By Way of La-Fayetta

It is common in small towns, especially if they are far from larger towns, for them to be known for something. Dotted along my route are various names that I only figure out by pronouncing them phonetically, my Daddy would say country because usually it comes out with something more similar to my own Granny’s Mississippi drawl.  She was born in Mississippi back when African Americans did not have all the opportunities.

Granny, left Buena Vista, Mississippi in 1949 with a nursing degree, a suitcase, and a smile, headed for St. Louis, Missouri for more opportunities. The state of Missouri said that the Mississippi schooling was no good, so she had to start over again and ended up making a living caring for premature babies at BJC Barnes Jewish Hospital.  In Mississippi, the schooling was fairly different; oddly enough on the first day of school the teacher added a suffix to her name, which is not present on her birth certificate. In fact it only reads F.A. What do you think that spells? My daddy would say, “It could spell Fiona Apple.” No, no it spells Faye.

            My granny suggests paths that I could take, as she looks over her coffee table with Michelle Obama gracing the cover of Vogue magazine displayed on it, I tell her about my bitter semester and the optimism which lies with the NACUFS internship that I landed for the summer. When I tell her that I am making the journey on my own she calls me ‘Superwomen,’ which surprises me because people like My Granny are increasingly rare and I have feeling they will soon disappear.

            On my journey, my GPS gave directions that would otherwise be cryptic to me due to my lack of longitude and a latitude skill that makes for bad map reading in general. I was lead through the twist and the turns of middle of nowhere roads, soon requiring a pit stop in Fayette County, the familiarity became interesting proof. Not all things are given but I am so excited to be given the opportunity to be at Purdue University, in West Lafayette for the NACUFS Summer 2013 Internship. Upon my arrival to Purdue, I called my Granny and in my ghetto voice bestowing a rather fitting nickname, La-Fayetta.