Surviving highschool lele pons how to#
I found that I knew how to make people laugh, and so I held on to that as a life raft in the sea of the most confusing and alienating time in my life. I found I was embraced by my peers for being physically dramatic and, well, funny. For comfort and peace of mind, I turned to entertainment. I knew nothing about American culture, and my differences paralyzed me with anxiety. Now take all of that and add immigrating to the United States, and you have a potential disaster on your hands. Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses: for me, artwork and movement were strengths, while speaking to others using words was a weakness. I felt comfortable drawing out my thoughts and feelings, instead of verbalizing them, so I’d often draw out storyboards-sometimes eight pages long-to explain to my parents or teachers what it was that I wanted. It felt so much more natural to express myself that way. Words didn’t come to me as a child, so I used my body to communicate. For entertainment I had only nature-bird-watching and berry picking and, best of all, stargazing.įor as long as I can remember, language has been a struggle for me. My whole childhood I knew nothing of shopping malls or (gasp!) the internet. I didn’t have dogs or cats as pets, instead I had baby tigers and monkeys as close friends. I mean, can you even? Picture this: baby Lele running barefoot through cornfields miles and miles away from civilization. I was born in Caracas, a major city in Venezuela, but quickly moved to the countryside where I-get this-lived in a barn. Of course, part of your essence comes into this world with you at birth, but it’s really what happens next that starts to shape you into you. So I shall now tell you how I came to be truly Lele, a person I love for better or for worse. My point is: I believe that YOU-ness is something very special, no matter who you are, and it ought to be celebrated. Of course, you wouldn’t call it Lele-ness, you would call it Sara-ness or Jason-ness, or whatever your name might be. Ancient Greek philosophers would refer to this as the “soul”-but I am not an ancient Greek philosopher, I am a teenage girl, and so I will call it Lele-ness. See, every human being (and most animals, I find) have their own unique essence, an essence comprised of deeply rooted qualities that make them who they are. Before I tell you the story of how I vowed to survive high school, I’d like to talk about something near and dear to my heart. It’s a fictional memoir, if such a thing can exist. This is a novel, and the character “Lele Pons” is based on the real Lele Pons (but is not her, exactly), and the stories in this book were inspired by Lele’s life and her Vines (but the story is made up). Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster. Thank you for downloading this Gallery Books eBook.