Victoria Jennifer-Lynn Atkinson, Student; Beckley, West Virginia
“I go to school. It’s boring ‘cause you’ve got to do work. I swing on my homemade swing. We have a tire swing, and a wooden swing, my Mom and my Dad made me, and my brothers and I made. [I like to] play outside [and] video games.
(Do brothers pick on you?) (Nods head) We wrestle a lot. My big brother is Robert. He acts like he’s gonna put a booger on me, but he’s not. A booger! He does this, and he acts like he’s picking his nose. He always tickles me. I sound like a goat whenever [he does that].
My Dad was in the Army. He tried to create a new world for other people. It’s important ‘cause he was a protector of the Army and of our family. (And U.S.?) Yeah. He just makes me proud. He broke his back while he was in the Army.
My Mom is one of the Lilly’s. She was in the Lilly family. She still is, but now she’s an Atkinson.
We usually do girl stuff, like you go to the mall. We go to my Grandma’s sometime. I stay the night with her sometimes, and I play games with her. Sometimes I trick her. I trick her, into giving me some coffee. (Too young for coffee?) No! I’m not.
She plays with her dogs with me. Pedro and Carmen. Pedro bites.
My dog is] a German Shepherd, same as Carmen. Her name’s Luna. Me and her play outside. Sometimes we play tag. I say, ‘Tag!’ and I run. She runs after me. She pushes me down, and tags me. Every time she pushes me down, she licks me. She barks at me, like she’s, ‘Arf!’, and it sounds like she’s saying, ‘Tag!’ and we do the same thing over and over again.
(Hang out with Grandpa) Sometimes. I like playing with his chickens. I like doing that stuff. He used to have a deer named Rufus, but it died. Somebody killed it. He has a duck. I call him Quack Quack, ‘cause he likes quacking a lot. He lives outside with the chickens, but we have to feed ‘em sometimes. He’s just like my brother.
[There are] a lot of animals around; horses, bears, deer, foxes, raccoons. I like deer, and I like cats.
(Are you a hillbilly?) No, that’s Dad [and] that’s my brother. I’m not. [It means] that you do hillbilly stuff, and you go fishing, and you make your own homemade boat, with wood and stuff. No. I don’t wanna drown. (Laughs)
I want to be an animal shelter person, do good in school, and stuff like that. I want to move [away] ‘cause I want to ‘splore the world, and see what else I can find.”