Assignment #2

PART ONE (Interviewing your primary caregiver)

Interviewing my primary caregiver was not possible for me. I lost her after a short battle with gastric cancer on 7/6/2007. I can imagine what she would say but can't force myself to type that out. It was pretty much me and her against the world. I can't believe that I don't have people in my life that can comment on my youth since my mother was 17 years old when I was born. I would have thought that more people would have been willing to "help a sistah out". The only person that I could think of still owes me a favor about getting me some of my mom's pictures. We haven't spoken since my birthday in 2006. Didn't really think that it would be prudent for me to email her with this. But in her defense, I am sure that she would have been more than happy to do it since she is a principal in the Chicago Public Schools.

PART THREE (Do something that you like to do)

One of the things that I said that I liked to do is talk to people. Some friends and I were going to see this show(musical) I Still Love H.E.R. That sounded really cool and I was looking forward to it. Then my phone decided that I hadn't paid it enough attention. It sent over 100 texts to the same person in the span of 15 minutes. While this was happening, my friends were trying to call me and tell me that that they were picking me up. Because my DAMN phone was acting stoopid, the plans were changed. We ended going to a comedy show that didn't start till 10:30. The musical started at 7:30. This gave us PLENTY of time to talk and socialize. This was pretty cool even though constantly being asked to give my opinion like I represent every man on the planet gets annoying after about 20 minutes. The comedy was a great time. It was definitely something that I would do. But if I had known that it was a gay comedy show before I plopped my big ass in the seat, I probably wouldn't have. Some would say that is being closed minded. But, I guess we can't judge every book by its cover.

Assignment #2...To my 5 Friends.

To my Friends...My nutjob teacher from Leadership for Change (she told us to say that hoping that you all wouldn't be playing around and answer the question) wants me to interview 5 people that I call friends. I only have one question to ask.

1. WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE MY GREATEST GIFTS/STRENGTHS?

We all know that I think I am great but what do you think??? Feel free to add to the cipher.

Who Do You Think That You Are?

1. I am taking this class because I took Dr. Rockquemore last semester. I loved the class(Black Families) and the energy that she brings to the class. I figure that I would try it again. I do hope that the letter grade that I receive this time is better than the one that I got on the last go round. Who knew that you actually had to go to class to get a good grade? Who woulda thunk it?

2. I hope to learn something new about me. People rarely have a perception of themselves that is accurate. I would like to think that I do but since losing my mother in 2007, I have learned some things about myself that I don't particularly care for. So I am hoping that the change will start with me so I can lead myself down a better path. No need to care for a bunch of other people's bags. They are just weighing me down.

3. As a child, I was fascinated by many things. Sports cars, the dream of being a third baseman for the Chicago Cubs.
I believe that I used my sense of sight the most. I was always looking around. I didn't really talk much. Some of it was not thinking that I had anything to say and some of it was fear. Analytical now and then too, I would process what I saw in my brain. I spent a lot of time doing that so it didn't leave me much time to speak. Hearing was a very close second. There were many things to be heard. There was the every Sunday morning argument between my maternal grandmother and her husband. These arguments were flavored with words that I would have gotten a beating for using but it was always interesting. Then being sent to the store with a note so I could bring back cigarettes, bread, eggs, and the Sunday paper.
I really thought that I was going to be a baseball player. I would play in the house by myself. Tearing stuff up and daydreaming about being at the plate at the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and 2 outs took up a lot of the daydreaming in my childhood. Of course, when I got to high school that dream was crushed but I still did it. Hell, I still daydream about that now. I don't daydream about my father being proud of me anymore. I no longer care. It was good to get past that phase where I swore that I would mug him if I saw him on the street.
Those earlier dreams didn't really point to any special talents for me. I still want to help people. The thing is to figure out how. Up until my first year at UIC, I thought that I was going to be an accountant. That dream was crushed, then I discovered that I have no real passion for it. I have taken other classes but I still end up with business somewhere in the mix. So I will do things that I think are appropriate and let Heaven lead the way.

4. Emailed my aunt.