Real Life @ UMES : February 2013

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Calling All Hawks

An Elective on Perspective

by UMES Junior Brittany Johnson

Calling All Hawks

I can’t take reading anymore emails about fatal events that took place on campus.

This is a hawk alert.

I’m calling all of my hawks; near, far, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, short, tall, etc. Why? My hawks are in trouble. The humanity of people can no longer be relied upon to yield morality and decency. Humanity is becoming inhumane.

Anytime a man can come to college for a diploma, and leave as a flagged email, you have to question things.

Is this civilization? There’s nothing civilized about being stabbed in the chest while in a parking lot when you have a quiz Monday morning. He had a quiz Monday morning. How do I know? He was in my class. We had a quiz Monday morning. Judging from his GPA, he would have passed it. You’ll never understand how present someone’s presence is until you have to take their name off of the roster. Three years of tuition, studying, and prayers from a mother back home that was all for naught.

I’m asking, why are you here? No, really. The street life is popular. If that’s what you want, stay on the streets. Travelling and shooting is great, join the army. Having sex all day, although exhausting I’m sure, is pretty freaking awesome! So, join a brothel. But, if education is what you want, go to college. If you want to learn a better way, make a better future, and leave a better trail, take college seriously.

Do you bleed maroon and gray, or do you just wear it? If you bled it you would count every diploma as important as yours and wouldn’t hinder anyone else’s access to it.

But, I digress. This is college; conflict resolution isn’t a prerequisite.

I need my hawks to be present for not only ourselves but for one another. This campus should be so that if anyone wanted to hurt someone on university grounds they would have to conquer a campus of fighting hawks. Or maybe we’re called the fighting hawks because of what we do to each other. The worst part about the situation is that there were no gains, only losses. Four lives were irreversibly affected. One was lost, and three are wandering. What can we do? The people who weren’t even there? We can handle our business better so that no one else’s mother will have to be called on a Saturday night to be informed that their child is no longer a student here. Tuition is high but that’s not a way that parents wish to get out of paying it.

There’s a cycle. Who’s going to break it?

R.I.P Edmond A. St. Clair; aka Trini Wes.

You’ve just taken, An Elective on Perspective.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Funny Things Students Say

Kathryn Barrett-Gaines, Ph.D.

UMES Director of African American Studies

Funny things students say.

Kathryn Barrett-Gaines, Ph.D.

“I don’t know if my keys are clean enough to be in a baby’s mouth!” I overheard this odd sentence while strolling in Central Park one New York day. I enjoy the one odd sentence heard out of the context of its conversation. One odd sentence is worth a thousand words.

I sometimes hear the one odd sentence on the UMES campus. UMES has funny people. I love funny people.

One evening in November 2012, I was walking past Kiah, carrying my inflatable globe. My globe is really a beach ball. I carry my beach ball world to all my classes. My beach ball is a satellite view of the world. I reject those globes which are plastered with a political map. The actual world has no borders or lines. The actual world is land and sea and clouds and living things. To teach this idea is the reason I carry my beach ball globe.

So, I’m carrying my globe in front of Kiah. I pass a group of young men walking the opposite direction. One clever young man says, about me but not to me, “That’s the original GPS, right there.”

That guy is funny. I love funny people. I hope that guy enrolls in one of my courses before he graduates. Funny people are smart. I love funny people. I love smart people.

In fact, I hope he enrolls in my course on the history of black comedy. I’m offering Black Comedy this Spring, on Thursdays from 5 to 7:30 pm. We will read, think, write, laugh, and perform. The course is HIST 489-201, Special Topics. Black Comedy is a special topic.

I teach comedy because I can. I can teach anything I like because everything has a history and everything teaches history. I teach comedy because good comedians are important intellectuals who deal in ideas with their great minds. Not all comedians are good comedians; my job as professor is to weed through and bring forth the good.

What is important in life? Compassion, justice, and comedy. Come by on Thursday evenings, Henson 1111, for a little of all three.

UMES Family!

