“You want to know something that makes me angry? I got really angry yesterday, at break. Somebody was saying bad things about me. One thing they said was that I was a pure ol’ meanie. I’m not a meanie.”
Rejeana Pollitt, Age 8; Fairview, Harlan County, Kentucky:
I go to school at Harlan Independent. I like math. It’s easy. I got held back. Last year, I used to make all F’s and now I make A’s and B’s. I take my time and try harder. I don’t really know times (multiplication tables). I won’t get good at it I bet [until] third grade, but I’m practicing.
For fun, I like reading chapter books, that’s almost all. At the Boys and Girls Club, I like to play pool. It’s fun, but I’m not very good at it. Outside, I like to play with my friends. [My happiest times are] when I play dancing and all that; when my friends play with me.
Sometimes, [me and my mom] do fun things together. We went to the park in Middlesboro. I love her a lot because she’s nice. My mom just got out of surgery. She went to the hospital on Saturday and they admitted her into the ER. They said they had to do a CAT scan, and then they said we’re going to have to do an emergency surgery. So, that didn’t go very well. My nana had to take care of me while she was in the hospital and my stepdad did too. She’s home now.
My stepdad, he’s nice, I love him, too. He works in Harlan; he’s a deputy jailer. I don’t know what he does (at work); I don’t go to work with him.
My mom had a baby last May, on Easter. She went into labor and she went in to the hospital. She had had to have oxygen on. I had two brothers who died. Somebody killed them I guess. They were only three months old. I got one sister. She’s seven.
The new baby, Cannon, he’s one [year old]. He’s mean --- he pulls hair and bites and pinches!
I don’t play a lot with my sister. Most of the time, I have to play with my baby brother. We play lots of stuff. He kept coming in my room so I let him sleep in my room and I slept in his room.
My nana, she is nice. This year, we went to Black Bear Fall Festival. It’s where you ride stuff. They didn’t have all of it set up, so, we just rode the trains. She works at The Laurel (a nursing home). It’s where people stay and over five people have died there because they were getting old. One of them is 105 years old! I haven’t met him, but I’ve met a couple of people from there. I love to go there and visit. Seems like I get to color more there and do more puzzles than at home.
(What’s the saddest thing that’s happened to you?) When my friends break up with me. I’ve had that happen. When people don’t play with me, who were my friends.
You want to know something that makes me angry? I got really angry yesterday, at break. Somebody was saying bad things about me. One thing they said was that I was a pure ol’ meanie. I’m not a meanie.
I love to sing. I sing a lot, a lot of songs, but I can’t remember all of them. I could sing you one? (Sings) God bless America, the land that I love, stand beside her and guide her, from… To the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans…God bless America, my home sweet home, God bless America, my home sweet home…”