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The Year 1999 — My Life as a Thirteen-Year-Old
Inspired by my podcast episode with Aarushi Gupta — a 13-year-old podcaster and aspiring behavioral economist from Gurugam, North India
The year is 1999; I am a 13-year-old JSS 3 student of Federal Government Girls’ College, Oyo. A year later, I will have my very first crush but wouldn’t have known this then. Sometime in May, my country will make a seismic shift from the autocratic, military regimen to a less covert kind that will be laden with corruption. The sky is large, and the grasses are always green, it is the year before Y2K, plantain is my favorite food, and my life is simple.
I am an avid lover of country music and R&B, listening to the greats such as Don Williams, Dolly Parton, Westlife, and Celine Dion. Children of the World and Tales by Moonlight by Aunty Nkem are my favorite TV shows, stories from books by Enid Blyton, Heartsongs, and James Hadley Chase are the subject of my thoughts and imaginations. I will get on buses to make my way to the public libraries and bookshops in Onipanu and Yaba to borrow books, study, and buy music tapes.
