Power

I was kind of at a loss of ideas for what to write about this week. I wasn't sure but I thought that most people enjoyed my first essay on called "Power", so I decided to post the final draft today. Sorry if It's a little long. :

It’s dark. They’re walking home. The wind is blowing in all directions and in a near distance a street lamp is flickering. Yet, they’re feeling calm. A peaceful state of mind. Peace. Suddenly that sense of serenity has ceased. Evaporated from existence like the thoughts of our last president. They are now seeing a figure in front of them. Me. Walking toward them. Closer. Closer. Then their thoughts blur. They find themselves walking much faster now, just enough to give them some peace of mind that they’re getting closer to their intended destination. So as they’re walking they veer closer to the sidewalk and every few steps their foot slips into the grass. The figure is getting closer. I am getting closer. They see my size and from this distance I seem daunting, and I am only 5’ 8”. However my size is not the driving force of their anxiety whether they quite realize this or not. And they hurry past me, stressed and averting any possible eye contact. At this point I’ve figure out that it’s happened again. I’ve used my power. She ran in fear. Another victim.

In some senses one may think of it as a “super power”, but not like Super Man, Batman, or Spiderman. No. This is a power bestowed upon what seems to be all people like me against their will. The power to leave someone still, stricken with fear. The power to alter one’s perception of space and time in dark places. The power to make someone move to a destination at a much faster pace than they may have intended. The power to make one assume that they’re are in danger. The power to make others a victim. The power to make one prepare for the worst. Power.

So there she went, a young Caucasian female. The common prey of someone from my kind. Another victim of the poison that seems to secrete from my body. At least, that’s how society sees it. The black man. The greatest plague to society. From my eyes I’m just an honest man trying to do right by myself for myself, but our society sees me as the next OJ Simpson or even Trayvon Martin. They claim racism isn’t alive but in fact they’re just sealing it. There are always innuendos about slavery, stealing, being unfaithful, being ratchet, ghetto, being a football player, a basketball player, a rapper, and the whole time I’m just wondering, why I can’t just be man? Just a black man. An upstanding, respectful, intelligent, black man.

It’s real simple, real simple. But it’s been burned into the minds of our country. If someone has to take the fall, blame it on the black man. And I’m not making this up. It’s evident everywhere with everyone. If a person is in a crowd and looks different from everyone else, they’re an outcast, there’s something wrong with them, hence the phrase minority race. Because whether you realize your actions or not, we do. Nobody in their right mind wants to walk this earth feared by the greater majority of its inhabitants. I walk in small stores at times and immediately store owners move toward their cameras, keeping an extra close eye on me, as if I’m about to steal something from them. What I’m really saying is do not be so quick to judge people just because of the circumstances, just because of what society says, just because of their color. Because by doing so one would be feeding these ideas and allowing them to corrupt society. They’d be giving it power. And power corrupts, but it is absolute power that will in the end corrupts absolutely.

Unconscious Thoughts

It only feels fitting because we have recently been talking about reflecting in class. This idea of putting yourself back in the place of a previous experience. This idea of thinking about past times, both good and bad. This idea of reflection.

As it so happens, we actually do this daily. Yes, we do this EVERY day. When you might ask? Well the answer is so simple that it may be staring you in the face, or maybe not. It’s not when you are sitting silently in your room. It’s not when you feel angry at the world. It’s not when you feel like zoning out and displacing yourself from what’s going on around you. It’s not even when you decide to listen to your favorite song to do so. Although these things may actually play a part, big or small, in it.

The time we spend thinking, reminiscing, reflecting, is when we’re sleeping, moreover when we’re dreaming.

The body’s mind is a powerful thing and it’s always working and always processing. And a lot of this is done while you are dreaming. You’re laying down, resting, and unbeknownst to you begin to dream. Dream is in fact that time when you are reflecting. The dreams of some people are vivid and wild where they are leaping from building to building and riding boats upside down through the air while drinking a berry smoothie in their underwear. But others of them are far too clear. And you may find yourself in disbelief when it ends.

Dreams are determined by experiences but it is also more than that. What’s happening around you while you are dreaming also has an effect, which brings me to today.

I myself just awoke from a nap today and it was quite amazing, surprising even. I began of dreaming about something I would least have expected to be thinking about, my ex-girlfriend from like four years ago. Now it was never anything serious. There was never a big painful breakup or anything like that, I mean we were still friends afterwards. The powerful thing was that I thought about her, just out of the blue, now. And, it was a happy dream, I really enjoyed it.

So I sat there in my bed, doing some further conscience thinking about my dream, in silence. And as sat there seconds pasted, then minutes, then the silence. As it turns out, it was never silent. Stupid me left my phone on playing music through my speakers. I was listening to Drake. And now it all made sense.

It may not have been my most exciting blog today, but hopefully you learned something from this. And if not just make sure you remember this one fact because it soooo very true. DO NOT SLEEP AND DRAKE, OR YOU’LL FIND YOURSELF DREAMING ABOUT YOUR PAST GIRLFRIENDS.

