CITY|year: day.2

Spray paint and ink pens /
I use to write in every color I think in /
To paint a picture with every line that I speak in /
Yeah, the gallery is the beacon //
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::[message from the management]::
so this blog is really MAD selfish. sure, you gain some insight into who i am, what i do, how i think. but the real purpose of this weblog (that's the expanded version on "blog") is to check myself and give myself something to look back on in a few weeks, a few months...who knows, even a year. it'll be a melange of me, aspects from all that i do and love. some things are gonna be deep, profound, life-changing; some are gonna need lotion they're so dry. so remember, when those blog entries just aren't as entertaining as you may expect, i'm sorry...but this isn't for you.

even tho, it kinda is.
::[end message]::

...it's funny...i would have never thought that of all the things i learned in college, the most important things came from my work in student organizations. i shouldn't be too surprised; i broadcast the importance of service to one's community all the time. service is what brought me to city year - new york...only now in the early stages of my service year i'm already conflicted.

for those that are unaware, city year is a national organization under the americorps that works to better the lives of children thru intervention programs and community-based initiatives. that's just a fancy way of saying that we serve to empower and educate youth so that we improve their conditions and give them the resources to improve their own conditions. thru the service that i've been a part of, in school and out of school, i feel particularly drawn to the young heroes program, a program that offers afterschool and saturday programs to middle school children. it would give me a chance to work with a demographic that i'm familiar with, can relate to, and it would offer me a chance to put the programmatic skills i've garnered to great use. but i dunno...do i politic and hustle my way onto young heroes, express interest and my own skills to those who make the team development decisions; or do i play my position and allow myself to be placed wherever i will best serve?

oftentimes i fall back, especially because of how i'm seen. i'm more than just j.willy, i'm an ivy-league graduate, i'm a positive BLACK male, i'm a catalyst for change and sometimes that catches people off-guard. but i know that i'd be doing these youth and myself a true disservice if i were to bite my tongue and not serve where i think i'll be the most effective. i cannot allow myself to step down for the sake of others stepping up as often as i'd like to. the skill set that i've acquired in my life is so perfect for this opportunity and to hide that would be selfish. if i claim to wanna help my people, then it's time to begin cultivation not only of youth, but of my peers.

still doin' it for the community...

PS: the label is the name of the track that the verse at the beginning comes from...you gotta guess the artist tho. you get the artist, i shout you out in the next blog. simple.