“Tenille, you are so smart! You can be anything you want to be when you grow up!”   These were the words of affirmation spoken over me as a child. My grandmother would lift me off the ground, and gently sit me on the edge of bathroom vanity. I would twist and squirm until my feet safely rested inside sink and my body faced the streaked mirror. Nora would proceed to pull my hair back into taut pig tails, and I would wince with pain as she tightened the rubber bands, ...