Becoming Barack, the documentary on CurrentTV describes a youngster with dark skin, worshiping his Kenyan Dad who he later felt had abandoned him and for whom he lost his awe about his accomplishments when his character fell short. It was easy for me to identify in many ways which evolved on a life-long spectrum.
My parents an emigrated from Greece and I was a first generation American with my three older siblings. We lived in a very rural community during the years of the depression as my father had bought a 140 acre farm to carry us through and to save the business properties he owned, many not rented. My Dad was always humble around his neighbors so, while we did not have it as rough as many others during the depression, we never spoke or admitted that we survived more easily. Nevertheless, we lived out of the center of town and a distance away from grade school and high school. I took a school bus home and was never able to interact outside of school with my peers. I was usually the brightest girl in the class which also did not endear me to other girls and many boys were also intimidated by me as I was never shy or without an opinion freely given, asked for or not.
Throughout high school (the WW2 years)I left school early to catch the bus to my full time job as a waitress, from 2 PM to 10 PM. Again, I believe I was the only one in my class to do so and that eliminated all social activity after school. I left school two months early to start in college to which I commuted daily. Once again, I did not belong to the dorm crowd so, once again there was no 'after school' socializing. At that time, the majority of students were returning vets. I was years younger that all my classmates and shared totally different life experiences. In essence, though I was accepted into a sorority, I never felt one of them and, frankly, thought most of their activities were a total waste of time.
To be continued.....
My parents an emigrated from Greece and I was a first generation American with my three older siblings. We lived in a very rural community during the years of the depression as my father had bought a 140 acre farm to carry us through and to save the business properties he owned, many not rented. My Dad was always humble around his neighbors so, while we did not have it as rough as many others during the depression, we never spoke or admitted that we survived more easily. Nevertheless, we lived out of the center of town and a distance away from grade school and high school. I took a school bus home and was never able to interact outside of school with my peers. I was usually the brightest girl in the class which also did not endear me to other girls and many boys were also intimidated by me as I was never shy or without an opinion freely given, asked for or not.
Throughout high school (the WW2 years)I left school early to catch the bus to my full time job as a waitress, from 2 PM to 10 PM. Again, I believe I was the only one in my class to do so and that eliminated all social activity after school. I left school two months early to start in college to which I commuted daily. Once again, I did not belong to the dorm crowd so, once again there was no 'after school' socializing. At that time, the majority of students were returning vets. I was years younger that all my classmates and shared totally different life experiences. In essence, though I was accepted into a sorority, I never felt one of them and, frankly, thought most of their activities were a total waste of time.
To be continued.....
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