Saturday, March 4, 2006

ALMA MATER














Would you believe that one of my closest sister-girls jokingly accused me of having rescinded my "ghetto pass". She told me that she was going to report me to the "Ghetto Officals" as a sellout. We laughed & eye threw a few playful jabs back letting her know that her point was moot. And while we obviously do not share opinion, based on her ever-all encompassing hood perspective, she clearly makes sense.

1. She has noted that the children talk like they are from another country since they carefully annunciate each word. Also, their dialect is virtually unidentifiable which seems odd stemming from our twangy roots here in Nashville.

2. "How you not gon' eat cheese on pizza?" she has questioned. Our mostly wholistic diet perplexes even the astute vegetarian at times, so we know that whole grains & fresh mixed greens do not fit in directly with the heavily-fried over-processed meals that we grew up devouring.

3. Since bearing seeds, we have gone out of the way to plant in low-crime neighborhoods. We all know that poverty breeds desperation drives crime. Period. Our current community is multicultural, which greatly differs from the makeup of Shepherdwood.

All said to note that eye understand. But wait...there's more...

My beloved sister-girl is only "right" by her standards; and eye respect that. Not that being "ghetto" is anything to aspire to anymore - my sisters & eye used to work at it a lil' bit since Granny did not allow us be natural hoodrats - but, not anymore. Fact is that my ghetto makeup may not be as evident in the light of post-ghetto living, but like it or not, it will always exist within.

Learning to survive in the ghetto makes it possible for me to fight through each day with the same vengeance that eye once had to in order to defend my physical self. Kicking butt from time to time was a way for me to assess my physical strength. Now we fight to keep our minds sharp. That's the only difference.

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