The College Tour by Torrance Dominquez

During spring break I had the privilege of going on a historical black college tour. On this tour I went to three states and visited nine colleges. Before the tour I just wanted a vacation but now I want to attend a university.

    Last year I received my GED from John Adams Community College and now I’m at the main campus of San Francisco’s City College. I’m taking nine units and getting a feel for the college life. Toward the beginning of the spring, I heard about a college tour that City College was giving. I thought it would be a good vacation away from the city, so I signed up for it. But once the tour began, I knew I was in for more than just a vacation.

    On this tour I got to go to Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Not only did I go to three different states, I also saw nine different schools. It all started in Daytona FL where I visited Bethune-Cookman College. I saw where Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune lived when she was alive and also the whole campus. Later that night I traveled to Tallahassee FL where I toured one of the top universities in the United States: the University of Florida A&M.  FAMU is a very large school with lots of people attending it. I enjoyed this school because it offers a quality education and the food is really good there, also. It wasn’t as small as Bethune-Cookman. The next day came and I was off to Atlanta GA, also known as the Dirty South. That’s where I visited Clark/Atlanta University, Morris Brown College and Morehouse College. All of these colleges were wonderful. They all seem to have a good education system and if one school doesn’t have your major, you can take it at one of the others. I liked Atlanta because it was more city-like and the schools were all close together. Later on that night I was on way to Albany GA where I visited Albany State College. I liked this school because it had been rebuilt because of floods it had in the early 90s. The only problem was it wasn’t as city as the city of Atlanta and smaller than I expected.

    A few days went by and I was off to Tuskegee Institute. This is the school that Booker T. Washington was at. His grave is even on the campus. Then I left there and went to Montgomery, Alabama where I toured the campus of Alabama State University. I liked this school because the cost was low to attend the school. By now I’d finished touring the colleges and it was time to go back home. So I made it a point to take my last picture and pack up.

    Over all, the college tour was a beautiful experience and I would recommend anyone to go on one if they had the chance. I thought I was just taking a vacation, but it turned out to be more than just that. Now I’m planning to change some of my courses and work on going to a historic black college. I haven’t quite chosen the one I want to go to yet, but next year I’ll be on the college tour and see more colleges and try to make a good sound decision. 

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If I were an angel I would zap love into peoples hearts, changing the forms of hate, greed, suffering, sadness, anger, jealousy, frustration and fear.  It has been my discovery that without these beasts however of aggressive acts and vigorous confusion planted generously in the genetics of mankind provides a rough and edgy contrast to our outstanding spirits of appreciation that root deeply in God’s grace. In other words, we as God’s children come to know what appreciation is in His love and the powerful effect appreciation makes in the Cosmic Heart: It reveals a permeable fire of love that expands in its infinite voyage for absoluteness to fulfill and illuminate Oneness.  Just the same I want so much to shapeshift these ugly energy eaters into worthy receptacle virtues.  We all possess hidden positive qualities about our selves that are the keys to remove these fetters (shackles) around our ankles and to also open the door to loveness, the Omni Love! One Love. Being fully embraced by the magic of God.

        As a human being, I feel like I am not adequate enough to stimulate the magic of love in people to heal all the wounds since the time the first Homosapien met face to face with temptation and conflict to the present day. There is a bright side to these faces however—enlightenment! Therefore, I do indeed have faith that love will impregnate our intentions; and right now intentions are dependent on choice,  which, in disguise, is a gift from God. We actually have the power to lay down the foundation of love for the new tender steps to come. Simply being aware of these festering discomforts that mate with man’s intent on a daily basis. We can learn to recognize, confront them with no fear (to roar right back at it such as a lion) and simply throw it towards the Sun, where these unhealthy emotions will burn up in the Sun’s atmosphere. Otherwise they thrive securely in one’s fear.

        I know if I was one of God’s Love Angels, (I would appear as a hippie angel probably!) I would give to God’s creations—in this case people—the sensation of love. And for those who don’t remember what love is, they will be awakened and will rediscover their place once again in God’s Cosmic Heart, which beats through us all.

Amongst the singing celestial lands
From rhythmic breath
Births a roaring dance
The universe echoes with penetrating fire
With its illuminable gratifying tingly style.
The Lion with flames
Calls our soul’s name.
For this is a place where we have no shame.
Amen!

        Tears fall from my painful experiences, which I shadow in and which is the core reason for writing this article. San Francisco is an unique symbol of diversity: rays of culture, arts as well as the educational guises. A portrait of catered groups to preserve delightful links of civilization from across the globe is truly a bouquet to uphold. And in the midst of pride, do we not see the forces of division and schism still standing amongst us? Yet,  there are those warriors who full-heartedly apply a turn to stir the liquids of Unity. But before we do bring this brew of fusion to a harmonic boil, we must recognize and not allow separation to bruise the devine aroma of Oneness. So all will be supremely fulfilled by the flavor which serenades our souls.

        Even if the culture you love is different than who you are, you ought to be given room to be unconditionally drawn into that culture regardless of your skin’s pigment or the lack there of. There is no reason why you ought not be able to feed your thirst and enthusiasm to continuously build your craft in new broader horizons. People who treat you less than a human being because you are different are proof that the works of division and separation still linger like skunk smell in the air, impeding the entirety of efforts to unite all hearts in a sustaining Harmony!

