Product of My Dreams

Will you become a product of your environment, or a product of your dreams?  This is the question I pose to the students involved in my mentorship program. All of whom are considered “at-risk” because they either reside in group-homes or attend LAUSD high schools that lack adequate resources. Hence the title of the program, “Product of My Dreams.”

My inspiration for this program spurred from reflecting on my own experiences growing up in South LA and the series of people and events that encouraged me to fulfill my potential. I structured Product of My Dreams in a way that will create an optimal learning environment for students that may have never considered their futures to be valuable.

Every month we highlight a different major and/or career field. This year we have covered Entrepreneurship, Cinematic and Photographic Arts, Law, and we will end this academic school year exploring Music and Creativity.

Each career installment has 3-4 segments. We begin the day with a panel discussion, take the kids on a tour, give them a technical crash course on the related material, and then we facilitate a participation activity.

For example, the next installment, Music and Creativity, will begin with a panel of student-artists from USC and UCLA. These students vary from full-time and part-time musicians, poets, producers, promoters, and students in the fine arts. Next, the kids will get a chance to explore the Thornton facilities when we break them up into groups and they choose a nice space for their individual workshops. Some kids will learn how to song write, some will learn how to write poems, others will design the album cover work, and the kids who are feeling extra creative will work with the musicians to compose melodies that compliment the lyrics the writers create. Last, but not least, they will present and/or perform their creative works.

We typically work with about 30-40 teens each session. The different segments accommodate people that may have different learning styles.

The most important element to this program rests in the quality of the mentors and volunteers. My team and I hand select each panelist and volunteer before every session to ensure that they have an understanding of how to approach the teens and also that they themselves have the ability and motivation to inspire others. This creates cohesion of like-minded individuals, all passionate about their craft. The teens feed off of this passion and become more engaged in the activities of the day.

My goal is to spark passion, make the kids comfortable with their presence in a college setting, as well as displaying an array of role models of students who came from similar circumstances yet have risen above those circumstances to new heights.

It takes a village to raise a child and dream to create a destiny. This program will hopefully do both.

Bleeding the Creed

I guess the red gushing blood and the exposed white bone constituted the assumption that Kevin Ware does indeed bleed Louisville colors.  Isn’t that the creed most of us pledge to our given universities?  At what cost would you actually be willing jeopardize your body to test the theory?  Kevin Ware’s injury yet again raises the question on whether student athletes should be paid.

As for now, athletes receive full or half tuition, board, required course related books, and a monthly stipend.

To students at premiere universities such as the University of Southern California, just one of those listed options would be well received and appreciated. However, in a study by researchers at Ithaca College and a national athletes’ advocacy group, athletes on full scholarship at Division I universities still end up paying approximately $3,000 every year.

At USC in particular, $3,000 is incomparable to the rough $50,000 of debt most students accrue.

The idea that even those on a “full ride” have to take out loans in order to avoid placing additional burdens on their family is absurd.  In the 2011-12 year the FBS full athletic scholarship failed to meet the entirety of attending school by a $3,285 average. This left a large portion of players on a “full” athletic scholarship living below the federal poverty line.

The National College Players Association (NCPA) and the Drexel University Sport Management Department produced a study called, “The $6 Billion Heist: Robbing College Athletes Under the Guise of Amateurism” where they determined what college football and basketball players would make in a fair market using public information on the value of their scholarships and the revenue generated by each athlete.

The study found that each player on the top ten revenue-generating teams would miss out on their hard earned $3.5 million over the course of a 4-year stay at a university.

Kevin Ware specifically is worth $1.6 million annually in a fair market.

Paying fair market value for players may in fact cause unforeseen problems as a result. Especially giving kids that large amount of money at such a young age. Yet, with this argument I see little difference between the ages 19 and 22. In fact, universities understand the type of money that some of their athletes will receive once drafted to the NBA and NFL, but do little for the players’ financial literacy and professional development.

Somewhere along the road to national championships, the term “Student-Athlete” gets convoluted.

Most players are encouraged to pursue majors that impose the least on their commitments to their sport. Disciplines such as business are replaced by communications, or sociology. Each of the two is valuable in its own right, however neither provide the information essential to wealth management.

