Act like you’ve been
somewhere before. #Unc
I
guess reading makes you smart. #SisNo.4
Two
very smart people said things that, at first hearing, don’t seem too smart. But
follow me. I’m going somewhere and I hope you’ll join me.
I
am finally old enough to chaperone field trips y’all! My Uncle allowed me to
chaperone his sixth-grade field trip, and the joy I felt at being that type of responsible adult?
Unspeakable. Upon arriving to the location, the kids went crazy. Y’all. I mean,
they had just calmed down from the fact that they weren’t riding on a big
yellow school bus, but one of those luxury transit vehicles. With air
conditioning, electrical outlets, tables, and a movie showing on the drop-down
screens.
My
Uncle leaned into me and said, They
act like that because they ain’t never been nowhere. Now you and your sisters,
y’all been somewhere before. I took his
remarks as slight annoyance, as most teachers are, when their class is overly
exuberant about something. Also, I recognized that, while I don’t identify with
traditionally privileged communities considering my humble beginnings, I was,
well, kinda hella privileged (AF) – when, of course, you
make all those humble considerations. Unc filled in the gaps my parents could not. Museums.
Skating Rinks. Trolly Cars. College Campuses. Beaches. Amusements Parks. Road
Trips. He would show up at the house, tell my mother to get us ready, and we
would be in the streets with him, being
somewhere. Even if it was the first time, and even
though we were excited to be there, we always had this feeling that we were
supposed to be there.
I
mean, even my getting lost, was not about being
afraid. I would be lost, walking around, taking it all in. The terror and
horror of never seeing my family would not come to me until the moment I was
found. And even then, there was no incredible revelation. I would be like, Aw,
man. That would have sucked. And, get lost
at the very next place.
Now,
I get there are social, political, and economic structures that explain those
kid’s behavior. I’m not judging them. Honestly, I’m glad they can say that they’re
going places. (I just wish their own Uncles will take them! I’on care that’s yo’ teacher.
He was my Uncle first!)
I just didn’t realize, that, perhaps walking around UCLA’s campus like I owned
it, came from every conscious and unconscious learning experience of having
been somewhere. Or, that upon learning everything I learned there, I learned the
devastating brutality of my ancestor’s building this of country. So, UCLA is like
both ours, but I only get to wear it sometimes. #mygrandmamagavemethatchain
My
sister called me, frustrated by a recent racist classroom experience. One
in which her instructor said something so blatantly racist, that her immediate
reaction was to pack up her belongings, leave the class, and wait for the next
one to start. And because we’re smart kids and like to learn, she obviously did
this from the front row of the classroom as the class debated the physical
differences of the Black race, making them anatomically predisposed to athletic
endeavors.
Y’all.
What year is it? Because I may or may not have questions depending on your
response.
In
our venting, we somehow got on the topic of books, to which she said, I guess reading makes you smart.
By the end of the conversation, she agreed that perhaps that sounded silly. But
when I thought about it, she was right. It’s just a guess. I’m sure that
instructor technically read things to be issued the academic certification to
prepare teachers to be culturally sensitive to their students (this whole situation is laughable),
but Class, I ask you, did the instructor’s reading make her own self smart?
This
is all on the heels of that meme going around about that personal pan pizza reading
challenge. When we were kids, we would go to the public library (not even a quarter-mile away
from our house) and participate in those
summer reading challenges. My sisters and I would finish them so quickly, that
we wondered if we would ever figure out the challenge. It’s a book. You read
it. When you finish it, you know things. Then you read another. We answered our
questions with encyclopedias. We stumped librarians, teachers, and our parents
with our ability to analyze information and transition it to different
contexts. And this wasn’t some superior knowing or anything like that. We just
had different kinds of questions because we read things…and acted like we had been places.
It’s
2020 after all (about those questions I now have). You can put on a headset in the comfort of your own home and wifi, and
literally go somewhere. Without transitioning time zones. Having not earned a
single frequent flyer mile. And summa’yall can’t act like you been somewhere before. I
mean, you spend 75% of your day looking at all the places other people went on
social media and you can’t even act like it with the pictures right in front of
you. I thought pictures made it real? You read the captions on the post, and I
would have guessed that reading
made you smart, but I’m not so sure.
My
degrees are hanging on the wall of my family home, and nowhere else. Not
because of my desire, but at the kindly worded threat request of my
parents. Many people use those types of things to signify their aptitude.
They’re not wrong, technically’ish.
It’s just that if you have ever walked into any place I have lived or worked,
you saw pictures of all the places I’ve been, and the books I have or will
read. Those were always the indicators of my intellectual capabilities.
At
least the only ones that mattered to me.
Also,
we might need to start that reading challenge back up. I want some RoundTable.
How
many books I gotta read? When I gotta finish? (you know we gotta adjust the number of books and timeline to
account for summa’yall needing glasses and naps and whatnot) Who got
me?
What
I’m reading: Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli
Where
I’m going: Montgomery, Alabama – Selma to Montgomery 51 Mile Relay After I wake up? The living
room. That ‘rona got a playa grounded.
What
y’all reading? What room in ya’ place you going to? #BeSmart
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