The Coolest Story Ever

Hey! Sorry (to the 3 of you who may check this regularly) that I haven't posted in awhile... I'm living the struggle life and only have computer access when DA Monkay leaves her computer and/ or power cable at my house. Anyway, back to the lecture at hand....

   As you may or may not know I have lived a ridiculous life. I have done many ridiculous, outrages and/ or awesome things. The "Coolest Story Ever" comprises none of that, at least not in the way that I'm used to telling stories.  As a note, I pride myself in being able to tell amazing stories without any embellishment, life is awesome enough and the story tells itself. I will try my best to tell this  tale as accurately as I remember it (even though it's been tenish years). I should probably refer back to the time that I told this on tape but I'd probably ball my eyes out and I'm too trill for that .
  One day a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away my family and I went to the Merritt Canteen. I remember it was really rainy and cold. When we were leaving my mom, brother, sister and I were going to pile in the family vehicle and drive home. That was not to be. My mom saw these older women who were standing outside of the Canteen obviously freezing. My mom turned and talked to the women and I could see the gears turning in her head. I knew what was about to happen. It made no sense to me what she was about to do but she was going to do it. I'm around 3000% sure that my siblings had no idea what was about to transpire.... My mom told us to wait while she took the women home. She made us wait, in a city we know nothing about (we had only been living here a few years) while she brought three complete strangers home.
   I admit, this story doesn't seem that cool written down. Maybe you had to experience it, maybe you had to know my mom to really feel it, maybe it really is that cool and I just don't know it. I'm not too sure myself. What I do know is that the most compassionate thing I have ever seen in my entire life. That doesn't seem like what would be the coolest story (other than it being about my family) but it really really is.


I said once that I would consider my life a success if I grew up to be half the person my mom was and 9ish years later, I still stand by that.

Bad Token?

    I like being a token. What it means to me is that can seamlessly transition from any corner in America to any boardroom in America and feel completely comfortable. I know exactly how to relate to both drastically different segments of American society. It's actually really cool. I know very few people who I can take from the comfort group of the people they grew up in and transplant them into a completely different culture and they will be comfortable.  If this isn't something that you normally do I STRONGLY suggest starting to hang out with people who grew up totally different than you. No, not just not from across the country, but from a different ethnic group that you're not used to. It is the only real way to get rid of the fear that drives racism (no you're not racist... I didn't claim that!). Perfect example? I'm wary of hispanic people, mostly because I never really have a chance to hang out with them. 

   You know the hardest part about this token life? Keeping it real. No, not that "Keepin it real" where you have to act like a reggin do what group wants you to do. I mean in the midst of fitting it with various types of people, keeping who you ARE constant. There is nothing wrong with changing your vocabulary or your mannerisms, but when values and beliefs begin to change THAT is a problem. Yes, when I'm around professional people I just might open up my vocabulary and tighten up the Kings English but when I'm not around that group of people I'll speak in more slang. Nothing about me changes, just how I speak and carry myself. 

Word of the Day - Bollocks

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Token's second Word of the Day!!!!!!

Bollocks - (n; adj) Literally meaning testicles used more simply in this Token's everyday life as nonsense. Something may be described as and be bollocks. However, you cannot have a bollocks bunch of bollocks because that wouldn't make any sense and would be, by definition, bollocks.

Try that today, in your everyday life. When your boss tells you to do something you don't feel like doing just say bollocks!!! Chances are he won't know what in the seven realms of actual frick you are talking about anyway.

Fan Rules

   FOOTBALL BACK!! FOOTBALL BACK I got all these (people) yelling that FOOTBALL BACK UGH (Rick Ross voice)

   So a long, long time ago in a galaxy far far away a group of people got together to play a game. At the same time there were also a group of people who sat by and watched those people play a game. Those people were our fan ancestors, the first fans. In the beginning, the life of a sports fan was harsh, chaotic and brief. Then the sports Jesus aka Ray Allen descended upon us to give us fans rules to govern our allegiances. 

1. Thou Shalt NOT be a fan of "city A" in football and city "B" in basketball. 

   A perfect example of this are people who are Patriots fan and Yankee fans. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE????? You cannot like a New York team and a Boston team. NO NO NO!!!!!!!! The NEW YORK Yankee's HATE the BOSTON Red Sox so how can you root for a team in NY and Boston? 

Possibly a better example, I am a fan of THE Ohio State University. As such I hate any and all things Michigan. I don't give a damn for the WHOLE state of Michigan. This ties into commandment two.

2. Thou Shalt NOT be a front runner.

(Yankee fan, cowboy fan, Cavalier fan, Heat Fan)

    

You know those people who just sooo happen to be a fan of not just one successful team but LOTS of successful teams? That person who suddenly JUST became a Heat fan out of nowhere? Yea that guy. Don't be LeBron. LeBron is a fan of every singlesolitary successful sports team of his teenage years/ "America's Team". Fathers.... Raise your sons so you don't have to be embarrassed by this horrific trend.