The 30 for 30 Documentary, “Going for Broke” showed that on average, NFL players go bankrupt 3 years after their retirement from the league. These bankruptcies are typically the result of extravagant purchases and assisting family members who conveniently turn into leeches.

There are very few athletes that have not only raised their jerseys beyond the rafters, but they themselves have risen beyond the courts or playing fields as entrepreneurs. Magic Johnson is the most notable with his most recent business ventures.

This information has been widely discussed for years and has been raised in the same breath as the adequate financial payments for student athletes question, yet nothing has been done on a national scale by the universities that have all the resources necessary to make a substantial change. It’s almost as if they do not care.

The NCAA and universities are not responsible for hospital bills of their injured players. Why? Well, because they argued in court that the players are “student-athletes,” and not “employees” therefore freeing them of liability.

If Kevin Ware happened to be a senior, his dream of making it to the NBA by being showcased through a college medium would have taken just as severe of a break as his leg. On top of the searing pain Ware would have normally been left with a hefty hospital bill that would add that nice salty burn. 

The NCAA has an insurance policy of up to $90,000 for student-athletes, but only during championship situations and with the stipulation that the players must be completely disabled, which Kevin Ware was not. Luckily for Ware’s wallet Louisville paid for his medical expenses. But to call Louisville’s move to pay for the medical bill is hardly honorable, it should be protocol.

Why wouldn’t universities want to take care of the individuals who equally contribute to admission rates, alumni financial support, and billions of dollars of generated revenue?

When will we stop vilifying athletes for choosing to enjoy the fruits of their labor by accepting finances under the table and begin by reconstructing the academic curriculum for student athletes and creating a policies that take care of the players who clearly do anything necessary to win. Even if that means showing the audience what it means to bleed their university’s colors.

The Conversation

Los Angeles, California. Home of the palm trees, cool breeze, and beach. There is basically two seasons. Beach weather and weather that people on the east coast would still consider beach weather. However, there is a side to LA that most people do not quite know too much about. The side that they only hear about through music and/or movies. Both reasons why other races love us and fear us at the same time.

Why do I feel like I was born onto a battle field of a war which had begun long before I arrived. A war where as a result, countless of lives have been lost. This is not a war of the kind experienced by my Iranian brothers where missiles are liable to fly over head at any time, but it is of the nature where I am liable to die walking down the street if I am unconscious of my personal color coordination or from a baseball hat ordained with a team not favored in that particular neighborhood. My sophomore year in high school I remember getting off the bus at Crenshaw High School at a time when two local gangs were in a murder contest and had to hide behind a car in a parking lot so that I would not become the victim of a drive-by. In another incident, me and a group of my friends were robbed at gun point for our cell phones.

To make matters worse, those we hire to protect and serve often act as catalysts for the perpetual hatred. At the age of 16,  me and a friend of mine were pulled over driving home from a workout in an area that was known for gang violence.  I forgot my ID at home, something which at the time was irrelevant to me. He asked me what was I doing in the area as if I needed a reason. He asked me where I lived and searched my address in the computer. He saw that I did not live too far.  The officers congregated by their car, put me in handcuffs, told me that I fit the description of someone that committed a robbery (black, 5'10-6'2), and told my friend to drive away. This is an old tactic. This is what the cop actually translated to us by the series of questions to me. I was wearing a blue hat in area that was inhabited by a gang whose primary colors were red ("what are you doing over here?").  My address was going to specify if I was either a predator or bait. If I lived too far away from the area, they would've thought I was there to violate a rival gangs territory (No, I was playing basketball), and if I lived in the neighborhood then they know that the spectrum of colors that I simply thought were stylish would provoke violence from the local inhabiters of the neighborhood. The answer was B. So, the fact that I did not have my ID gave them an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. He told my friend to drive away, which translates to make sure that you go far enough away to where they can no longer see you, but you can see them. The cops then drove me a block away, got me out of the car, unlocked the hand cuffs, and told me to walk home. This translates to, we have no current intentions of personally harassing you, but we know that because of your attire you are liable to get jumped walking through this neighborhood to get home.

