In kindergarten. The boy who sits across from you, in a fury over your taking a crayon he wanted from the shared crayon bin, says, Your nose is flat and ugly. You’re stunned into silence. How have you never noticed this about your nose? It is the first time you see yourself in the eyes of this person, and from then on you are constantly aware of how you might appear in those eyes. Your mom advised: You tell him his nose is big and pointy and ugly. But you didn’t. His nose was not, and you were too scared and wounded to retaliate.
