Walk in their shoes…?

Feddie Girl

Hey,

I’m just wondering:

Last year, my parents freaked out and sent me, their twelve year old daughter, and only child packing to a Federal school in Nigeria to live as a boarder.

Did you just say, “Whoa, that’s harsh. Whatever happened to grounding wayward American teens?”

Well, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but in my way of thinking, I’d say I totally deserve what I got. After all, I wasn’t insane when I beat-up two innocent six-year-old’s and got my hands on a roll of marijuana.

“Still, that ain’t enough reason to ship a child out to a foreign country!” You raise one eye-brow in consternation and shoot darts with your eyes at me. You look ready to spring and knock my poor head off my sorry shoulders.

Alright, alright, back-off! I know better than to ruffle your feathers on the night after your miserable team has lost an easy game of baseball to their equally miserable opponents. Not that I totally agree with your point of view about my being dropped off in boarding school last year, but hey, whatever keeps us cool!

However, I’d still love to hear the humble opinion of a unbiased third party.

So to my blog readers, I ask:

Do you totally think my parents flipped their lids and acted too hastily in their decision to make me attend a Federal School in Nigeria as punishment for what I did last year?
Yes? Hell no?
Had I been your kid, how would you have managed the situation?
In your humble opinion, what on earth, if anything, would a kid have to do that would warrant you to dish-out a punishment as harsh as the one my parents meted out to me?

Who knows? Maybe by answering all or part of the above questions, we may uncover some truths about ourselves and the way we see things within the society we live in.

Totally looking forward to hearing from you…

Lotta Luv,
Carlotta

For excerpts of the upcoming FEDDIE GIRL novel by Nona David, visit http://bernardbooks.com/subpage.html
To reserve your copy of FEDDIE GIRL, please go to http://bernardbooks.com/form.html

Whaddya know? Meet my family…

So, I am the only child in my family–can’t say whether this is good or bad, but that’s just the way it is.

My dad’s name is Richard, and like I said before, he is a physician. He’s really tall (like, above six feet), dark and handsome. When people meet him these days, they keep saying he looks like Barack Obama!!! Lol!!! I guess they’re kinda right, after all, my dad, like our dear Mr. President, is a half-breed too. His dad (my grandfather) is from somewhere in Anambra State, Nigeria (I think it’s Neewi, Newwi, or somethin’ like that. Can’t remember the spelling!! Lol!!). My dad’s mom is from Gainesville, Georgia. Great match for the two of them, I must say, even though I never met them!!! How often do you get to have a Nigerian for a granddad and a totally white mom for a grandma? Totally cool, right?

My mom is an English Professor (Ph.D.) and her parents are both from Georgia. Now, them, I got to meet, but can’t remember. I was like two or three when they both passed on. What a bummer!!! My mom is quite tall for a woman and very prim and proper. Her name is Shelley, but she should have been called Margaret or somethin’ like that, cos she always gets on my case. Arrggh!!!

Okay, for the gist you’ve all been waiting for…

Sometimes, I wonder how or why my parents stuck together with each other for so long. Maybe it’s because of me…but I still wonder.

You see, my mom is a recovering alcoholic. Yeah, that means no booze in the house. Did you just say, “Hey, that sucks??!!” Well can’t blame ya! That’s the way things are at home. No booze, no beer, no nothin’ (Another reason I can’t host parties at home. Lol!!!). So, she had managed to stay clean for a long time never saw her take a drink until I was like, twelve? Thirteen? Oh yes! That would be a few months before my thirteenth birthday.

She tries to hide it, most of the time, but sometimes I can smell the alcohol on her breath. Mostly, my dad would pretend like he doesn’t notice, until she starts slurring her words or hurling stuff across the room (it’s sooo annoying when she does that. No, scary is more like it!!). This doesn’t happen often, though, only when she’s like anxious or totally bummed out about my dad’s promiscuity.

Hah! “Promiscuity?” you scream. Well, that’s what I said, isn’t it?

My dad just diggs young ladies with pretty faces. It’s not like it’s a secret or any thing, he just has this cool way of studying sashaying blondes/brunnettes from under his lashes when he thinks my mom is not looking. But he’s only fooling himself cos I think my mom knows what he’s up to most of the time. She just keeps a stiff face and totally ignores him. Or pretend not to notice.

Gee!! Aren’t they like, good for each other? Yep!! Totally!! A married couple that live together and have totally disgusting vices — one is an alcoholic while the other is a philanderer (right word? Just thought I’d put my mom’s constant hype about learning new words to good use.) But you totally get the idea, right?

Well, don’t get me wrong. My parents may be bummers sometimes, but I totally love ‘em!!! At least, I do right now. Lol!!!

So now you’ve met Dr and Dr Ikedi, my next story will be about why they decided it was worth it to ship their only daughter off to an all-girls boarding school in Africa!!!

Watch out, I’ll be back with more!!!

Lotta luv,

Carlotta

Stuff about me…

Umm…yeah, I’m sure it’s no secret anymore that I was born in San Francisco, in August of 1995. That should make me like what…? Yep, 13 years old as of 2008 when I featured in the novel, FEDDIE GIRL.

Being from California and all, you all would think that I’m all flashy, bitchy, snooty and bratty, right? Well, you’re right… Okay, no, I used to be like a total bitch before I went to school in Nigeria. I had like a ‘don’t mess with me’ attitude which got totally worse when my parents bundled us all to Oklahoma. But that was then — I’m totally mellowed-out and cool now, something I learned from my boarding school experiences (more on that later!).

Anyways, back to me. Just so you know what I look like beyond what is visible from my profile pix, I am like 5’4″ tall and weigh about 105 pounds! Okay, I lied, it’s actually more like 105.57 pounds but who cares about what comes after the dot? Lol! So, I totally have like, blue eyes and long wavy brown hair (got me in a lotta trouble too! You’ll see! Lol!)

My mom is from Los Angeles, while my dad is from both Goergia, USA and Anambra State, Nigeria. You ask, “Where on earth is that?”  Lol! I asked the same question myself last year. But I’ll let you find out by yourself. One hint though — West Africa!!!

Okay, so my dad’s a half-breed! Cool, huh? Well that makes me a three-quarter breed, even though you can’t tell by just looking at me. People tell me I look totally like my mom, which is good — I guess! Actually, it’s rockin’!!!

So why did I get parceled-off to boarding school in Africa? Well to tell you that, I gotta start at the very beginning. You see, you’ve got to understand a few things about my parents to be able to grasp why they would do a thing like that. Not that I’m blaming them for what they did — I’m just sayin’.

So in answer to your question of, ‘Why Nigeria for goddsakes?” I will begin my next post by telling you all about my parents… Lol! It’s such juicy gossip too!

Oh, and did I tell you my Dad is tall and handsome and a medical doctor? No? I didn’t? Sorry! My bad.

And yes, my mom is an English Professor at a local University in Oklahoma and she’s the type that likes to dot her i’s and cross her t’s. You know, the type of mom that corrects your sentences and makes you repeat them after her! Hahahaha… Now you know why I never wanna have parties at home! Lol!

If you’ve stuck with me so far, you may wanna stick around for the upcoming gist!

Just watch out… I’ll be revealing the story of my parents next! And soon!!!

Lotta luv,

Carlotta