rm | kid pics!

January 1982.
I was nine.
This was taken at a B&B in East Hampton.
Yes, those are brown velvet knickers.
And my mother sewed all those little decorations on the cardigan, which was pink and I found objectionable. The shirt is eggshell satin, my first men's poet sort of shirt.
I remember when this was taken, and I had wanted to look powerful, like I owned things that were old.
I think it's interesting to look at now. You can tell I was sick.
We saw ghosts on that trip.

My guess is that this is December 1983, making me 11.
That's my mom.
The dress was given to me by my cousin Cindy who was a follower of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and could only wear red, and so always bought me things that were red. This was from Cerutti, a very expensive NYC children's store. I now own the jacket my motehr is wearing there. See! I grew up in the wizarding world! At least aesthetically.
ETA: for those who have read drafts of the book so far -- Mairome is older than this by a few years and isn't white, but my facial expression here is very very her.

My best guess here is that this is May of 1986, making me 13.
The hair is horrible. And was the result of Vidal Sasoon not listening to my instructions. My mother bought me gold earings that year, so that I would look like a girl.
The outfit is horrible.
But I can't believe my face.
At the time, I had no idea I looked like that.
Although I did understand by then that I stared at people like that and that it was bothersome to most of them.
You can kind of tell I am sick here too.
I used this photo for beauty pageant applications, including Miss New York National Teen-Ager 1987, which I eventually competed in in Albany.