NSU pt. 3 of 3 The Finale

Norfolk State University is a place that has allowed me to ask so many questions. Dealing with a group of students looked at as a minority I see so much diversity. The way each of us think, our backgrounds, our language all differ and has allowed me to grow. It has allowed me to see the good things and the faults of people. I have always looked at this university as a sample of the world from the professors, the students, and even the cafeteria workers all are a sample of whats outside these borders. This school has show me how easily people can be manipulated and enjoy being comfortable in complacency. It's not the students often times it's the institution that lags behind popular culture. In the end I hope we as a university don't lose our culture and our traditions that allowed as to be great with less in the past. I hope we continue to be a true HBCU that allows black students to be educated on our culture and the world thats ahead of us. Be understanding and BEHOLD THE GREEN AND GOLD!

Is it all about the check?

Money does not mean a lot to me! Well, not really especially when I have some or I know I'm about to get it. For now I'm can be content with $20 a day but one day I will have resposibilities and that same $20 will be a joke. No matter what i would like to believe money would then matter when it's not all about me. The question is what am I willing to do to get this money. If I was asked to mockery a mockery of myself to sustain a lifestyle then what? Whatever it is I just want it to be worth more than the dollar that I receive when the task is done. I would like to enjoy my job and not have to sell myself to something I don't care about or believe in. Some look as it as making a living or they say "I'm just doing what I gotta do". I just hope that when I do get the "check" it's doing something I want to do.

NSU Blog Series Pt. 2 of 3

I don't understand the attitudes of the people who went here and that currently attend the school. It seems like stereotypes about the school are more accepted than facts and achievements of a University that is not so bad. NSU has given me alot since I've been here and I'm able to see a lot of good in the University. Being involved on campus has done more for me than the classroom and being part of organizations such as Student Ambassadors and Student Goverment has given me an advantage and a certain type of pride that I don't see in many students here. When I listen to people complain I think thats easier for them to do than educate themselves or be active in anything. Then it's the people who transfer from NSU to other university and act as if they've just got a ticket into heaven. Nothing is perfect its all in what you put into it thats here at NSU or any other university. As students we need to stop accepting the ideas that otheers put out about this University and create our own experiences that are positive. The ideas from other s are from a Norfolk State that they attended and sometimes only heard about its not the NSU of today or the one of the future.

Director's Cut

Today in class when I looked at the traits applied to people of color in TV or film there is one 1970's sitcom that stood out. "Good Times" was all I could imagine when the professor spoke of the intellecyual and moral traits of people of color in this case African Americans. "Good Times" was a very successful show but it gave America a view of a poor family barely making it to get by living on Chicago's southside one of Americas most well known ghettos. One of the characters JJ the oldest brother fell into the stereotypical roles for black actors playing the part of a loud mouthed, scheming comedic actor. This show isn't the only one most black sitcoms are nothing like the popular white sitcoms like Friends or Seinfeld where characters are working and often times educated. Watching those sitcoms the comedians make the jokes they aren't the joke. I wonder does America wants to see any smart black comedic actors on major network television. Many have tried like Martin Lawrence and Bernie Mac but not since Bill Cosby has America had the chance to see black successful people on television.

NSU Pt.1 of 3

These next series of blogs will be dedicated to Norfolk State University the people, the institution and the attitudes of both. Since I've been a student here I've heard more negative comments from the people who make up the university than good about the University that they play a part in creating. What I expected from a HBCU community is totally different than what I got in my years here. I was expecting to submerged with black culture and the triumphs of my people through education and cultural experiences on campus. Then on second thought maybe I got what I expected. A school with young black people not yet educated on the world as a whole but their world and where they came from and brought their language, values , and other cultural aspects to one place. Still I expected more sometimes from the students and often times from the professors classroom. But when neither side is pushing the other there is no progress. All I ask for is more from this university not for myself but for the future. From the students who make this school what it is bring something to the table because often times in class I think to myself "nobody could be this unknowing of common things"such as politics, current events, and history. I guess in different cultures nothing is common and we all bring something different to the table.....

Venus v. Mars

Rapper Jay Z has a song on his latest album titled "Venus vs. Mars" the song cleverly talks about how a woman compliments him as well as opposes him. This is a struggle that both men and women struggle with but find intriguing about the opposite sex. Constantly both sides deal with attitudes and stereotypes in a relationship that come to no end but instead transforms. Through the love and hate of a relationship it's evident neither sex can live with out the other. Even in homosexual relationships the need to have a relationship can prove releiving and stressful sometimes in the blink of an eye. Often times those differences help a person mesh better with their mate. It usually offers a different perspective to something they had only looked at one way. Men and womwn compliment each other even when the lines of communication seem fuzzy at times. The things that make the most difference make the most sense when a relationship is being formed. If either men or women knew the answer to one another it wouldn't be such a challenge and a reward when you finally getthe one you've been looking for.

