Background

Just came from a spoken word poetry event. As always after attending such events, I feel inspired to write something of my own. This is a really bad attempt at *spoken* (typed) word. Seeing as noone reads this, I feel safe posting it here. (Also I deleted my tumblr due to the inaneness.)
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When people ask me about my “background”, I pause.
I wonder, “Will they believe me if I tell ‘em?”
Spelling out this tangled web of nationalities, “Malian. Mexican. French. Kenyan.” Will they even know where Mali is?
I think back to 8th grade,
When I showed my friend a picture of my grandmother, my dad’s mother,
And she said,” that can’t be your grandmother, she’s white”.
I was silenced.
In my family, we never said “white” or “black”.
We said “African.” “European.” “American.” Referring to people based on color was a foreign concept, just as foreign as my parents.
My roots stretch out far from here- from Guadalajara, toMarseilles, to Bamako, and to Kithimani (that’s in Kenya).
Can you believe it? I am not just “Black”. I am a mixture, a medley, a myriad of many in one motley body. My skin is monotone, but my background, far from it.
My mom’s mom speaks Swahili, my dad’s mom spoke French. Her mom spoke Spanish. My cousins speak Italian, my aunts speak German, and me, I speak English, some French, and a little Swahili, but I absorb and I learn and I love the variance that is my background.
I hate having to prove my background-because it’s not apparent by my appearance. Parlez-vous francais? oui, et je suis francaise.
So before you assume, before you tick off “black” on my form, let me tell you a tale of my tangled background. Let me show you just how far my roots stretch.

To Georgia and Back: 2000 miles of highway, 40 hours of driving, 1 Week of Fun

The following will be an extremely short summary of my trip to St. Simon's Island for an ultimate tournament. I aim to finish this post in 20 minutes so I can go do errands.

Going Down:

We left Amherst around 2:30 on Friday afternoon (it was the 11th!) and headed down 95 with relatively few hiccups except for one minor one in the Bronx. We had no near-death experiences but didn't get much of our scavenger hunt down (poo!) We arrived in D.C around 10 and went to sleep-this was day one of sleeping on the floor. Yay!
The next day we left bright and early around 8 and spent the day driving down, with one long stop at Cracker Barrel in NC, one shorter stop at South of the Border (what a strange place), and a few rest stops. We got down to Georgia around 7, snacked, showered and slept. The weather was fantasticalness. That's now a word.

While There:

The first few days were spent sunbathing, tossing on the beach, and socializing. Then we were down to business-Tuesday to Thursday were three days of intense Ultimate games.
Tuesday went kinda badly. We won our first game but lost our next two, and during the second one I twisted my knee funkily and had trouble walking for the rest of the day. The next day was better-my knee healed (yay!) and we won all four games that we played. My parents visited and brought Nutella and other foods, to the joy of the team. The last game was super long but we still beat Goucher (what what :D) despite undergoing a few injuries.

Day three of the tournament was kinda intense. We won our first two games. We demolished the first team, even playing a freshman point to win the game. We had a tight game with Umass. Then we played Wheaton, who beat us like 12-6 I think. It was sad...but we won the last point, and we played our best, so we were satisfied.
Thursday, day three, was St. Patty's day which meant revelry and dancing and jigs and such. Also, good fried food at a restaurant (which took forever to get there, but whatever).
We left early Friday morning, drove for about 10 hours (I felt bad only contributing one hour of driving time...but I was dead tired) and then stayed over in Philly. After 6 more hours of driving on Saturday, we were back!

All in all, it was a good time. I had good ice cream, enjoyed 70 degree weather, got some awesome point block Ds, etc. Can't wait until next year.
Also, this makes me realize I have no problem with 20 hour roadtrips. Maybe I'll go cross-country next summer?

i am so pumped.

In two days, I will be en route to St. Simon's Island, Georgia for a week at the beach, 3 days of Ultimate, 12 games, and 7 team dinners. AND a 20 hour car ride.
Excited? You betcha.


BEFORE DEPARTURE
-reading more scaphandre
-read more about souls of black folk
-read geo geo geo geo
-finish geo homework
-shoot some more for events!
-PACK
-CHILLAX

My Bucket List

1. Run a marathon
2. Go to Paris again and South Africa again
3. Learn a third language
4. Go to California
5. Go to Yosemite/Yellowstone/Grand Canyon
6. Go to Mexico
7. Go to Canada
8. Go to every continent.
9. Teach
10. Go to Egypt
11. Teach internationally
12. Try being a photojournalist
13. Go to Hawaii and Alaska.
14. Teach Ruodi and Crystal how to ride a bike
15. Make an impact on someone's life

she was sick like audrey hepburn when i met her

but we would both surrender, true love is not the kind of thing you should turn down.
don't ever turn it down.
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funny how i never listened to the avetts until i went up to college. i only like one of the songs i've heard so far...they're a bit too jangly for my tastes. I like more smooth acoustic iron and winey stuff. or delicious british accented mumford and sons banjo janglin'.


braindumping is healthy and should be done often.

I'm having a rocky night. Geo exam/quiz tomorrow.

TODO:
-3 more prints
-find my freakin' camera
-study rocks
-find my camera
-run dmz
-midpoint
-ultimate
-french hw? maybe?
-blst