[Tall One In Black]

I was raised as a Baptist on the Bible Belt. I was taught to fear God - eternal damnation, fire and brimstone, preacher yelling at the pulpit, all that. Everything was a sin, and one sin could damn you to hell forever. No swearing, no sex, no drinking, no dancing. (Yes, folks, dancing is a sin.) And definitely no questions. If you question, that means you're not a true believer... and that, of course, means you're going to hell.

Then I went to a Catholic school. Strict dress code just a tiny step below a uniform. Not even the slightest misbehavior was tolerated. Nuns teaching sex ed in a class called "Marriage." Mass in the gym. Reminders that it's too easy to end up in hell... and with Catholicism, there are even more ways to get there.

Even today, I carry the remnants of the fear and guilt ingrained into me during my childhood. When my hair started falling out, a little piece of me thought I was being punished for being proud of my hair and enjoying the compliments I got on it.

... still in the process of reprogramming...