The first time I became aware of her was in the 8th grade. It was my second day at the new middle school, in the new state. We had moved to our new city about a month before and it was culture shock to me. We had lived in a very white, military community, in Connecticut. My class knew one girl who's first language was Spanish and we were blown away by it. We all thought it was so cool. The poor girl was constantly asked, "How do you say (insert curse word here) in Spanish?" My first day at this new school, I found myself seated between 3 different languages, not knowing a single word. I was floored. There were kids of all racial backgrounds at this new school. I wasn't afraid, I just wished all the kids at my old school could hear what I was hearing. The following day was a half day of elective classes. This was a year round school which meant we went to school for three months, had a month off, and Wednesdays were half days. We got to choose two elective ...