Decisions

Have you ever been stuck between two really tough, I mean really life changing, decisions? I mean talking more important than the state of the union address. That's nothing compare to this. This one decision was much more crucial than that why? Because it was about me, and it would impact the very outcome of my whole day. It had the potential, this one decision, to set my mood for the day. It had the potential, this one decision, to change how much time it took me to get to class in morning. It had the potential, this one decision, to determine whether or not my first step was with my right foot or my left. This one decision.

I know everyone has decisions like this. Things they find dear to them and that they spend more time and effort with. For me, it’s getting dressed. I spend SO much time in the morning getting dressed it’s a damn shame. And it’s not the actual act of putting the clothes on my back, no that’s not it. It’s thinking about what exactly to put. You see to me I try to think of it as an art, and I guess I use that term a little loosely. The way people perceive you will determine how they interact with you and how your relationship will go with them. It’s all about first impressions and I like to make mine worthwhile.

So I like to look some type of good when I walk out the door. I HAVE to match. Not matching is like walking around in my underwear, I just can’t have that. So my greatest decision is deciding what I’m going to wear every day. I put so much stock in that that it atleast takes like 15 min to figure it out, between my shirts, pants, socks, and my many shoes, it takes time. So tell me, how do you get through this in the morning? Let me know, leave comments.

I'm Tired

I'm tired. Numerous hours of labor and astonishing hunger. I'm tired. Racking my brain for the perfect idea to really fulfill the requirements, meticulous hands careful to ensure every detail is spot on. I'm tired. Paper cuts, sweat, and frustration when things don't quite turn out the way they were envisioned. I'm tired. A smile when the end is near and a sigh of relief when the end is reached. I'm tired.

 

It was last night, or evening rather. I had just awoken nap unlike any other. About five solid hours of sleep and it felt really good. I’m not exactly sure why I was so tired when the night prior I definitely got eight hours of sleep. But anyways, I woke from my nap well rested, without homework, and bored. I decided after some thought, because I’m just a great student like that, to go the architecture studio and get some work done on my project. I told my room I was going to get something to eat because I hadn’t eaten since 2:00 p.m. and then I would heading to the studio. I also informed him I probably wouldn’t return until probably late that night, what I currently planned to be 10:00 p.m. This happened at about 7:00 p.m.

 

I walked over to Owen’s like I said I would and just about immediately realized that I was in fact actually not hungry. But I knew I needed something so I decided to get a smoothie and some water. So I grabbed that and made my way to the studio. I made it there around 7:30 p.m.

 

I made it too the studio. I take some time to look around at some of my friend’s work for inspiration. The way our class works you receive a vague prompt and from that you form what exactly the assignment is. This particular assignment was to design a “screen” or something that allowed light to pass through it. I was completely dumbfounded and I had no idea what I was about to do, however I wasn’t about to turn in a boring assignment and look stupid. After much contemplation I decided to make a stencil and transpose it on another surface and then put color screens in the holes.

 

Again when I first got there it was fairly early and there were about five other people there working on the assignment as well. Then I decided to ask the stupid question of when is the project due, and much to my dismay the answer was the next day. Unfortunately that was today. I was in total disbelief and I got deep into work.

 

Hours pasted and so did my company. By my previously estimated departure of 10:00 p.m., I was the only one in my class that was still in the studio, and I was still working hard. I stayed focused on my task but I began to lose patience, because of that I took breaks from my work to clear my thoughts before I went back in. After many painful and agonizing hours I and I had finally completed my masterpiece. The time however was not so pleasing. The current time was 5:25 a.m. Class started at 8:00 a.m.

 

I went back to my dorm to shower and headed back to the studio for class. And would you believe that I found out the project was NOT due today…………. I’m TIRED…….TIRED OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT!!

This will be my first post on my blog "Words From Hopkins".  So I suppose it'll be a good idea to start things off with my college experience thus far. Compared to high school, college has well...a lot more walking. It's crazy. Every day I have to take a twenty to thirty minute walk to get to class and back, and I was mad before when I only had a 5 minute walk in high school. I kinda see why P.E. isn't exactly a big class here, you get P.E. everyday it seems. I mean for me I have those times that I feel lazy and I don't want to go places strictly because I know how far they are, and I'm sure many others feel the same way at times. And I try to always have a map so I can figure out shortcuts around the campus. But shortcuts aren't always enough unfortunately.
At this point to me it seems that the smartest people on campus are the ones with bikes. As much as some people may hate them, their just mad because they didn't have the sense enough to bring one. I bet bike riders get to classes in half the time. I believe I've realized the real point of my blog today, and it's simply this. IF ANYBODY HAS A BIKE THAT THEY DON'T WANT, PLEASE LET ME BUY IT OFF OF YOU!

What's up?