Homework #1

While college life is usually classified as a time of transition in general, this year could be considered a transition within a transition for me. This is a particularly uncertain time for me and since I find myself nearly constantly thinking about my future, I might as well take a course that deals with the topic. This class also seemed different and even a little ambiguous, which can actually add a little fun (and maybe a little suspense) to the first day of classes.

The reasons this year is so different for me is that not only is it my 4th, but on a personal level many of the people that helped make up my daily life are no longer in Chicago. My longtime girlfriend, most of my family, along with a hand full of close friends no longer reside in the Windy-City. So I dove head first into school (taking 6 classes this semester) with the hope that when the dust settles I'll have a better idea of how/where I'd like to live my life.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago I was an energetic child with a deep love for my family, a passion for sports, music, and movies; and also a strong sense of social justice. This was brought on at an early age by the unique education my mother's school gave me, along with the racial tensions that surrounded the south side of Chicago. I was also very aware of conflict growing up through the bitter divorce of my parents. My siblings and I defended each other and my mother at every turn; with me usually being the most outspoken.

I think of hearing as the sense that was most prominent in my childhood because of the many memories of my brother showing my sister and I new music. He loved rap music and since we worshiped my older brother, my sister and I would listen intently as he showed us countless rap artists of the early 90's.

The games we played mainly involved either G.I Joes or a game we called "mafia". While both obviously involved pretend violence we took the stories we made up rather seriously. My best friend and I had a large group of characters we made up in "mafia"; each with their own personality and back story. Then of course we would proceed to chase each other around the block with our toy guns. We always made our games relatively realistic; if your favorite character walked around the wrong corner he was a goner. I don't think we ever had any games where our characters had special powers. When my best friend and my brother were not around,I would not hesitate to play these games by myself.

I still think about those games often. The intense fun I had sneaking/running around and coming up with elaborate stories with my brother and my best friend. I think it helped fashion my imagination; to this day I often look out a car window and imagine the dramatic scenes that could be created around that particular setting.