highschool reunions and speaking the unspeakable
hello world, down in the delta
and just as weary as i can be
family been running me pillar to post
yesterday clevelands little car crashed and burned and i
remember all the times my daddy had to come get me
off the road somewhere - what is it about family
crises that they like to wait until you come home to go nuclear
for what its worth i dont think hillary meant that comment
as explicitly how its been interpreted, but even the implicating
that you considering the possibility of assassination strategically
is a political nono - particular in this case, huckabee made a joke
about shooting obama a little while back and he had to apologize
i dont believe hillary was consciously thinking that
but it is indicative of the tone of this primary
and i for one will be glad when its over
ironic hillary say she hanging in there hoping obama will
commit gamechanging gaffes and instead she the one
for clinton this primary been a slow mo legacy killer
went to the reunion last night, had a good time
suppose to do a presentation to this evening
youve heard most of it dear regulators and a
40th reunion presentation corny by definition
but what the heck, might as well clock
the wordage
all my love
------------------------------
well well well the 40th reunion, a masquerade ball, as you see i came as arthur flowers, thats disguise enough, already a disguise just coming to the reunion, been exercising, got on my coolest threads, trying to look successful, this me at my best, this as good as it gets
always nice to see how folks have changed, how they havent, deep how folk with all the extra baggage, wrinkles and pounds and stresslines, still look just like they used to - now here we are almost 60, i remember when being 50 was inconceivable, now here we are in our maturity, got my meds with me, okay - and when i get on that dance floor, ima be moving slow, mostly i just stand in place and get my sway on and every once in awhile i will get down on the floor but i feel the it next day, too much groove and i got to pay
but sho is good seeing yall, good breaking bread w/you, you know how it is, the class renunion, or hell no, then you come and have a wonderful time - want to thank gloria and the committee, whitman and his computer, thank clarence and pruitt for hunting me down, deep isnt it the hold your graduating highschool class has on you, i guess its because it was your first herd, your first pack, your first posse, and its good looking back, the good old days, thought we had problems, we didnt know what problems were = something special about being green as grass, not having a clue, just how tough life can be
mr cash wasnt lying when he said it behooves you to be prepared in life - you come to these reunions and you see folk you havent seen since god knows when and you remember how it was back in the day, and you get warm and toasty w/memories the years have sweetened - i remember trying to duck out of my aunts english class, and got into ms cleo jacksons class
but martha p. flowers didnt play that and came and took me out of that class by my ear - wasnt like i was getting a deal with ms cleojackson but at least she wasnt my aunt -
i remember the day martin luther king died, and the next day invaders in the hall talking about turn the school out, i remember charging at the police and they charge back but they couldnt come on campus, cause hamilton ruled - we a destinied generation, a generation with a dream, a mission, we who have felt the heavy touch of destiny hand will never rest - by the way of obama get the nomination his acceptance speech is aug 28th, the 45th anniversary of mlks i have a dream
speaking of dreams i hear that hamilton is not what it used to be, thats a shame, i remember when hamilton was the flagship of the system, and its decline feel sometime like life, you notice life dont glow like it used to, what happen to the dreams, the ambitions, the confidence we once had
o these are trying times, the older we get seem the more responsibilities we get, the more burdens we carry, most everybody taking care of fragile parents these days – you are not alone, - got children turning into adults and desperately in need of guidance, guidance you don’t know you got to give, well look here kid I can show you how to fail, thats what I seem to do best
recently i did an assignment for one of my classes where i asked my students to write a bio of themselves as if 50 looking back, one student became a successful businessman, retired and ran for congress, retired and became a news host, one cured cancer and another banished poverty, all had happy families, 2.5 successful children and a white picket fence – all of them
i said look here, i dont want to bust your bubble but what about the hard times, what about the losses, the dead children and crippling sicknesses, friends gone before their time, bankruptcies, setbacks and the day to day grind, i dont want to be the one tell you but life is hard, it aint for the weakminded, its full of trial, tribulation & regret, the blessing is to endure, to take punches you never imagined
but then you come to the reunion and for a minute its like we back in highschool
when we were young and vigorous and immortal and the world was ours for the taking
well we are no longer young, no longer vigorous, no longer immortal, and we know now that dreams are often just dreams, and life is just so much more nuanced than you will ever grasp - somebody once said if you been disillusioned mean you had illusions in the 1st place it behoove you to wake up
nice being young and vigorous, but young is also dumb, and its just as nice being mature and smart and wise and wily - w/an understanding of life thats been paid for in the hard coin of experience, i look back over my life and im satisfied i got regrets, ive made some bad moves, ive often zigged when i should have zagged but thats life, funny as it seems, aint gon waste my time stepping on dreams - ive taken some blows, but im still here i like who i am
