23. Night Job

As I was taking a test this morning for my English Literature class, I realized many things. I stayed up all night studying for this test then even woke up early to study even more. I got to class and began my test. As I was taking this test I realized that nothing I learned while studying was even on the test. The knowledge I gained, and intelligence I have, was not what was being tested. But my test taking skills were being tested. With multiple choice answers being "a & b", "b & c", "all of the above" and/or "none of the above", I realized that this test was draining me. I learned so much while studying, yet I couldn't explain on the test what I knew because all that was being asked were all trick questions. It was then that I quickly finished as best I could, then got up and walked out of the class as I thought "this test does not define my intelligence!"

So what is intelligence? What is knowledge? Does a degree prove intelligence? What are the benefits of an education? Does 4.0 GPA really mean you're going to be successful in life? Do any of these things guarantee you won't have to have a night job one day?

This blog is being written with the job I'm applying for in mind. And as I began to apply, I realize that nothing the professors teach me about T.S. Elliot will prove how smart I really am. But how I take what they teach me and how I apply it, to any aspect of my life, is what makes me smart... because any knowledge is useful knowledge, depending on your perspective.

So sitting in what seems like a useless classroom can teach you a lot. There are 3 main things you can learn in the classroom that have nothing to do with the message the professor is actually trying to convey.

1. You can learn about the way people communicate. If you pay attention to your professor. Without even realizing it, you may be analyzing the way they communicate. They may be standing, pacing back and forth, or sitting in a chair. And while they are talking, you may even find yourself not listening to what they say, but how they say it. The most successful professors communicate in a way that the students hear what is being said, and not how they are saying it. Unsuccessful professors speak where you are more focused on the professor themselves, rather than what is being said.

2. You can learn about yourself. After you hear or do not hear what the professor is saying, you can think to yourself "Am I really meant to be in this class." The average college student in bound to change their major at least once in their lifetime, and while being in a class that you may think is useless you may actually learn something. You learn that you do not like this class. You can learn that you love it. But most of all, you can learn that what you're actually learning in the class has nothing to do with what you're going to need to know in this lifetime.

3. You can the truthful reality of life. We learn through experiences. We learn through interactions with people and we love recalling on the past good (and bad) times we've had. When we listen to others, we also learn of theirs and incorporate that knowledge with ours. It's so true that you can learn in class, you will learn, whether you like it or not. But, there's only one truth that matters when you die. Whether you know this truth, and how you apply it is the sole base of life. This... you can take and interpret in your own way.

22. January 28

An ode to jcole

A lot of times I forget why when or how you even became my favorite rapper

I didn't even listen to mixtapes before you honestly

when I just turned 16

2011 to be pristine 

Lightskinnded dude from up where you went to school

"Have you heard Unabomber?"

By this guy named JCole

It was right after workout dropped

Ashamed to say I didn't find you sooner

He told me to listen to premeditated murder and how high

I was like yo this dudes kinda tight

All the while I was going through stuff with my moms and life

So I admit I was depressed

Then I let you come in my life

And kinda dress up my mess

Because for 16 years I left the laundry out without cleaning

I felt as if it had no meaning

I listened to lost ones for the first time

And learned all the words by the end of the day

Downloaded the come up 

The warm up

And sideline story 

Because I felt we could relate

'Light skinnded so the house brothas feel us'

I too had a single mom growing up

'We grew up in a struggle and sometimes we had less'

But compared to you my man

I never realized how much we were blessed

Dreams of being a rapper

So 'I hung your words on my wall

My friends thought it was words

But it was pictures I saw'

I drew your face as I cried listening to 2face

Now I can never tell you why 

But roll call always spoke to me

Maybe because you too helped change my life story

You really helped save my soul

When I was 17 years old I had serious thoughts of 'climbing heavens stairwell'

And saying farewell way ahead of my time

Because I was 'living my whole life backwards'

I moved out my moms house & in w my dad

I was daddy's little girl

turned into that triple double

That time was so hard for me

And you were all I had

I don't know why but I felt you understood me

From what you were writing in your songs

When I had that pity life

I drifted away and put em on

I would go home everyday from school and just cry 

To help me get away

Playing your songs out loud gave me a sign

I can't explain it but jermaine you changed my life

This was before Forest Hills Drive

Before Born Sinner

And before I ever dreamed of seeing you live

This was while I was a lost one

I had no God, just religion & only you in my life

You took up my Twitter

It read "Dear Lord can I live" 

Knowing good and well want to I didn't

This is something I've never told

To a single soul

And Somehow you kept me sane 

All I really had was a dollar and dream

Because my entire life revolved around lack of money

Why couldn't I get J's to impress the dude I liked

And I was stuck walking everywhere

Without even a bike

When rich niggaz came out

I'd run down the sidewalk 

Blastin it on repeat

Mad at the world and the rich

Because My family had to really work to eat even just sandwiches 

I had so much envy 

Only now do I see how it was so ugly

Years later

When I went through my first heartache

Swear I had on nothing lasts forever

And Love me not on repeat for days

Yet I still had a hole somehow

cuz you didn't quite fill it

And though I don't feel as close to you now

I thank you for my heart because you helped to heal it

Summer 2013 when you did your first dollar and a dream

I was 17 then and planned to go to Houston

I hadn't ever seen you but in my dreams

My aunt said she would drive me those 4 hours at 4 am

But when my eyes opened

She bailed on me

I thought about goin off on her but

I just stayed awake and cried for 7 hours 

And that's when I realized I might have been obsessed

Not quite a Stan

But I was still depressed

Because your music was keeping me sane 

throughout all of highschool

In art I recreated your face on like 5 different projects dude

Wrote 'will I drop 

I think not

Tryna show them how to stay hot'

