And Now a Word from the Blogged-About
Do I like having my mother write about me? It’s complicated.
by India "Inky" Kotis, age 11
May 8, 2009
Mama writes the East Village Inky in a big red leather chair most of the time, and sometimes at the table. She hates it when anybody looks over her shoulder.
She writes other stuff, too -- like "self-mocking autobiographies." I'm not sure what that means. It's probably something like a personal narrative but you tease yourself in it. Plus, she wrote a toddler-book called Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo, and a teenager graphic novel.
She shows my brother Milo and me in the zine as little pictures saying something in a word-bubble like: "WE WANT PANCAKES!"
There's nothing I know that Mama won't write about. My hobbies include reading, drawing, pushing elevator buttons, and going to camp. I think Mama probably writes more accurately about me than what I think is accurate. People get a pretty clear idea of who I am. Maybe, just maybe, reading it on paper is funnier than the real thing (but only a .0005 chance).
I used to get embarrassed when she wrote stuff about me, 'cause I was scared people would take it the wrong way.
I used to get embarrassed when she wrote stuff about me, 'cause I was scared people would take it the wrong way. Once, Mama wrote that I told her, "In sixty years, you'll be 100!" I thought people would think I was accusing my mom of being old and not "respecting my elders." It's not the accusing I was most afraid of, but that people would laugh in a "Ha-ha-I-think-it's-funny-she-said-that!" way.
As for when I was little and she drew me naked, I don't feel embarrassed about that. The way I figure, it'll be a way to remember what I looked like then. Although I wouldn't let her do it now!
I wouldn't mind her writing anything except about my work in school, 'cause some of my school buddies' parents (and even a few of my schoolmates) read the zine. Mama keeps my schooling pretty confidential. If it were to happen, I would hide out in the basement for until at least another year.
©2009 India "Inky" Kotis and Babble Media
About the Author
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India Kotis is a sixth grader at the Institute for Collaborative
Education in Manhattan. She studies performance and playwrighting at
the Atlantic Theater's School for Kids, and enjoys reading, writing,
and making art in her spare time. For the last decade, much of her life
has been documented in her mother's books and zine. (I am India Kotis
and I approve this message.) |
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