and when the hardtime came made other men crawl, stood my ground like a natural man and it hasnt been easy because into each life… but god dont… so the next time… always
i can not imagine the trials and tribulations life gon throw on me, only certainty is that life will get imaginative on you, come up with new ways to break you but it take a lot to rock me these days, been through enough phases in life you know you win some you lose some, you keep on struggling, you treasure the good moments, you endure the hard ones - you do what you can when you can and the only thing fatal is giving up
and i would that you leave here this evening refreshed and regenerated and ready for this, the 3rd act of our lives – been tempered in the fire and ready for whatever life throw on you, serious about doing the best we can with the years we have left – we hear that clock ticking right, ticktock ticktock, no time left for the piddling and it is never too late to live out your best and greatest dreams - if not now when
i would you this evening rededicate yourselves to the joy of life, to living lives full of meaning and significance, i would you be worthy hamiltonians - this evening we have gathered in fellowship and a celebration of the oldschool - this evening i want you to check your troubles at the door – for in life weve found that the good times, when for the moment everything is right in your world, are fleeting and when they do come along, you treasure them
this evening we gon let the oldschool wash all our troubles away, gon wash our troubles away
these reunions mean more than just reliving the good old days - they are also a celebration of who we are, how far weve come, how rocky the road, how sweet the journey and the value of lifelong friends, colleagues, companions, fellow travelers - mi companeros this evening we celebrate these lives that we have lived, the struggles, the heartbreaks and the triumphs - this evening we celebrate those who have walked with us and are no longer here but in spirit
this evening we celebrate the hamilton we knew, when being a hamiltonian meant something
this evening we celebrate ourselves as survivors – mighty mighty wildcats
weve come a long way, you and i weve climbed some difficult mountains
but we still got so very far to go
i look forward to seeing you all again, twenty eighteen, do or die
that is all, this spell is done gods blessings on us all
and just as weary as i can be
family been running me pillar to post
yesterday clevelands little car crashed and burned and i
remember all the times my daddy had to come get me
off the road somewhere - what is it about family
crises that they like to wait until you come home to go nuclear
for what its worth i dont think hillary meant that comment
as explicitly how its been interpreted, but even the implicating
that you considering the possibility of assassination strategically
is a political nono - particular in this case, huckabee made a joke
about shooting obama a little while back and he had to apologize
i dont believe hillary was consciously thinking that
but it is indicative of the tone of this primary
and i for one will be glad when its over
ironic hillary say she hanging in there hoping obama will
commit gamechanging gaffes and instead she the one
for clinton this primary been a slow mo legacy killer
went to the reunion last night, had a good time
suppose to do a presentation to this evening
youve heard most of it dear regulators and a
40th reunion presentation corny by definition
but what the heck, might as well clock
the wordage
all my love
------------------------------
well well well the 40th reunion, a masquerade ball, as you see i came as arthur flowers, thats disguise enough, already a disguise just coming to the reunion, been exercising, got on my coolest threads, trying to look successful, this me at my best, this as good as it gets
always nice to see how folks have changed, how they havent, deep how folk with all the extra baggage, wrinkles and pounds and stresslines, still look just like they used to - now here we are almost 60, i remember when being 50 was inconceivable, now here we are in our maturity, got my meds with me, okay - and when i get on that dance floor, ima be moving slow, mostly i just stand in place and get my sway on and every once in awhile i will get down on the floor but i feel the it next day, too much groove and i got to pay
but sho is good seeing yall, good breaking bread w/you, you know how it is, the class renunion, or hell no, then you come and have a wonderful time - want to thank gloria and the committee, whitman and his computer, thank clarence and pruitt for hunting me down, deep isnt it the hold your graduating highschool class has on you, i guess its because it was your first herd, your first pack, your first posse, and its good looking back, the good old days, thought we had problems, we didnt know what problems were = something special about being green as grass, not having a clue, just how tough life can be
mr cash wasnt lying when he said it behooves you to be prepared in life - you come to these reunions and you see folk you havent seen since god knows when and you remember how it was back in the day, and you get warm and toasty w/memories the years have sweetened - i remember trying to duck out of my aunts english class, and got into ms cleo jacksons class
but martha p. flowers didnt play that and came and took me out of that class by my ear - wasnt like i was getting a deal with ms cleojackson but at least she wasnt my aunt -
i remember the day martin luther king died, and the next day invaders in the hall talking about turn the school out, i remember charging at the police and they charge back but they couldnt come on campus, cause hamilton ruled - we a destinied generation, a generation with a dream, a mission, we who have felt the heavy touch of destiny hand will never rest - by the way of obama get the nomination his acceptance speech is aug 28th, the 45th anniversary of mlks i have a dream