3. Thou Shalt NOT be a Sports Bigamist. 

   Simply put, pick your favorite team and stick with it. You can't like the Cowboys in the NFC and Dolphins in the AFC. Pick a favorite team and you root solely for them. What happens if both of your teams wind up playing each other? Worse, what if it's a Super Bowl??? Nobody wants to hear about how you love both teams.

         - Admission of guilt... I love two teams. I have forced myself to give up my beloved Utah Jazz and remain loyal to the Celtics. Although, Karl Malone is the greatest player ever to play the game.

4.  Thou Shalt NOT covet thy neighbors team.

   If your friend likes a team that isn't your rival, leave that man alone. If he loses a big game don't rub his nose in it. Don't heap more abuse on him than you already need too. We've all lost a tough game... No need to rub it in. **All bets are off if he's a fan of a team that Universally hated (Yankee, Laker, Michigan) Or if he's been a real d*ck about it.

5. Thou Shalt hate Michigan.

(That is Osama Bin Laden and he is a Michigan fan.)

  

  Let me just get to the point. Michigan is an evil school. I suggest avoiding the entire state. The great Woody Hayes wouldn't stop to get gas in Michigan on recruiting trips because he didn't want to be in Michigan any longer than he had to.

That's it for now. I don't have all day to write this nonsense so sometime in the future I'll scribble some more sports commandments.

   

Token Struggles

 In the last post I defined a token is. In case you are still wondering if you are or aren't a token I will describe some of the struggles

In high school, did you find yourself conflicted over what table to sit at because all your "black friends" sat at one table and your "white friends" at another one? 

Were you in advanced classes and a significant portion of your friends not represented in those classes?

Have you ever had to restrict your vocabulary around your two separate groups of friends in order to be understood? (and sometimes accepted)

Do you regularly get invited to places where you are the only black person there? When you invite others to places where they are the only white person there do they make it known that it's uncomfortable?

Has anyone ever told you that you are well spoken?

Have you ever been called on to give the opinion of your ENTIRE race during a conversation that involves black people?

Have you ever been reluctant to order Hennessy in a bar out of fear of being labled?

Have you ever gone to a bar and been saddened that they didn't have Hennessy?

Do you not understand why it's a black stereotype to like fried chicken and watermelon when everybody agrees that fried chicken and watermelon are delicious? <~~~ That I just don't understand... AT ALL

   *** STORY TIIIIIIIIMMMMMEEEEEEE*** During my first deployment, I REFUSED to eat watermelon. I didn't eat it because I didn't want people to make fun of me... Even as they ate watermelon themselves. This stood for the entire deployment except when we were at a farm and a farmer gave us slices of watermelon. I don't care who you are, if a farmer gives you some FRESH off the vine watermelon and it's 120+ you will EAT THAT ISH!!!!

Have people ever made fun of you for getting good grades or speaking properly?

Do you have two entirely different sets of vocabulary to use with your two friend sets? (This is less so for me because more and more I seem to not hang out with degree less people)

Have you ever been accused of being "angry" when you're just speaking normally?

All of these (and probably more) are the struggles that I've gone through and go through as this token travels. I'm willing to be there are some non black tokens that experienced, are experiencing and will experience as those tokens travel.

Word of the Day- Token

Well since this is called token travels I might as well define what a token is. Oh, you know what a token is. You seen us everywhere. We are in your bars, your movies, in your classes and at your parties. So there we go!

Token: (n) A (historically black) person who is surrounded by (normally white) people. In modern movies the "token black guy" can be seen as the only black face in the whole movie (this is excellently made fun of in "Not Another Teen Movie). In everyday life you can see the token black guy nicely dressed in a bar in a nice area of town trying to fit in.



In other news, I'm going to see if I can have user id's from fb be able to comment.

How Far?

   At what point are you no longer helping someone and have started enabling their destructive lifestyle?  Obviously, you want to help people and see that they make strides to get their life on track and in many cases you will do whatever you need to facilitate that. At some point I think you reach a point when the things that you are doing to help that person are no longer helping them, indeed you are doing the exact opposite. Take for example a woman who we will call "Sara" who has not held a job in nearly a year, lives with "James" and pays what amounts to a pittance when she does have money. 

  In exchange for providing Sara with a roof over her head and food to eat and sometimes even childcare of Sara's baby James only asked that Sara clean. James did not think this to be a problem because Sara does not have a job. Yes, Sara would have to clean up after James sometimes in addition to other cleaning but it's only right because James is paying her living bills. James does all of this because he wants to see Sara progress and do something with her life. Partially because James loves Sara and wants to see her do well and partially so Sara can stop mooching off of him. The problem is that Sara hasn't done anything tangible besides talk a good game about doing something with her life. She isn't in school, doesn't seem to be looking for a job. On top of all of that Sara doesn't even clean up after herself properly. 

In this example, when is James doing Sara a disservice by allowing her self destructive lifestyle to continue? At what point does James tell Sara, look you either achieve "x" by "x" date or you have to get out and find your own road? What exactly are James' options here?