Tag Archive for ‘teen editor’

Nonfiction: “Life’s Patches”

I am the only white, teen girl at the office of Teen Voices magazine but such feelings of otherness are not unfamiliar. This afternoon we crowd around a small TV to watch “Good Hair,” a documentary about the culture of African American women’s hair. Surrounded by cornrows, dreadlocks, extensions and relaxed hair of every length and style, my shoulder-length dirty blond hair stands out as brightly as my skin color. After nine years, however, I am proud of these messy locks. When I was eight years old, all the hair on my body began to fall out. Despite what many assumed to be the result of cancer treatment, it was Alopecia.