Well, my jobs were plenty for a while there. After that, I decided to come home from school in South Carolina and attend the University of D.C. It was a time of unrest and financial insecurity.
I finally got that work-study position I had always wanted when I was down South! I ended up working in the Media Department as an aide. I also worked with the school’s newspaper, the TRILOGY, as the poetry editor! We ran a Valentine’s Day and Black History Month-themed contest. I got a tour of the jazz radio station on campus, and met Candy Shannon, the on-air personality. I even got to sit with the T.V. department video editors as they worked on the CaribNation television show.
After moving on from there, I became a valet and met another connection, who offered me employment in the entertainment industry, working as one of the sound technicians for National Events. When we did the Stoned Soul Picnic in D.C., I got to be on stage and meet such acts as Whodini (R.I.P. to John “Ecstasy” Fletcher) and one of my long-time favorites, Vesta Williams. I asked for her hat, which said Vesta. I said, “I’m Vest, so it works!” Haha, but I still didn’t get the hat. May she rest in peace! I also got to be onstage with Yolanda Adams in Baltimore, along with Changing Faces! I was so nervous they would pick me to dance with them on stage when they called for a volunteer. They must’ve noticed because they kept it strictly as audience participation! George Clinton was in the vicinity, but unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet the brother face-to-face.
I LOVED THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE!
Those days were the most fun and quite possibly my best job ever! I was making $10 an hour way back in 2000, and they had catered lunches. We were eating for free, like no prob! I got to meet Jesse Ventura on Capitol Hill at a press conference! We did “Redeem the Dream” at the Lincoln Memorial. I ALMOST got to meet President Bill Clinton when we worked on a memorial dedication he was supposed to unveil and speak at. Unfortunately, I only got a napkin with the presidential seal on it! Well, at least the guys thought of me enough to snag a souvenir.
It was a great experience, but…the jobs went a little dry after that. I ended up back in the regular job market, like at the Shoppers Food Warehouse, working as a dairy food stock clerk. I had a back injury, and all of the bending only aggravated it. I was just getting signed up with the union, and there were no part-time benefits! I was there less than a month. I was told I would be let go the next time I was tardy. I had to travel all the way to Rockville from Landover, Maryland, by the stadium, before 7:00 a.m., and I didn’t have subway money. So it’s a pretty long bus trip.
So next, I tried to secure my unemployment benefits, but I was like a subway stop away, and the counselor’s words rang in my ears, “If you’re late, then you shouldn’t even show up at all!” So I didn’t. I fell short! Better late than NEVER! I should’ve told myself that back then and went to see my counselor that day because my unemployment benefits are STILL jacked up ‘til this very day. They want me to repay $300 like I didn’t deserve it in the first place.
I had to go even further to secure my next job. I ended up down in Norfolk, Virginia, since they had many temp jobs there. Their system was just as jacked up as Maryland’s because you made about $35 a day, but the hotels were $40, so you would still end up SHORT for the night! That turned into a whole ‘nother circus for me, from staying with distant relatives to the shelter. I was trying to make it out there on my own and learn this new city.
I was offered work one day at a temp agency. I wasn’t doing much, so I accepted and worked there for about two days. It was July 2006, somewhere around that time. One morning, I wanted to grab some breakfast on my way in and I ended up at the gas station along my route. Before I knew it, the attendant accused me of stealing 50-cent chocolate donuts, not knowing I had $10, an uncashed check, and $5.50 in my pocket. It angered me and insulted me. I stormed out and continued on my way to work. I got about a block away from the agency when the first squad car pulled up on me and asked about what happened, saying he had to cuff me and take me back. Virginia law says they can accuse you of a crime and issue a warrant for that. I just wanted to continue on my way to work, but the cop insisted. So I offered him up to release his belt and “Let’s duke it out if you like!” He took it as a threat and called for backup, who suddenly turned the corner, parked crooked, and hopped out. He extended his blackjack and commanded me to get down. I tried to explain myself, but he immediately struck me in my forearm, breaking it, and then again in my shin and my forearm. I yelled out in pain and no longer had any choice but to get down after informing him that he had just broken my arm. I sat cuffed for about a half hour, waiting on an ambulance, which they dismissed after they put a bandaid on the broken skin where I was struck, even though the bone was broken. They NEVER searched my bag but locked me up in what I took as an attempt to cover it up. I sat for a week before I could see a specialist to fix my arm. Just imagine all of this pain I just simply had to ENDURE. Yes, that’s agony, but it’s not defeat.
In an attempt to salvage myself from the streets, I located the local Educational Opportunities Center in downtown Norfolk. I applied for an upperclassman loan in anticipation of returning to school and continuing my education. Get my life right back on track!
I had a few days before school started in the fall. I had forgotten which schools I sent my money to, so I ended up at the University of Maryland University College back up north. They said they had no record of any financial aid transcript, so we made a new one. I was still homeless, unable to return home. Now, I had a broken arm and no glasses. The out-of-control cop had stomped on my glasses, which I learned after continuously asking for them. I only found out when I returned to the scene they had been stomped and mangled, not saved or salvaged for me at all. They didn’t care.
So after about a month around campus up in Maryland, the campus police started following and harassing me up there. I had to get tickets rescinded several times after PROVING I was a student! In November they gave me another 30 days for trespassing! Until then, I stood out in the cold of winter, simply thinking warm thoughts. Fortunately, I met some overnight friends at the radio station who allowed me to fit right in their odd bunch. Their on-air personality wore glasses and was legally blind for real, but he worked with his hands and had an ear for music and a good sense of humor. They made the night better, or at least tried, by allowing me to escape the cold until the janitor called the cops on me and had me arrested for trespassing.
After 30 days, I attempted to return to withdraw from school properly. After all, I didn’t want anyone scoring any free money up off of me like that, claiming it was unclaimed. They arrested me again for the same crime. How was that possible? The cop’s badge popped off as he tried to lock me down and I took it as a sign that he was just as crooked as the rest of them! The next time I took my brother to watch my back, and we got back my property without a hitch. My brother also talked my mother into letting me return home. I stayed for about a year; in 2008, I struck back out on my own.