Fast forward 5 years. I get accepted to USC as a transfer student. I went to 2 different colleges prior to attending USC. I finally feel as though "I made it" although I have not physically left my Los Angeles dwelling.  Long story short, me and my roommates throw a party after the first home of the season in 2011 and I get shot in the chest by a gentlemen who had the bright idea to steal from our homes. These are just a few accounts many from my time growing up in "Killer Cali." It is very possible that I could just have bad luck, but I as well as many others know that this is not true. It is a common story of most African-Americans, especially black males who grow up in these hostile environments. I made it to USC and still almost lost my life. Most others who are not as fortunate simply adapt to the lifestyle out of pure survival. Others do it because media and their reality tells them that it is a part of their culture and "normal."

This is not a justification, but an explanation of a point of view from a guy with an abstract mind who grew up in a concrete jungle. Where those who make it out have had to battle with being different, duck for cover, and mentally overcome their environments just to make it to the same places that our counterparts have been blessed to receive without having to grow up so fast. This is not to say that every African-American has it bad, is bad, that I had it the worst, or that other races and creeds do not have their own issues.  This is just my addition to a conversation that has yet to be had. Maybe this conversation will cause someone to look at me for me instead of a criminal. Or if not a criminal, without the innate skepticism that is to be had for the black race.

I was told by a gentlemen heavily intoxicated by the cheapest of liquors that I do not belong at this institution and that I took the place of someone who was more capable. "If it wasn't for that Affirmative Action!" he said. I could nothing more than laugh at the situation, because it would've taken me an entire semester with ample resources for me to get him to understand the blaze that me and my cohorts have risen from; our stories strikingly similar as we cope with our new life at a predominantly white institution.

I hope that this conversation continues. I would like to hear other people's stories also, because this is what produces substantial change...

Spoon Fulls of Bullets

Tomorrow’s headline should read: Spoons, leading cause of obesity for overweight Americans. The headline, although flawed in its validity, is the same argument used by most supporters of gun control. The objects themselves serve inherently different purposes, however both are lethal if wielded by the wrong hand.  The proposed gun regulations currently target the type of guns people can obtain. Instead, the regulations should govern what types of people can obtain the weapons.

Not everyone that uses a spoon is fat. It takes certain mindsets to produce obesity, all of which have nothing to do with the spoon itself. The same is true for a pistol. Legislation to ban the sale of magazines capable of holding more than 15 rounds of ammunition is currently being signed and debated by several politicians. In all fairness, guns such as the .223 caliber, Bushmaster AR-15 were recovered from the crime scenes of several mass shootings throughout the US. The fact that guns are dangerous will never be disputed, but focusing on laws that prohibit the availability of certain types of guns will not cure the dilemma of mass shootings in America.

More prevalent than any high-powered weapon or extended clip were the signs of mental illness displayed by each shooter prior to their incident. In fact, upwards of 38 out of the 62 mass shooters in America displayed signs of mental health problems prior to the killings. A large majority of the remaining individuals experienced some form of bullying, or recently lost their job.

Jared Loughner, who shot 19 people inside of a shopping center in January 2011, was known to make outbursts during his high school classes and often complained about hearing voices in his head.

As a country, we have failed those children in Sandy Hook and those innocent people in Loughner’s targeted shopping mall. How is it that someone who both voluntarily and involuntarily expressed signs of mental illness can casually walk into a store and purchase a weapon and ammo?  In fact, it is easier to purchase a gun in some American states than it is to vote.

Out of the 62 cases officially classified as mass shootings in America, 80% of the criminals purchased their guns legally.

This past Sunday afternoon, John Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado, mourned the loss of his long time friend Colorado prison chief, Tom Clements, as he also signed the legislation banning assault rifles. In the midst of heartache, emotional decisions are often the easiest.  Our nation allowed legislators to pass the Patriot Act following the September 11 attack out of emotion. We need to retreat from what is easiest and conduct the proper deliberation to formulate the best decision.

Who can blame anyone for wanting to fix a faltering system especially when the decisions we make today have the possibility of preventing the occurrence of other tragedies? However, if we must take anything away from crafty policy makers during the aftermath of 9/11, it should be that protecting our citizens is the number one priority, and number two is to protect our rights.

It is true that legislators who would like to assess gun violence in conjunction with mental illness are also currently being pressured into making a hasty decision. So, given the fact that there is a possibility that guns will be regulated, will those new regulations prevent mass murders. I assume that reasonable minds would venture to say, “no.”

