"Pumpkin Head! Leprechaun! these are the names kids like me are called for having stand-apart-from-the-crowd red hair.
God has a sense of humor for sure. I was the only one of four kids in an Italian family to have flaming red hair.
Middle school was tough -- that’s where the jokes started.
'Hey Pumpkin did you find your pot of gold?'
In high school the jokes began to die down until I began finding little gold-colored coins in my locker.
While this was just a silly joke, it still stung, as had the names I had been called. When you're growing up, the last thing you want to be is different if it's uncool.
I would have retreated into an 'I don't care' place of self-defense but for my grandmother. In my sophomore year, she gave me this chainmail ring. She told me she once had red hair but it was now snow white with age.
She said this ring reminded her of my strength because it looked like the links in armor.
Now that I am in college, those old nicknames don’t sting anymore. I still wear the ring though, in remembrance of my grandma and to remind myself how strong I am. This pumpkin head has finally found her true gold. It had been on her head all along."
Isabelle Rossetti ('21)- Community and Justice Major/ Philosophy Minor
#stopbullying#fearless#chainmail
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