Redefining realness: My path to womanhood, identity, love, & so much more

Mock sits with her mother, while Chad and Jeffrey—Mock’s youngest half-brother—feel each other out, both battling for the role of family baby. Mock thinks about Hawaii, which “can only be appreciated from the locals’ perspective” (88) in its mix of food, language, and cultures. Mock considers how her voyage mirrors that of her ancestors. She remembers waking up every morning with itchy eyes and a running nose from plant allergies, and how there were always roosters around her first home on Owawa Street, some of which had been used in cock fighting, like their neighbor’s rooster: “He was there when I punched his owner in the face after hearing him call Chad and Jeff ‘niggers’ while shooting hoops in his driveway” (89). Many of her surrounding neighbors had very nice houses and were pretending to be rich, even if they couldn’t afford the American Dream, just as Mock was pretending to be the perfect son for her mother. Cori, her boyfriend, and their two daughters live in the house with them. Mock irons and lays out her mother’s clothes for her: “In my twelve-year-old brain, I thought that if I ironed her clothes, cut my