We only get better and only better we have gotten

"All God's dangers ain't a white man"

So went the words inscribed in my high school yearbook. They were words spoken by Ned Cobb, who is memorialized in an autobiography pieced from a series of interviews by Theodore Rosengarten entitled, All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw.

Relying on talent, not marketing and promotion

It was Mr. Rosengarten's son, Rafe, who wrote those words in my yearbook nearly ten years ago. Though never super close friends, we shared a mutual respect for our convictions and brain cells. Ok, well I think he was smarter than me. But anyways, I'm sure there were plenty of times in HS where I probably came off as some sort of rabble-rousing, pro-black and anti-white kid hell-bent on shaking up the notion of what it meant to be a South Carolinian. You see, during all of my years of schooling I always heard about how a SC education was one of the worst in the country. The state consistently ranked somewhere between 46th and 50th and very few models of success were a visible part of the local psyche.

I appear everywhere and nowhere at once

In some ways, I both embraced and rejected the notion of white people being free of bigotry. I grew up fully aware and friendly with all kinds of folks - poor and a little better off than poor - who were true gems of decency. But I also saw the dark side of people. I learned that turning a blind eye to hate is not a wise thing to do, but sometimes it's the most effective way to deal with certain situations. Especially, when dealing with life realities much more consequential.

Stop wasting your money on marketing schemes
and pretty packages pushing dreams to the beams
-KRS-One, "Step Into The World"

And now I come full circle. Ten years later with plenty of lessons learned and experiences to share and build upon. Still a little chunky and with the same high-pitched staccato laugh that plagued many a hallway in my youth. Still earnest in my (at times) futile attempts to do right. And still in love with HER (word up). So as I step into the world (pun intended), I look forward to continuing to make good on those many promises I made to ma dukes back on Durant Ave. To make good on advice the older cats who used to play ball at Danny Jones and Park Circle back in the day by telling the 11-year-olds around the way to not forget where they came from upon hearing our aspirations in passing. To make good on the hope I (think) I helped to infuse into a few brothers and sister of all walks of life I've had the pleasure to interact with over the years. And most of all, to make good on the on vow I made to myself during those long walks years ago across railroad tracks and amid green manicured lawns, minibottles of gin and jack daniels, and through hurricane-like rain or lung-collapsing humidity. Represent.

Maybe I should add writing an autobiography to my list of goals. My life story don't get no more simple than that.