        Mankind is still at an immature point in evolution, maturity in the development of human nature, a product of humble beings still ahead. The way man can achieve this is by overcoming the residues of severe separation that is still anchored in existence. To sum it up, let’s be assertive, make a diligent effort to be one tribe, one culture that beholds a wordly bouquet. So we can stand erect in the rightful place in the Cosmos. Amen!

        To tail end this, I wish to share my article in all languages for all that wish to participate. I also wish to give sincere thanks to Project Read and the tutors they matched me with: Christie and Dina in the past, and Annie the Angel, a supportive sister in my achievements (love you Annie!). This is my third and last contribution to Project Reed’s newsletter. To all who love to learn, please do not give up. Your momentum may come to a silence and you may struggle along the way; but remember we all have our own individual speeds to be respected so we can go a lot further. Here is a word that will help you along the way: joie de vivre. It’s a groovy word. I fell in love with it when I stumbled on it in the dictionary years ago. It means the joy of living! (Amen!) It’s a French word. And, last but not least, to my dancing fellow with raven eyes who resides in my heart, this article was with your love in mind as well in my heart which goes out to you and all. I love you! Amor, paz, & armonia. (I love the rhythmic beauty of Spanish.) I don’t know the Spanish word for healing; I am sure to learn it by mouth.

I moved here from New York eleven and a half years ago from an institution. I like being on my own. Life has been good and wonderful. I can go out and come back when I want to. I have a nice friend who takes me a lot of places. His name is Vincent. He takes me to ballets, to operas, and to the theater. too. I saw Evita a couple weeks ago. He takes me to movies. I enjoy being with him. Without him I wouldn’t get to go no place.
        I like my tutor. She comes and spends time with me. She reads to me when she comes. We go out and celebrate our birthdays together. I look forward to having her come every Saturday.
        I also go to meetings to help get more help for the handicapped, especially for people who come out of the hospital. They don’t know who to turn to get help, so I go to meetings.

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I spend a lot of time doing volunteer work for my church.  One of the things I do is to help with the auction sale. The church has two sales a year. First I set up the table, then I price the items, and then we are in business! For two days we have the sale. Then after everything is over, I have to clean up and put away the rest of the things.
        Another thing I do at the church is to crochet blankets for the people at Laguna Honda Hospital. Last year I made ten blankets of all colors and designs.
        For the holidays, Easter and Christmas, I help out with activities. I work on the Easter dinner and Christmas decorating.
        The reason I like to volunteer is to help people, and it’s fun!

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Matthew Henson was born August 8, 1866. His parents were free blacks. He worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant. Later he worked as a cabin boy on a ship and went around the world. He met a man named Robert Peary who hired Henson to go on an expedition with him to unexplored land in Central America. Henson and Peary went on an expedition to find the North Pole and found it on April 1, 1909. When Peary and Henson came back to the United States, a man by the name of Dr. Frederick Cook said he had discovered the North Pole and Peary and Henson got no credit for it. Later Frederick Cook was proved to be wrong and Peary got the credit for it, but Henson didn’t get any credit. Black organizations campaigned for Henson and they won recognition for him. In 1937, Henson was admitted to the Explorers Club. Henson had met a woman called Lucy Ross and they were married in 1907. Henson and his wife were invited to the White House and received a medal from the U.S. Navy. Later, in 1955, Matthew Henson died.

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Early one morning in Seminole, Florida I was sitting by the pool doing my spiritual reading when my nephew Mark came over to the table and sat down beside me. Mark is in the Navy and his job is working for the chaplain. I said, “Good morning, Mark,” and he said, “Good morning, Uncle Neil.” He sat down and I said, “How are you?”
       “Well,” he said, “I am kind of worried. I don’t know what I am going to do when I get out of the Navy. Do you have any advice?”
        I said, “I don’t like to give advice, but since you asked me I will share some of my thoughts. In order to get a good job you need a degree. A degree will get you in the door and the more you learn the more you will earn. Learning will make you feel good about yourself. The people I know that are very smart read all the time. Try never to be a mental loafer. Try to learn and read something every day.”
        Mark said, “Thank you, Uncle Neil. I am so glad you don’t give advice!” We both  laughed.

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At Project Read there are many people who struggle and fight to learn whatever they can to be a better person.  But they are not alone.  With the help of your tutor and everyone who believes in you, we are able to get through the hard frustrating times.
        Whenever I think of giving up, that “maybe I can’t do this,” I think about when I first started: how long it’s been and how much I have learned.  I might only be taking baby steps while I learn, but I know one day when I get near the top of where I want to be, it will be because I never gave up.  I would fall, get up and keep going, and Project Read was the hand helping me up.

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We as Americans need to really think about the way we treat each other. What happened to the term Live and Learn? We have learned a lot but I feel that we are not living right, day or night. It’s easy to see that we are not pulling together, but we are in this together. What puzzles me is that we can play sports together, sing together, work together, but can’t really live together.  It’s always a white or black thing, rich or poor thing. Why can’t we make it where we all live as one? Yes, we can do this with the power of wanting to do for each other, no matter what color or race, slow down the pace America and let the past be the past and live for today in the right way. It would be a better place. We all know right from wrong, so let’s try harder to do the right thing and stop covering up the guilt that lingers over America like the morning fog. Because when it’s all said and done, we  will all fall together and that I promise you.