30 September 2007
05/10/07 22:57 Permalink
Well, my
friend Meghann reminded me that people actually read
(at least she does) my website and blog. So, I should
get back to that.
It's been a long time and it couldn't be helped. I wasn't in the best of ways following my return to the States and I am certain that any post I might have made would have been close to incoherent. Even moreso than usual. :)
Homecoming was a bit jarring. On one level, I was again bombarded by my mother tongue. I'd grown used to street signs and headlines being in another language. There was an odd sense of calm that came with that. There were two funerals in the first two weeks after I returned and a few other events. Too, instead of "Welcome Home," my reception was less than warm. I'm reminded of Chris Rock's bit about black men getting more respect after being released from prison, than for receiving a Master's degree. I joked to a friend when she saw me in New York for the first time, some three weeks later, that she was the first person to actually say to me: "Welcome back."
It astounds, how much the person, or his homeland can change in just a year. Meeting myself in the mirror, I can scarely believe that I am the man standing there. This has gone on for some months, now. I don't know if the feeling will ever abate, or if I will simply find away to believe that I am who I see.
I'm in Montana, now. I haven't had much time, but the serenity that the beauty of the place affords me enough focus to at least tend to the site once in a while during this month. Not too much time away. Between review for the GRE and my own writing and exploration of the mountains surrounding me, I am pretty busy. Pictures will come, soon. I know that I always promise that and they arrive late, but they will.
People ask here and in other places, "So, where are you from?" and I have no answer to that question. Someone has supplied me with the return quip, "Planet Earth," which, when delievered with a smile tends to disarm rather than offend so far as I can tell. But I really have no idea. I've thought of taking up in Philadelphia until I know what and where my future holds. Who knows. Maybe Paris.
There's been some good things, too. The best is that I have gotten to see and talk to my younger brother and sister (with these two, it had been a while) quite often and don't see myself letting go of that connection, again. They are such bright and beautiful children, that it warms me to know that I might be able to contribute something to their future.
John and Tereka are (nearly) 16 and 15. John is much like me (but looks like our brother Gregory. The cognitive disconnect there is not lost, nor unappreciated) and in some ways what I think I would have been more like, had things been different: multi-talented, calm, dreamy and..happier, perhaps. Tereka is so much like my mother. Smart, shrewd and absolutely cannot allow anyone else to have the last word. I am hoping she becomes a litigator. All that has to be put to good use.
It's been a long time and it couldn't be helped. I wasn't in the best of ways following my return to the States and I am certain that any post I might have made would have been close to incoherent. Even moreso than usual. :)
Homecoming was a bit jarring. On one level, I was again bombarded by my mother tongue. I'd grown used to street signs and headlines being in another language. There was an odd sense of calm that came with that. There were two funerals in the first two weeks after I returned and a few other events. Too, instead of "Welcome Home," my reception was less than warm. I'm reminded of Chris Rock's bit about black men getting more respect after being released from prison, than for receiving a Master's degree. I joked to a friend when she saw me in New York for the first time, some three weeks later, that she was the first person to actually say to me: "Welcome back."
It astounds, how much the person, or his homeland can change in just a year. Meeting myself in the mirror, I can scarely believe that I am the man standing there. This has gone on for some months, now. I don't know if the feeling will ever abate, or if I will simply find away to believe that I am who I see.
I'm in Montana, now. I haven't had much time, but the serenity that the beauty of the place affords me enough focus to at least tend to the site once in a while during this month. Not too much time away. Between review for the GRE and my own writing and exploration of the mountains surrounding me, I am pretty busy. Pictures will come, soon. I know that I always promise that and they arrive late, but they will.
People ask here and in other places, "So, where are you from?" and I have no answer to that question. Someone has supplied me with the return quip, "Planet Earth," which, when delievered with a smile tends to disarm rather than offend so far as I can tell. But I really have no idea. I've thought of taking up in Philadelphia until I know what and where my future holds. Who knows. Maybe Paris.
There's been some good things, too. The best is that I have gotten to see and talk to my younger brother and sister (with these two, it had been a while) quite often and don't see myself letting go of that connection, again. They are such bright and beautiful children, that it warms me to know that I might be able to contribute something to their future.
John and Tereka are (nearly) 16 and 15. John is much like me (but looks like our brother Gregory. The cognitive disconnect there is not lost, nor unappreciated) and in some ways what I think I would have been more like, had things been different: multi-talented, calm, dreamy and..happier, perhaps. Tereka is so much like my mother. Smart, shrewd and absolutely cannot allow anyone else to have the last word. I am hoping she becomes a litigator. All that has to be put to good use.
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