bully before she was
my friend. They always talked about how lucky I was to have both parents in my life. I use to
always complain how my parents paid too much attention to me and never let me lived my own
life. I was so different compared to them, compared to every black person in the school. For
example, unlike most of the blacks in my school my parents were and are still together, my
parents had jobs, and unlike most of the students there, I actually wanted to finish high school

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and better myself. Where I lived you had three choices after you decided you were done with
high-school or after graduation; choice number one was to graduate and have a career at
McDonalds, number two was to get pregnant and just stop school all together, and the last choice
was to actually go to college, for the students that could afford it.
My life would seem pretty easy from another persons point of view, and they would be
right. I never struggled for the things I wanted in life, I dont fit African American stereotypes
that society has made up, and I have done pretty well with school. Today I am a full time student
at Old Dominion University. I pretty much live on my own now since ODU is hours away from
home. I`m not the spoiled little girl I use to be in high-school, I have evolved into a independent
black women.