Annie John

I was born January 24, 1988 in a multicultural city known as Boston, Massachusetts. As fate would have it I was born right in the middle of winter so I just adore the cold. I lived with my older sister, who was about three and half years old when I was born, my mother and my father. My mother is African American and my father is from Jamaica, so I guess you can say I am multicultural, which was fun because I was always learning new things about myself. I always ate different types of food, dressed a certain way, and was definitely and still am raised by strict rules. When I was younger I can remember lying on my daddy's big belly and listening to WERS (a radio station that played reggae), even though I could hardly make out what they were saying because their accents were so thick. Yet I stilled loved to listen because the beats were rhythmic and I was learning about my culture and heritage. Thanksgiving was one my favorite holiday, aside from Christmas because there was a variety of food being that I had two different cultures blended together to make delicious food to pick from.

Summer time brought back far memories of visiting my paternal grandmother in Queens, New York, as she would always greet us with a thick native tongue and a tall, cold glass of sorrel (Jamaican fruit drink). I loved it there, I was too young to play dominoes but my grandmother still let me help play her hand. When the afternoon came around my grandmother made my sister and I go and take a nap, she would say "Al'right likkle ones time to go and tek yuh nap." I can distinctly remember what her bedroom looked like; on the outside of the door colorful beads hung from the top and she had a knitted blanket that was colorful as well. Those were the days and New York was so much fun too, I swear everyone in the neighborhood was West Indian so I fitted right in. But when my grandmother died I felt as though my culture went with her because she was a prime example of a true born Jamaican woman and taught me a lot about perseverance and how to never give up my Jamaican heritage. I was hoping to go to Jamaica with her but since her passing I still haven't