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+1— To the left is my father’s little apple (manzanita). My parents said I looked like a little apple when I was born. To the right is the nurse, Diana, who helped deliver me.

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+1— Real fresh as a freshman in high school.

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+1— Mami and Papi looking real ’70s. Two-year-old me in Boston Commons. The British are coming! The British are coming! 

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I had no teeth but I was a great makeup artist. Me and Mama.

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+1— Papi and me at our favorite place in the whole world, Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts. 

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+1— My fi rst communion, laughing at Gaby’s imitation of one of the church ladies urging us to blow out our communion candles. (Apaguen la luz, apaguen la luz.)

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+1— Right to left: Gabriela, me, and Dana at our eighth-grade graduation.

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+1— Sabrina and me on July 21, 2000, in Dedham, Massachusetts. My fi rst grown-up birthday dinner at Uno’s with the girls. Picture credit: Gabriela V. 

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+1— Me and Papi, Mama and Vanilla Ice—(cough) I mean my big bro Eric. 

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+1— Hey, where are you taking my parents? I’m the one in stripes, take me! Take me! 

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Me and Gaby, sophomore year, in the BAA music room. This picture hung all year in our humanities teacher’s room. As you can see, some hater vandalized it. Joke’s on you, pahtna! 

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Senior recital day with friends from the music department at Boston Arts Academy.

Me on graduation day from BAA. Of course, I thought I was the only one graduating.

Bright and early and hard at work at Barnes & Nizzles.

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Top: Sophomore year at Regis College. The orientation leaders and me. Middle: Junior year study abroad, Roma, Italy. In the back, looking sexy as hell, is a super-old Italian statue. Bottom: Venice, Italy, being the ultimate tourists.

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My twenty-second birthday in Boston. 

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Makin’ dat money.

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Peter Berkrot’s beginner acting class at Boston Casting. 

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+1— Me and the shiny Big Apple. 

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+1—Some of the Orange Is the New Black crew and Maritza Ramos. 

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With my boyfriend by the sea.

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Me and POTUS. 

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