In this chapter, Jaquira Diaz talks about her mother and father and their household issues growing up. Jaquira mentions her interests in books and how her father loved books as well. Her brother Anthony was an artist and drew many cartoons and various characters. Throughout the chapter she mentions how her grandmother would constantly abuse her and cut her hair. In the section “Home is a place” (pg 49-52) “Our white Grandmother Mercy hated that my hair was a tangle of dry frizzy curls like my father’s bad hairs she called it.” Mercy didn’t appreciate her hair due to her fathers genes and was very racist towards her. This shows how Mercy was very abusive and racist towards her own granddaughter because of her genes that her father gave her. Jaquira lived under poverty and struggled in school. She would be bullied in school and many students would question her appearance due to her shorter hair. Both her father and mother didn’t get along later on in their relationship and would constantly be fighting. Her mother was battling schizophrenia at a young age. As Jaquira grew up she wanted to be like her father and share a similar life he had. The chapter shows the struggles Jaquira and her family went through and how they approached these hardships living in the projects.