When Jeannette started seventh grade she was the first person her age to work for the school newspaper, The Maroon Wave. She was seeking out a place where she could belong, and have and identity without worrying about people teasing her for being poor or dirty or criticizing her parents. While working with the school newspaper Jeannette discovers what she wants to do with her life she later ends up doing: journalism. It is important to her that she not keep her work to herself or experience it alone, like her mother, but rather that it exist as dialogue between her and the rest of the world.