Monday, February 11, 2013

The Chick in the Bathroom Pic

An Elective on Perspective

by UMES Junior Brittany Johnson

The Chick in the Bathroom Pic

Hey, guys! I’ve missed you. Hopefully the time we’ve spent apart has been as beneficial for you as it has been for me. I have been able to lay a good amount of my demons to rest. I’ve finally stood face to face with the person who’s wronged me for so long . . . the person who has held me back, put me into compromising positions, made me think less of myself, and at the end of the day, has kept me from reaching my ultimate potential. Alas, I’ve stood face to face with ME. Yea, that’s right! I’m the sick son-of-a-gun that’s been holding me back. In my professional development class last semester, a guest speaker said something that stuck with me: “Wherever you go, there you are.” Oh, the irony of it all. It’s that awkward moment when you’re looking for someone to blame, and you’re the only one standing there.

When you realize that your legs, and how far you extend yourself, solely determines how far you go, you are at that point where you are simultaneously boundless and liable. I have a great opportunity ahead of me. One that far outweighs anything I’ve ever had the chance of doing. My excitement, however, has been spiked with the mocker, self doubt. And oh, what a mocker it is. It’s that small voice in the back of your head telling you that although you have the tools, you are not capable enough to use them. Do you know what I said to that little voice . . . that voice that is incessant about making you throw in the towel before you’ve even started the race? That voice is a little nag that has to point out the fact that your cup, although half full, is half empty. Do you want to know what I said? “Shut the full cup!”

Because, you see, my cup is indeed full. In fact, it is pressed down, shaken together, and running over. The test is hard? You decide how long you study. The job is too early? You decide what time you wake up. Your woman is no good? You decide how long you deal with her. Someone has lied to you? You decided to believe them. No matter how far out of line someone else can get, it only affects your equilibrium when you allow it to knock you of balance. It’s inevitable that you will be negatively affected by other people. But it’s up to you, just as everything else is in your life, how you react. And yes, how you react determines the outcome; and many outcomes determine your future. Michael Jackson focused on the man in the mirror. I’ll start work on the chick in the bathroom pic. *Insert duck face* I am facing me, the good, the bad, and the hideous. I decide my future and I’ve chosen success.

How far can you take yourself?

Have you met you?

You’ve just taken, An Elective on Perspective.

UMES Family!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Who Are You?

Who Are You?
by UMES Graduating Senior Kyla Bibbins

Who are you? Besides your name that was most likely given to you by someone other than you, who are you and what are you about? For some of us this question can be answered easily, and then there are some of us who may find the question difficult to respond to. At the beginning of my college career I was struggling to answer the question for myself.

When I arrived at UMES back in August of 2009, I thought I was confident and sure of myself. Until eventually the reality set in that I was about two hours away from home and away from the everyday influence of my family and friends. To most people they would assume I was homesick, but I knew the feeling was deeper than me being homesick, my self-confidence was slowly starting to diminish. It was as if I was all alone for the first time in my life. Almost everything that I was familiar to was no longer an aspect of my life. It was like I had to start over with everything that I had worked hard for in High school. In High school I did well with academics, participated in various extracurricular activities and had a job for most of my high school career. When I got to UMES, I did not have a job, did not know what extracurricular I wanted to participate in and I was doing “Ok” with my academics, but not nearly as well as they were in High school. These factors contributed to me doubting myself. As much as I am reluctant to say, I was also kind of intimidated by some of the other students that seemed so polished and ready for college. I began questioning myself, my passion, my goals and my happiness.

So I began to explore ways for me to express myself. For me writing poems and writing rap songs made it easy for me to vent about my inside feelings. This form of expression was something that I enjoyed doing since I was about 14 years old. But it wasn’t until attending college that I felt I was comfortable enough to share my rap songs and poems with the rest of the world. This expression actually was a networking tool that allowed me to meet many people here at UMES. I started to realize that by being true to my own interests and talents, everything started to fall into place. Through sharing my music I met people that told me about student organizations and campus jobs that I may be interested in. It was as if everything that had once satisfied my self-assurance was now unimportant. What became most important to me was doing things that made me happy- writing poetry and making music. For the last two years I have continued to stay true to what makes me happy, I even changed my major from English Education to English so that I can take more courses that concentrated in Telecommunication. Some people frowned upon my decision and even told me that when I graduated I was going to be “jobless” or “broke”. But I don’t care what other people think or feel, all I know as that I enjoy courses focused in Telecommunications , they make me happy, and when I’m happy I feel good and as selfish as it may seem, all I really want is to be happy. Besides, I work too hard to graduate and be “jobless”, or “broke”.

“Who am I?” I have finally come to realize that I am a result of everything I am passionate about. I am passionate about poetry, music and people.

Again I will ask you… “Who are you?”

Kyla Bibbins

UMES Family!