memoir writers homework/black sheep of the family.

I guess I was destined to be a black sheep in my family,but perhaps not the only one.In fact I sometimes wonder if we are not a whole family of black sheep,with maybe just a single white one thrown in to make life interesting.For certain we've all had our troubles,but the one doing the pointing and saying "black sheep"has never even tried walking in my shoes,so I really don't care?Except that she is my sister,the other black sheep,so I guess I really do care.

I've never really understood the term black sheep anyway.It seems to me that it means rogue or outlaw,though not always in an uncomplimentary way.Sometimes it just means non-conformist,to which I proudly admit,being as I am somewhat of an iconoclast.I f you want to be an iconoclast,being a black sheep is part of the job description.

There seem to be a number of ways of becoming a black sheep,aside from normal sheep genetics. But since I'm, in part from Western New Brunswick we won't get into sheep genetics.The mere mention of Sheep,DNA and Western New Brunswick in the same sentence has been known to make some people uncomfortable.

One of the dynamics that sometimes goes on between people from Atlantic Canada and those who live in Atlantic Canada,but are not from there is this whole"from here" and "from away" kind of thing.It's really a sort of racism,which I'd always heard of but never been quite aware of in my own life until just recently.I've heard of school kids being beaten for "being from away."In fact,I recently, in a web search to locate my fathers sister,my aunt Rosanna,discovered that she was making a big deal in her home community about her grand daughter being bullied at school by students objecting to her Alberta origins.But I never dreamed it would happen to me.I've always considered myself an Atlantic Canadian,just as a routine part of my identity.But it's not my whole identity.I've lived away for many years,out of necessity for the most part.But this last time I went back,I find I'm being accused of not being there for my family for all those many years.I'm somehow morally lacking because I moved to Alberta in 1979,even though my parents supported me in this decision.So I wish the families black sheep would explain how I came to "be from away"Because I really don't understand it.