When I was a little kid, I didn't like how people stereotyped anyone, especially me. I declared to myself to not be a typical black person or a typical girl.

Being a lesbian also caused fear inside of me. Knowing full well that people's ignorance and fear killed others, so my style is to assimulate, so blend into the mass majority so I protect myself from harm. I considered myself a wimp and was also labelled a crybaby. Yes, I get weepy and have learned to hold back my tears and cry inside like most people, so hence my conformity.

I was always considered weird, although I've always considered myself rather boring. I always wished I were more interesting though, but not negatively. More admirably.

Deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up made me go through a list of things I thought I could do, but once I discovered I wanted to become an actor, I tackled the idea, knowing that it sounded unrealistic. Acting chose me, so I'm married to the idea until death do us part.

I can't help being black, but I'm not considered black enough by other blacks. My older brother and my dad only consider my younger brother and I as Canadians, not Jamaicans, eventhough that's part of my history. Anybody who's not Jamaican or black will buy the idea that I'm Jamaican. The difference between a white person and a black person, when each of them says, "You don't act black" is tone; a white person says it with relief in their voice, while a black person says it with disappointment. It's even annoying when a black guy thinks he has the right to "blacken my up" [as my younger brother put it] so I conform to what black is.

I still don't understand how anyone can mistake me for a guy. I may not be the most feminine woman, but I'm not butch at all. Just because I don't wear enough pink or have enough dresses, show more skin, show off my body, wear make-up all the time, have a high voice, dress like the popular girls do is no reason to assume I'm not a woman.