Nancy Velasquez was born on September 9, 1986 in Jamaica, New york [Queens]. Her parents lived in one of those old apartments in the beat-up complexes that still exist in New York. After two years they decided that, that was not a place for their daughter to grow-up in so they bought a house. Nancy enjoyed the neighborhood and she even had her own pet, a dog named Smokey. Smokey was abandoned by the previous owners of the house.
Smokey had a sad life, Nancy's parents would leave him outside all day, in the cold arrid weather of New York's winters. One day Smokey could no longer resist those harsh snows and he died of neumonia. Smokey loved his owners very much, regardless of his treaments. Smokey was buried in the family's backyard. Poor Smokey, let him rest in peace.
Nancy then went to school right before she turned four. She entered as a Pre-Kindergarten student, and her only knowledge of the language she would study in the years to come was through the cartoons she loved so much. Among those cartoons that she watched was her favorite, Beetlejuice. Oh how she loved her beetlejuice; she had all the toys and even a lunchbox --the old vintage lunchboxes. How she misses her Beetlejuice, and her various vintage lunchboxes of different charaters. Nancy was a bright one and adapting to school was a piece of cake for her.
Soon she went to kindergarten and things were different. She now had to be in school the whole day, but she loved playing in the sand box and finger painiting. The naps were good, but Nancy was never too fond of sleep. She learned to write and read rapidly, yes, yes a bright child. Soon though, Nancy would not be alone. For in Novermember of 1991, her little brother was born and Nancy was very happy to be a big sister. She wanted to take care of her little borther, but her duties were limited due to her size and age. She recalls little from first grade except one conversation she has with her teacher about bathrooms and smells.
Grade school was full of fights with her peers. Nancy once got jumped by a group of girls in the restroom, I believe when she was in the third grade. One time in the second grade her teacher did not let her go to the restroom, so she took care of business right there in the classroom. She had an enemy all though grade school, a girl that hated her for no reason. Well, this is a lie, she hated her because the boys she liked would never like her, and did like Nancy. Also, Nancy got along really well with her brother and Nancy's mom was good friends with her grandmother. Nancy still remember's that girls name, Ashley Evans. She wonders what could have happened to that girl, but the again, does it really matter?
When Nancy was nine her parents lost the house to bankruptsy and they were forced to move into an apartment. This time it was a nice one, very expensive but it was worth the price. Nancy's mother decided not to change her kids from the school they were attending. That same year that they moved to the apartment, they took a trip to Houston, Texas. They visited one of her mother's brothers. he is really a cousin of Nancy's mom, but Aurora [Nancy's mom] has alwasy seen him as a brother. The thing was that Aurora loved everything about Houston; so soon after Nancy turned eleven, they moved to Houston, Texas.
Houston was definately different from what Nancy was used to. She found it a solitary, quiet place. She entered middle school late due to the move, but stll did not lose any years. She was placed in honors clases because of her good grades. For teh first time she was in a school with Mexicans and people that were not black. There were alot of black people bu not as much as in the school she went to. For in P.S. 48Q, everyone except for her and later on her brother, were black. Nancy adapted to her new life in Houston, and continued to pursue her life-long interest in the visual arts.
The Velasquez family lived at Uncle's house for almost a year, and that was when they found an apartment not too far from there. The apartment was very nice, Two bed room Two bath and much space for a living room, dinning room, and a big kitchen. The parents were surprised that rent was so much cheaper and that the quality of the apartments was better. they were paying almost $200-$300 less for a better, and bigger apartment.
Nancy changed schools once again. She was now in seventh grade and the school she went to was largely hispanic. In between the hispnics was the division between the Mexicans and the Salvadorians. It was not until she lived for so long Houston that she realized how much rivalry existed between the two groups.
Nancy had much friends, it was not until eigth grade that she found two girls that she could call friends. Eigth grade was the highest peak of socialization the Nancy ever had. She has friends all around the school and knew alot of people. She also had fun with her friends and did things. It was this year that she was introduced to a first glimpse at what rock was. She recalls her first Moshpit as the best she ever had. This was in the time of KoRn and Limp Biskit. That day she moshed, damnced merengue, salsa, cumbias, and everything. It was until today the best day of her life. She will never forget her times at Stevenson Middle school, for with tears in her eyes she can say that it was an episode when she felt like she belonged, like she had friends, like she was beautiful and that people liked her. She had her first boyfriend, she had a birthday party in which she had friends, friends her age, not only family. Never since then has she felt so much bliss inside. Maybe someday that day will come when she will feel as she felt, when she will be as beautiful as she once was, but is no more, when she will have someone she can honestly call a friends, and maybe even someone she can love and love her back.
Then came again time to move, this time to a house and to enter High School. Oh High school, Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions. Blue Ribbon Exemplary School under the US Board of Education. A school where she has found herself. The years she has spent at HP have taught her so much. They have seen the most tears of anytime before and the psychological destruction that developed from memories of her past and from things that happened in her journey.
Nancy turned completely around from a happy, loud girl to what she is now. Nancy would rather not disclose of all her feelings from these past three years, because they hurt her so much inside.
For all of those that have actually read this, thank-you. If you would like to talk to Nancy feel free to e-mail her so that you can maybe have a nice chat online. Thank you once again for reading all of this. Nancy appreciates it much.
written by: Nancy Velasquez
