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Allison Jones

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My name is Allison. I am 17 years old and I am a senior at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights. I live in the Marcy section of Bedford Stuyvesant with my two little brothers and little sisters, mother and grandmother. In my free time I like to read, write, hang out and volunteer. (Spring 2003)

Interesting Fact: I lost a piece of my thumb when a door slammed shut on it.

Story Description: Being Black
Allison spends her time in two very different Brooklyn neighborhoods: Brooklyn Heights where she works and goes to school, and Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) where she lives with her family and gets teased for "talking white." Allison's friends at school accept her and her academic goals, but Allison feels the Black people in her neighborhood conform to negative stereotypes and expect her to do the same. Before Allison leaves both neighborhoods to go to Haverford College, she is exploring what it means to her to be Black.

Mentor: Stephani Shelton is a freelance broadcast journalist. She is also a business and medical/health reporter whose work has sent her all over the US and Europe. Recently, she worked as a reporter for WWOR (UPN 9), WNBC (Ch 4) and WPIX (WB11). Before that, Stephani was a CBS News correspondent for ten years; she spent most of that time doing radio. Stephani really enjoys training others in journalism -- whether in New York or in places as far away as Central and Southern Europe (most recently in Albania). (Spring 2003)