In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

5 Bobbie k Life Narrative “I’ve been overcoming all my life” I was born in Cleveland. I was raised by my mom and my stepdad first. [When my parents divorced,] my biological father wanted custody of his kids, but he didn’t want me. . . . He took the oldest kids and left me with [my mom]. And then she got married to my stepdad. . . . I thought he was more my real dad. I mean, he never treated me any different than he treated the rest of the kids. In fact, sometimes he treated me better. So I guess he was a good relationship. Then by the time I was in kindergarten, they separated. So I went to live with my grandmother and my grandfather, my mom’s parents. They died when I was in the sixth grade, a couple months prior. I lived with my stepfather ’cause my mom was always sick. . . . [But] my stepdad got killed, so I ended up staying with my mom. Then my mom got sick and went to the hospital. Her next husband decided that he didn’t want me in the house. So I was shifted from place to place to place to place. Stayed with a cousin, a brother, a stepbrother. Back to the cousin, back to the brother. Then I finally went back home. My family was totally dysfunctional. Basically, I never had a childhood. ’Cause I always took care of the two boys and the little girl under me. And then after I got done taking care of them, it was like somebody else’s child came along, and then by the time I was twenty-one, I had my first child. So it was like I skipped over childhood. . . . It was rough. Real rough. . . . I’m only two years older than one [younger sibling], three years than the other one, and four than the other one. So it was like, I’m their age raising them. We ended up with my mom, and one time I remember my mama asking us whether we was hungry. And they all looked at me. They shook their heads. And I said, “Yes.” And she’s like, “I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to them three.” And I’m like, “You have to remember. They’ve been with me all their life.” I mean, I was always the constant thing in their life so they was used to depending on me. And then we moved in with my mom and my other stepdad, and he tried to cause a wedge between us, which actually didn’t work because now my little sister and my one little brother that’s right under me, they’ll send me money, and they’ll write me, and they ask my daughter how I’m doing and stuff like that. I have twenty brothers and sisters frommymotherandbiological father. But those are the only two I’m close with. I had twenty-one. One died. School came to me easy. It was like when we were small, I had an older brother that wanted to be a teacher. So we played school quite a bit, and if we got things wrong, we got hit with the yardstick. So we learned real good how to add, multiply, subtract. School was real easy for me. It’s easy now. I mean, I go to college. [Other women] all cram, you know, they study for the whole week. I’m always the last-minute study, and I still get a C or a B, and they all tell me they hate me [laughing]. . . . Violence has been a big part of my life. . . . I’ve got whupped with extension cords. One time with a bullwhip. I watched my mom and my stepdad fight. My mom and my dad fought. And then my kids’ father and I fought. My stepfather, my father, and then my kids’ father did the beatings. My older brothers, I watched them beat their girlfriends. My father’s side of the family, they drank. My aunt drinks. My uncle drinks. My father drank. My stepfather drank. My brothers and sisters have drank, used drugs. I even drank and used drugs. My kids’ father drank and used, but it’s just like a normal thing to do. I was involved with marijuana, opium, hash—God!—heroin, crack, cocaine, pills, uppers, and downers. Just about anything you can name, anything that didn’t involve shooting up ’cause I was scared...

Share