BLACK HISTORY

Born October 4, 1954, the third child of six, into a two-parent family, within a silnge-parent neighborhood. The first school that I attended was Shannon Elementry, where I first met the current mayor of memphis, W.W. Herenton. (He was a fifth grade teacher at that time). Although he is mayor that is not how Shannon Street received public notoriety. By the time I left Shannon, I enrolled in Hollywood School for my seventh grade year. It was my first intergrated school. You see, intergration was not a part of my neighborhood at the time.
I lived through the assassination of both President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and that of Dr. Martin Luther King. I was nine but I remember being in class when they announced that the president had been shot. What I remember the most was that it rained in Memphis like I have never seen it rain since. By the time Dr. King was assassinated I was thirteen, going on fourteen, (in other words almost a full grown teenager).
I attended Cypress Jr. High in the eightth and ninth grades. The following summer trouble came and my parents shipped me to Oakland California to live with my older brother for a while. There I attended Fresno High school. I met some interesting people. It wasn't long before trouble brought me back to Memphis. I enrolled into what was then known as Memphis Technical High School.
The late sixties and the early seventies were formative years for me. They were the best of times, they were the worst of times. I graduated from high school May 25, 1972, (through the strenous efforts of my parents).
I then enrolled in the school of hard knocks, where I spent the next thirty-five years of my life. I was one of those young men who had the answer to everything. The problem : I didn't know what the question was. Right answer, wrong question You figure it out. Eventually I graduated there troo.
The first thing that I learned was that there is a right way to be wrong and a wrong way to be right. It took forever for them to teach me that the only thing worse than a fool is two fools. For the last nineteen years I have been a friend of Bill Wilson, from Akron Ohio, (for those of you who know or may later met Bill.
For lack of a better word I'll say that I am disabled (dis meaning not). I am injured, I have what is known as the Fisher King 's wound. Look it up. I am male a single parent with a special needs child. Her name is Lucinda, but we call her Lucy. Not only is Lucy's needs special but so is Lucy. I've learned so much from her.
Lucy breathes through a tube in her neck and eats through a tube in her stomach. She is totally dependent, but she complains less than most of the independent people that I know. She was born November 9, 1996, two pounds/5 ounces. April 17, 1997, Lucy got sick, the doctors said that she would not make it through the night. They gave up. I cried and prayed. Eleven years later she's still here. She has had three major surgeries, and not once became disgruntled. Lucy has been my strength. Through her I have gained an inner peace that surpasses all understanding. She taught me to become teachable. I've learned medical procedures like putting in trach's, suctioning, chest percussions and putting in gastrointestinal tubing. Through it all I've learned that I can learn.
Everyone compliments me on how well I take care of Lucy but I tell them that they have gotten thing backwards. It's not how well I take care of Lucy but how well she takes care of me. Before Lucy my life was like a wagon with no brakes going down hill. Lucy has been the brakes to my wagon. Because of her I am able to slow down, sometimes even stop, look and listen. She is most truly an angel.
I always said that when things got situated for Lucy that I would go back to school. Last year was the first year that the school did not call me every other day. So here I am.

Manifesto 2nd draft

As I sit before the computer, froze, thoughts of English 1020 runs through my mind. Very seldom am I at a lost for words, but this is one of those times. I think the problem is that I think that I have no computer skills. I formed that opinion years ago when I found out that I had no typing skills. You computer wiz's may laugh, like I do when I wonder how many of you have even seen a typewriter, (you know the forefather to the computer). But like the typewriter and computer, things evolve, change is inedible, so here I am.
No matter what it takes I've got to keep on keeping on. It's just that this manifesto thing goes against all of my survival skills. I can not remember the last time that someone asked me what was my intentions, but you can bet your last dollar , without fear of losing a dime, that they were less than honorable. It's one thing not to be computer efficient , but then it is totally another to make a game plan in writing. It's almost like leaving incriminating evidence at the scene of the crime. The first rule of street life is to never get caught holding.
Life has always came equipped with change up pitches. I'm gonna is the key to failure, nothing has been written in stone since the ten commandments. I've learned that what is valid today, maybe obsolete tommorrow. Oh yea I know that tommorrow never comes, so it's here today, gone today. Therefore I'll take it one day at a time. In 1975, twenty years seemed an eternity to spend in the Navy, in 1998, I looked up and wondered aloud where did the time go. At best I'll try to remain human (there was a time in my life when I wasn't, maybe I'll tell you about it one day), and remember that you are too. Life is short, this time I'll try to be a better parent and person. I'll be wild enough to be seen, but meek enough not to be obscene. I'll try not to step on your toes, because I know that I will not permit you to stand on mine. I'll be the first to admit when I am baffled. But I 'll also share my experience, strenght and hope. I'll try to live as an open book, remembering that I be the only book that someone may read. Strange but history has it's place too. Today I will remember: I AM TEACHABLE AND NOT A KNOW IT ALL.

PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR

Learn to live and live to learn. If I could pattern my life after that of a creature, it would it be that of a roach. I once read that in the event of a nuclear holocaust the roach would probably be the last thing alive. No matter what pimpology you use the name of the game has been adaptability. Yeah I know, the game is to be sold and not to be told, but as simple Simon said to the pie man "let men taste your ware. Therefore here is a sample. If it hurts, then it can not be love. If it's fun, then it should not kill. That means you or me. Dare to be different. Walk in love and remember that Change is the key.

manifesto

There is a principle which is a bar against all information which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance -that principle is contempt prior to investigation.

Hebert Spencer/A Spiritual Experience