I lived in Somerset for a year and a half until I was about three years old,
and I had a neighbor who lived one floor down from the apartment my family
rented. I called him "Black Mama," or Black Uncle in my language. I still
remember him vividly. He was tall, and usually had an angry expression on his
face. He constantly knocked on our door and complained about all the noise
the toddler (which was me) was making, especially when I watched my favorite
television show, "Blue's Clues." I would sing and dance and jump all around
whenever it was on; it was my parents' way of keeping me occupied. "Black
Mama" was the first person that truly imbued fear into my heart. The fear that
he would come upstairs and complain about my jumping, singing, and dancing
made me realize that I should never be too obnoxious or too loud whenever
people are around me; it is rude and impolite. This was a valuable life lesson
that I learned early on in my life. When I moved out of the apartment,
however, into the house in which I currently live in, I still watched "Blue's
Clues," but made much less of a ruckus. Sometimes I would get out of control,
however, and my mom's way of calming me down was to tell me that "Black
Mama would come visit me if I didn’t control myself." Her approach worked– I
would then immediately calm down. Today, I'm not addicted to TV anymore
the way I was when I was younger. I learned that the combination of TV and
fear could do a lot to you.