In my entire life I have never been in a school for more than 2 years (until now) I learned early that I was not a fan of their education models. I was a high achiever early and placed in advance work classes but I was cutting class by the 4th grade and it got worse by 6th grade, and the irony was that Id stay home and read (and watch alf and small wonder) but mostly read. I became what I first heard Rosa Clemente call an organic intellectual. Always feeding my mind with books, documentaries, forums, speeches, and first hand life experiences. I went through the motions of school w/ some sparks like in the 7th grade when Mr Randall Dottin gifted me Make me wanna holla to read and put me on to the Harlem Renaissance. I was a great test taker and could consume books at a ridiculous rate, two things that infuriated the teachers along the way because I didnt apply myself, I had very little use for school otherwise and went through the motions until I graduated by the skin of my teeth. A few years going to UMass at night Studying Legal Advocacy and Community Organizing but my day job was too demanding and I kept it moving. Started to openly quote Mark Twain never let school get in the way of your education and I let the world and my experiences continue to be my teacher from Cuba to Palestine, from Japan to Tanzania and on and on. Through Foundation Movement I have received more education than in all my years of schooling. Four years ago while Javi was one years old I decided that there was something I wanted to go to school for and that was to broader define myself and further find myself as an artist. So I applied to and was subsequently accepted to School of the Museum of Fine Arts thx to Robyn Reed who believed in me from the minute I walked into the admissions office and to Eve Lyman who pushed me to strongly consider the move. All of this to say. Today I go to graduation knowing that for some people a Diploma in Fine Arts is not valued but for me it is about the 4 years of dedication for two of those years I was a single father making the rent, raising a child and still trying to find the energy to do this for myself. Living under the poverty rate and scrapping up what I could to make ends meet has strengthened me. I am proud of me and am grateful for the trials and tribulations of the past four years that have helped to develop me closer and closer to the man that I pray and know I can be. Thx to everyone, everyone that supported me along the way. Bless. (I typed this out on my iPhone so typos be damned) #itsacelebrationbishes
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 15:25:24 +0000
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