"Mary had a little glam that grew into a lot. And everywhere that Mary went, she wasn't hard to spot. But on the day she started school, she caught some by surprise. Sweet Mary shrugged and hugged her mom. "I must accessorize."' --Page 4 of dust jacket.

"R. Eric Thomas didn't know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went--whether it was his rich, mostly white, suburban high school, his conservative black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city--he found himself on the outside looking in. In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Eric redefines what it means to be an "other" through the lens of his own life experience. He explores the two worlds of his childhood:...