They call me "Milk", even though my real name is Monte Nuncio.

I guess when people look at me, it's understandable.  I am Hispanic, yet I look more like a Caucasian.  Very light-blue eyes.  White hair, as white as snow, even though I am 15.  Pale, pale skin that doesn't tan; it burns when I'm out in the sun too long.  That's how I got the nickname of "Milk"; I look more like a glass of white milk than a glass of chocolate milk. 

I've lived with this condition, called albinism, all my life.  I have terrible vision (wear thick, thick glasses, so I can see; without 'em, I'm blind as a bat!), and I have to be careful when out in the sun or else I can get severely burned (and run the risk of getting skin cancer).  It's a pain, but it's all I've ever known.

I am the only one with albinism in my family.  People always act surprised when they see me because I am so fair in comparison to my family who all have dark hair, eyes, skin.  I stick out like a sore thumb, a lily among thorns.  I don't mind it most of the time (except for the sunbrn/skin cancer risk thing, or the fact that I can't see 20 feet in front of me without my thick, Coke-bottle lenses), or having to use special magnifyers, so I can read or write like anyone else.

Other than that, my life is super.  :)  I'm a normal teenager:  I love to play baseball, basketball, or football (I do that when the sun goes down, before it gets too dark; if I do play outside in the dark, I make sure I have plenty of light so I can see what I'm doing), I love to surf the Internet, play games, sing, play my guitar, watch "South Park", "Family Guy", or "The Simpsons" on television (those are my favorite shows), and listen to the latest songs from Green Day or Black Eyed Peas (my faovrite groups), in addition to rap artists like JayZ, Chris Brown, Snoop Doggy Dog, and Sean Puff Daddy Combs.

I am the oldest in my family.  Besides me, there's my mami and papi, my abuela and abuelo, my hermanos T.J. (14), Miguel (12), and Paco (11), and my hermanas Ascencion (10), Morgana (9), Treasure (8), Rosalita (6), and Estrella (3).  There's eight ninos en mi familia.  :)  Mucho ninos!  LOL

And all of them look normal excepting for me.  *sigh*

At school, I have tons of friends, even though I look different than my Hispanic compadres.  In that way, I am very blessed; I thank God every day for my abilities to do things and to live with such a difficult condition.  It's not easy being legally blind or not looking like most Hispanic kids, but I do alright; I could be a lot worse off like not being able to see at all or dying in a hospital bed of cancer! 

Well, I gotta go:  school.  Study hall.  Teacher is giving me murderous looks for writing instead of studying, so I gotta run.  Take care and may God bless you!  I will write in here again; adios, muchachos!  Hasta luego!

~"Milk" (Monte) Nuncio, aged 15, Tempe, Arizona.  :)