To Develop: Blog 365 Day 34 – Chocolate and Mud
By Jiddoe S'Phatt
Warmest greetings! My name is Jiddoe S’Phatt. Welcome to day
34 of “To Develop: Blog 365”.
Inspiration to write comes from a number of places. For this
blog I’ve been inspired by hip-hop artist Rick Chyme and producer
David K. Manley of Man@Work Productions. Through a collaborative project
titled #DailyPieces365
these two artists will release a new song every day for the next 365
consecutive days! Their impressive dedication has motivated me to write a new
blog every day of 2018.
A little piece of me goes into each entry I write. I hope
you enjoy this one!
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I lived in a considerably urban area of town but was bussed
to a more suburban area for school. I attended a private school during 1st
grade and the bus I rode made a few stops for transfers along the way.
I could tell by the looks on all the children’s faces I saw
every morning that none of them wanted to ride into my neighborhood to pick me
up. I’d get on the bus with them peering at me as though I was putting them in
eminent danger. And I wasn’t. I just wanted to get to school, get it over with,
and back home to watch cartoons just like them.
Once I was on the bus I’d head to the back. No one else
would be sitting there until other Black students got on at transfer locations.
At first it felt more comfortable sitting in back because,
before I knew what being shy and having stage fright was, I felt unsettled when
numerous people all gawked at me at once. After understanding being Black made
me different, and in some places unwelcomed, it became a place to mask myself
from unpleasant stares and eye-rolling.
When I was joined by other Black children it wasn’t any
better. They were from better neighborhoods than mine. Though we shared skin
color and historical oppression, their Black was chocolate while mine was mud.
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