Yet a downward spiral I began to spin

They'd ask me to get Higher

And 'no I don't smoke but maybe once in a blue'

Allow this to be my Interlude

So for two entire years I kept you right by my side

And you were there for a reason I know

I wasn't from down in Hampton 

But your song was the reason I stayed a cancer

July 10th came and 2 years in a row we made the hashtag 

#HelpDiaGetaMentionFromCole

Which is when I learned 

If I got myself off of Twitter 

I could be somebody

I replaced your songs with the living word

Glad to say when I turned 18

I no longer needed you

Because I found another JC

I no longer said 'cole the God'

But Cole if it weren't for You

He may have never seen me

summer that my life changed

God asked me if I was ready for it

I looked around at all his nice things

Told him savior you already know it 

I gave my life to Him

And felt myself listening to you less and less

But check out my blog is still mentions you tho

Now corpus when I do come home

They Holla who dat

Cuz I'm so unrecognizable

now I can't cry

And can't get enough of the lord up top without a stop watch for me

No more idols

No more role modelz 

I'll do anything to make Heaven my home

If to have Christ meant having an eternal soul

Jermaine I still love you, but

I would most definitely give up Cole

I went off to school

Said I'd be home for the holidays

Now it wasn't St. John's

But dude basketball I did play like you 

Kinda Far from home and no one ever makes it out the city I'm from

Now it's no ville

But sorry corpus is full of a lot of bums

And I couldn't do that 

I had to follow my dreams like you told me to 

when I finally saw you in concert the following April I knew it was not past due

It was all God

Thanks to 5 different dudes!

That was truly a dream come true!

Then I got to see you in Baton Rouge

This past March 

Got out there at 11 o'clock and waited until 8

Front row right in front of the stage 

Bas sweat was dripping on my face

Then you came out and I couldn't believe how close I really was

You signed my dollar

And took the hobo sweater I gave you

We even made eye contact a few times too

But that's in the past

now it's not the same when I see you 

cuz i don't really care about your music

I care about you as an individual

Never even having met you

I know you're so genuine

And real

And I just want to have a conversation with you so I can tell you how I feel

And my past

And how I've 'seen heaven seen hell'

How I now tell people

'Believe in God up in the sky

Science can tell us how but can't tell us why'

They say I've grown and 'congratulate me

I just tell em God is good'

I feel like you're my friend

As crazy as I may sound 

I still have 2 posters of you on my wall

2 paintings too 

The dollar you signed

2 DREAMVILLE hoodies

My phone case

And a born sinner shirt too 

And though you are no longer my God

You did help me learn love

And now I see you changing lives

Like you did mine almost 5 years ago

showing the currently hurt that there is no such thing as a life that's better than theirs

I now love my life

I love my Christ

I 'keep my faith strong'

And when times get hard now

'I ask for strength from the lord up above'

So jermaine

Thank you for being around

Thank you for helping me when you did

Now I see you change so many other lives

As you did mine

Thank you for making music for the soul

Thank you for being diverse

Thank you for being the most stable long distance relationship I've ever had

Thank you for not knowing you're my friend and still being it

Thank you for making relatable music

Thank you for being you

And I thank God

Because what dreams may come

Will eventually come true

I'll meet you soon

I pray someday you hear this poem I wrote for you 

Because 'This is MY canvas'

Peace 

21. Lights Please

Can we get some light in the world?

Is it possible for some light to shine in the hearts of all those living?

Black Lives Matter

And so do White ones

And Mexican Ones

But no one cares about the Indians

Living in poverty being murdered for their status

Who's thinking about the kids across the globe who's parents abandon them because they can't afford them 

We're shining light in the wrong way in America

The lights are aimed toward the stage and all those who stand on it are praised rather than the one who created all days

We're worried about dead presidents

And don't get me wrong money isn't the root of all evil 

But you forget that it's a distraction for what's really important

The most valuable things cannot be contained by an earthly substance

Such issues arising can only be solved with something and someone unseen 

Id beg for peace and love but most don't think that's the answer

So I'll go along with the fire and end up spending my eternity in one

Which I refuse to do so the solution is simple

There's no substitution 

But people are scared of the truth

And people are scared to change their lives for the benefit of others

People are scared that this answer might interfere with their sinful pleasure

They're scared to give their life away

People would rather claim to believe in the big man in the sky and leave it at that 

We love saying we love God

But in reality we love ourselves more

We would be just fine if we got to heaven and Jesus wasn't even there

We would be fine if the events of today occurred in a different spectrum

As long as it doesn't affect us

But since it does

We'll get on Twitter and shout our anger then 3 weeks later when it happens again well try to sound a little more angry 

But what are we doing to change anything

What are we truly doing to change the world

It doesn't seem to click in the minds that death is near and death is here and spreading love and joy and peace is so much more important and effective than fighting fire with fire

Which just makes more fire

So who's gonna step up and grab the water 

Become the system

Change the ways

Glory to God

Praise his ways

Words with no actions seems to come at ease

Too many living in the darkness 

To which I say 

Lights Please