speaking of dreams i hear that hamilton is not what it used to be, thats a shame, i remember when hamilton was the flagship of the system, and its decline feel sometime like life, you notice life dont glow like it used to, what happen to the dreams, the ambitions, the confidence we once had
o these are trying times, the older we get seem the more responsibilities we get, the more burdens we carry, most everybody taking care of fragile parents these days – you are not alone, - got children turning into adults and desperately in need of guidance, guidance you don’t know you got to give, well look here kid I can show you how to fail, thats what I seem to do best
recently i did an assignment for one of my classes where i asked my students to write a bio of themselves as if 50 looking back, one student became a successful businessman, retired and ran for congress, retired and became a news host, one cured cancer and another banished poverty, all had happy families, 2.5 successful children and a white picket fence – all of them
i said look here, i dont want to bust your bubble but what about the hard times, what about the losses, the dead children and crippling sicknesses, friends gone before their time, bankruptcies, setbacks and the day to day grind, i dont want to be the one tell you but life is hard, it aint for the weakminded, its full of trial, tribulation & regret, the blessing is to endure, to take punches you never imagined
but then you come to the reunion and for a minute its like we back in highschool
when we were young and vigorous and immortal and the world was ours for the taking
well we are no longer young, no longer vigorous, no longer immortal, and we know now that dreams are often just dreams, and life is just so much more nuanced than you will ever grasp - somebody once said if you been disillusioned mean you had illusions in the 1st place it behoove you to wake up
nice being young and vigorous, but young is also dumb, and its just as nice being mature and smart and wise and wily - w/an understanding of life thats been paid for in the hard coin of experience, i look back over my life and im satisfied i got regrets, ive made some bad moves, ive often zigged when i should have zagged but thats life, funny as it seems, aint gon waste my time stepping on dreams - ive taken some blows, but im still here i like who i am
and when the hardtime came made other men crawl, stood my ground like a natural man and it hasnt been easy because into each life… but god dont… so the next time… always
i can not imagine the trials and tribulations life gon throw on me, only certainty is that life will get imaginative on you, come up with new ways to break you but it take a lot to rock me these days, been through enough phases in life you know you win some you lose some, you keep on struggling, you treasure the good moments, you endure the hard ones - you do what you can when you can and the only thing fatal is giving up
and i would that you leave here this evening refreshed and regenerated and ready for this, the 3rd act of our lives – been tempered in the fire and ready for whatever life throw on you, serious about doing the best we can with the years we have left – we hear that clock ticking right, ticktock ticktock, no time left for the piddling and it is never too late to live out your best and greatest dreams - if not now when
i would you this evening rededicate yourselves to the joy of life, to living lives full of meaning and significance, i would you be worthy hamiltonians - this evening we have gathered in fellowship and a celebration of the oldschool - this evening i want you to check your troubles at the door – for in life weve found that the good times, when for the moment everything is right in your world, are fleeting and when they do come along, you treasure them
this evening we gon let the oldschool wash all our troubles away, gon wash our troubles away
these reunions mean more than just reliving the good old days - they are also a celebration of who we are, how far weve come, how rocky the road, how sweet the journey and the value of lifelong friends, colleagues, companions, fellow travelers - mi companeros this evening we celebrate these lives that we have lived, the struggles, the heartbreaks and the triumphs - this evening we celebrate those who have walked with us and are no longer here but in spirit
this evening we celebrate the hamilton we knew, when being a hamiltonian meant something
this evening we celebrate ourselves as survivors – mighty mighty wildcats
weve come a long way, you and i weve climbed some difficult mountains
but we still got so very far to go
i look forward to seeing you all again, twenty eighteen, do or die
that is all, this spell is done gods blessings on us all
Just want to tell you that was beautiful. All of it. "how rocky the road. how sweet the journey." Ain't it the god's honest?
I've been reading your blog for a couple of years now. Not commenting anything. But often thinking how much your spirit and style remind me of my much beloved cousin Charles Dock Freeney, who passed in 1999 at age 62, was in SNCC in Atlanta in the 60s and went back years later to be a librarian at Clark-Atlanta. Smartest man I ever knew. Funniest too. He gave me 3/5 of all the good sense I can claim, and saved my life at regular intervals. Including more than once since he left for the other side, if the truth be told.
Anyway, on this memorial day evening, I read your reunion speech and saw so much wisdom there. Thank you for your words and thank you for reminding me of my cousin.
Wishing you well.
Rya's great great grand...
Posted by: rya's great great grand | May 27, 2008 at 12:16 AM