Homecoming

In class this week a valid point was brought up about "home"and how we view it when we leave. Since I've moved away from Richmond, Va every time I go back it feels less like the home that I knew. Things change like a coffee shop may have closed or a new building has been built but thats expected. Everything though has changed including my feelings about a place that was all I knew and the only place I had a relationship. Since I've been in college I have seen many places as being home from travels and experiences home could now be Norfolk, Atalanta, New York or Miami all places that I have become familiar with and that could all possibly be home one day. When I go back to the place where I originated, the place that made me; conversations are different, the waves on the street when I pass by have decreased a little and I see change in a city that is growing but I look at as stalled. When people see me they ask questions like I had died at school and I magically came back to life like "Oh my god you stayed in school?". When people ask "Am i coming back home?"and I give then a smug look and answer "No" they wonder why and I think because they never left home. On Kanye West graduation album he gives my accurate feelings about home.

and it migh not be such a bad idea if I never went home again.-Kanye West

College Shock aka Culture shock

Things may not be as close as they appear or as far away. When I came to Norfolk State in January of 2005 I was here on campus but so far away from the culture. I felt all the signs of culture shock anxiety and frustration being the two highest. I went from being a big fish in a small pond to being a tadpole in an ocean. Still being in shock it was hard to figure out who to talk to or even how to communicate with these people. Even though we were all around the same age and from different places; I was an outcast the community had been made. So I was the new kid trying to understand the do's and don't's of this new culture that I thought would not be much different from home. I made it though pretty much to the top level of this college culture so the shock is gone for the moment but can easily come back in the morning. Hey it's college anything can happen

Just lost one

As news reports swirl about current president o Norfolk State University it leaves students with questions. Newspapers have given there reason but spartans feel differently especially me. The woman seems like a good president enrollment increases, infrastructure on campus and during her tenure a huge anonymous donation, but the board of visitors still doesn't think that's enough. Some see as not enough progress on the technological side but then again Rome wasn't built in a day. This loss is doing nothing for the often negative views of my university that I often times find greatness in. NSU needs to be pushed like President Meyers attempted to do not strangled with old views about a school that was once a party school but seems more controlled and scholarly in its present state. So who will be man or woman now to carry the green and gold torch and help us gain the positive accolades we most surely deserve.

Do I know enough about me?

This week in class we watched the movie "The Debut" in a particular scene the whit husband of a Filipino woman seemed to know more about their culture than the Filipinos. Not from experiencing their culture first hand and learning it that way but he had educated himself with facts. That led me to ask the question "Do I know enough about me?" Of course I learned about influential African Americans who did things first or were a benefit to my race but do I have enough facts? Often times the scholars of the African American diaspora or the African American experience are not of my race. So why are there not more scholars on my culture by people who have lived and experienced it and not just read a book? Not that others don't have the right to explore my history but the fact that as an African American man I should do more to explore and understand my own history and culture.

There's a problem in Portsmouth, VA!!!!

There is an apparent problem in Portsmouth, VA. The is problem is at Woodrow Wilson High school where 4 out of 10 students repeat the ninth grade causing many of them to be high school dropouts. This school come in second to Petersburg High school in central Virginia. This school suffers from a trend in American high schools call the "ninth grade bulge". This occurs when students enter the ninth grade and don't pass the first time. Ninth grade has been the place where most students decide on whether they are goingto be high school droputs or not. This problem occurs in urban high school settings where students come from non traditional low income homes. Someone needs to help these kids becasethey are Americas future and it's not fair no matter what school school students go to they need to be encouraged to go further with their education. Who's going to save their souls?

Does he deserve it?

Last week our current president Barack Obama received the Noble Peace Prize. immediately after winning my twitter was in an uproar. From many who supported and congratulated the win while others like myself questioned it. So I had to ask myself, am I the only black person who thinks this was a little premature? Of course all of the conservative pundits share my thoughts but what about my peers and the millions of others who voted for President Obama in the past election. I don't want to seem like the one who rains on the parade but the question had to be asked. I was part of Obama mania but I'm over it so enough what the awards about what may happen for the future. Let's focus on the current and save the peace prize for later.

My first blog

This is my first time trying this blog thing so here goes nothing!!!