 Just as spoons are not the cause of obesity, the rescindment of every spoon manufacturer would not prevent obesity either. Sure it may become slightly more difficult to kill people as quickly, it will not prevent the incidents caused by unstable and provoked people.

I myself was shot in the chest by a .22 caliber handgun in an incident at my USC apartment September 4, 2011. The bullet entered my chest piercing my lung and liver. The only reason I am alive is because that same bullet was slowed down by first piercing the middle finger of a girls whose hand was on my chest. If an individual has it out to shoot someone, whether or not the gun has a magazine size of 14, or 1,400, there is not much that can be done to protect that individual.

If legislation were to pass and another mass shooting were to occur, but this time the deranged criminal used nothing except handguns, where will the legislation stop?

I am personally reminded of the dangers of gun violence every time I take a labored breath. I just refuse to sit around blaming the gun for its magazine size. Attention needs to be focused on those that pull the trigger.

Can't Help but Watch

I used to wonder how many people would attend my funeral.  Now I wonder how many views my death would get if it happened to be captured on camera. Humans have always had an innate fascination with death, specifically dealing with the afterlife.  But what we are seeing today is reminiscent of ancient Rome with the barbaric crowds that filled the Flavian Amphitheater, also known as the Coliseum.  What are the affects of viral videos that spread on a daily displaying grotesque and demoralizing images for the world to view at leisure?

Have you ever questioned your need to satisfy your curiosity about a gory online video? Hovering your finger over the keypad, finally giving in with a guilty yet excited click. Your stomach cringes, then you again question why you were curious to watch the video in the first place. Just me? I refuse to believe so. In fact, there are hundreds of thousands, even millions who enjoy (I use the word loosely) watching the demise of others.  Studies have shown that the chemical released in the brain while watching a fight or scary scene are also what we call the flight or fight mechanism. Gradually our society has been desensitized to the sites sounds and even bodily reactions of deadly scenarios. Evidence of this feat can even be seen in the evolution of film in America. Movies that were once considered legitimately scary such as the 1958 premiere of The Blob have been replaced by movies similar to the Saw series and The Human Centipede.  For those unfamiliar with these movies, Saw is, the director, James Wan’s way of fulfilling his strange desire to dismember victims in the most horrendous fashions without actually completing the act. The Human Centipede is a movie about an evil doctor who decides it will be highly entertaining to sew the mouth of his victims to the anus of another, until he creates a centipede-like train of humans. The kick is, he only feeds the first victim, or the head of the train, allowing the rest of them to be fed through…I think you get the point.

The question I raise is where do we draw the line? Has our skin grown thick enough to where we can watch a real man go through the same ordeals online and feel no remorse?  America seems to be placed in a bubble free from reality similar to the story of Siddhartha. Siddhartha was once a rich prince in what would now be known as Nepal. He was pampered his entire life, drenched in his every pleasure. It was only until Siddhartha decided to escape the palace that he discovered a world filled with death, disease, and destruction, when he ultimately became enlightened. Siddhartha was transformed into whom we now call Buddha.  I compare America to the story of Buddha due to the world’s current state. Our nation is surrounded by the same conditions that were present during Siddhartha’s era. The same death, disease, and destruction can be found outside of America, as was his palace.  We have become desensitized to certain human emotions while viewing the brief online and television programs. When we see riots happening overseas we watch it just as casually as any other video that finds its way to our browsers.

I am apparently not the only one that has had this abstract idea. In 2008, a movie by the name of Untraceable was released to be more of a social commentary rather than a box office hit. The serial killer in this movie was Untraceable and actually did not kill anyone himself. Instead he created apparatuses that would kill victims only if people logged onto a website to witness the death. Of course, the humanistic intrigue with death killed multiple victims in this movie before he was finally obtained. Who is to blame, the killer or the killers? The Roman gladiators who were forced to fight to the death with wild animals, or crowds of people that came to watch? Boxing has been transformed into the UFC and a boring fight is one when no smelling salts or gurneys were used. I would say that our society might revert back to the days of ancient Rome, but at times we value the lives of animals more than humans.

It seems as though well-traveled individuals to different have a more cultured perspectives (always exceptions) and outside perceptions of America tend to be consistent. Not saying that we are the ones that kill the most or commit the most heinous atrocities, however we seem to be the main ones that enjoy watching it.