Why I’ll Be At #WorldFit Day!

Whether we like it or not (and most of us don’t), fitness is a crucial part of our lives. It ensures that we remain healthy, properly functioning, and most importantly, alive. Don’t let the skinny frame fool you — I’m not a fitness buff. I was at one point a few years ago, though. I would be in the gym five days out of the week, cardio for at least an hour and perhaps some weights. read more

The Day I Got Ahead Of Myself

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I think I have the best way of doing things. I think I know best, and you can’t tell me otherwise. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong, and sometimes I’m wrong and it bites me in the butt.

Last Friday, I was helping move some tents for aHomeInHaiti.org, from the Courageous Church offices up to the warehouse where they would be shipped to Haiti from. I arrived at Courageous at nine in the morning and within two hours we had loaded a 26 foot U-Haul truck with over six palettes of new tents. read more

Twitter Church — April 10

The other night, after having a great brunch with a friend, and doing some homework, I got a little overwhelmed with life, even to the point of becoming a tad depressed. Then I talked to my dad. Both of them. My dad called me on the phone and we had a wonderful conversation just about all that’s going on in both our lives. It was nice to know that we were struggling with some of the same things. We were open, honest, and vulnerable about our lives. And it felt great.

Then we prayed and talked to our Heavenly Father. It was just what we both needed. I don’t know about him, but I was crying so hard by the time we finished — I mean that ugly cry too — that I couldn’t even breathe out of my nose. But I felt so much better. Like a weight had been lifted off my shoulder. There was little doubt in my mind that my Twitter family needed to hear what I had just received. Below is what I shared. (If you’d like the high-res photo, click here)

And because this is Twitter, you’ll have to read from the bottom up, unless someone would like to take the time to reverse all the tweets.

Are You Married To The Process

A few days out of the week I volunteer at an elementary school in Southwest Atlanta. It’s different from the area where I grew up and went to school in almost every way I could imagine — student demographic, parental involvement, median family income, housing situations, etc. Needless to say, over the past few months I’ve learned quite a lot from the kids and the teachers. In fact, probably more than they’ve learned from me.

Yesterday, I had a chance to work with a fifth grader; we’ll call him Bobby. He is struggling in a lot of areas — reading comprehension and math primarily — and is definitely not on par with his grade level, and is nowhere near ready to enter middle school in the fall.

That morning, our focus was math. Me and math have never been the best of friends. I understood it and had little problem doing it, but it was by far my least favorite subject. So, when the teacher said multiplication and simplifying fractions, I couldn’t help but groan a little on the inside. But, I didn’t let it show.

Let me pause right here to say this: while I consider myself to be a teacher, and in fact enjoy teaching new things to new people, I have zero experience with elementary school kids. Part of the reason I began volunteering was to gain experience in that area. I’m used to working with adults. They’re easier for me to deal with because I more readily understand their perspectives and mindset. Not so much with kids. So, going into this I wasn’t sure what in the world I was going to do.

We went into a room where we could have some peace and quiet and I found some flashcards to work with. After a few minutes of seeing him struggle with the most basic equations, I could see this approach wasn’t working; we needed to shift gears and try a new approach.

Glancing around the room, I spotted some colored blocks that could be linked together. I remembered a conversation I had just the other day with a friend who used to teach Kindergarten. She told me that she found it more effective if the kids had something to touch and hold on to as she taught the lesson (e.g., if they’re talking about adding, giving them blocks to add). I thought the same thing could work here.

We began working with the cubes and grouping them into rows and columns and I explained how multiplication was really just grouping sets of numbers together. The concept seemed to land a little better in his mind. As we worked through a few problems, and I corrected a few errors, he appeared to be grasping the idea clearly. On the inside, I patted myself on the back for taking a different approach that seemed to have gained a better result — one that Bobby would hopefully use in the future.

As I was walking back to the train station, a thought popped into my head: It’s easy to get stuck in tradition. Sometimes we get so stuck in doing things the way they’ve always been done that we miss the opportunity to think outside the box. We often overlook the opportunity to be innovative and use our creativity to find a new, betters ways that we hadn’t previously tried.

It’s easy to get married to the process, but often in life, the results are worth more than the process. Don’t get me wrong, there are certain tried and true methods that work time and time again, and, are in fact necessary for our development. But don’t be afraid to think about other ways to get where you need to be. If you notice that one road is stagnant, try something else. You might be surprised at the progress you’ll see when you simply change your approach.

[Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, and connect via Facebook.]

Sometimes Just Have To Let Him Orchestrate

God is such an amazing orchestrator sometimes — actually, all the time. We tend to forget this until His plan manifests. And today was one of those days.

Tired, real tired, and heading home from school, I got on the wrong train. I was still heading the right direction, but the lines split at a certain point and I was on the wrong line. Of course, I didn’t figure this out until after the split, so I wasted a good 15 minutes of my time. Normally I wouldn’t be too upset about this (after all, I’m half embarrassed to say that this isn’t the first time it’s happened) but I had somewhere to be. Somewhere I was already late getting to. So, I did the only thing I could do; I got off at the next stop and hopped on the southbound train back to Lindbergh so I could catch the right train.

While I’m sitting on the bench at the Lindbergh station, the next northbound train arrives. It’s not mine. I have to wait longer. The train arrives, doors open, and, being the nosy, people watcher I am, I watch as the people file off the train. Wait. A face I know. I haven’t seen Kelly in quite a while. Because of my hair, I look a bit different than I did last time we chatted. She almost didn’t recognize me. read more

My Sister and I: The Twitter Story

My sister and I a few years back

I don’t believe I’ve ever really shared much about my sister, Catherine, with you. She is perhaps closer to my heart than anyone else on this planet. After watching the newest episode of Law & Order: SVU, which featured a woman who was bound to a wheelchair, which my sister is, I couldn’t help but feel this overwhelming urge to share a little bit of our story on Twitter. So I did just that. Below are the tweets. You’ll have to scroll to the bottom and read up for the story to make sense.

(PS: If you’re the crying type, you may want to go ahead and grab some tissues.) read more

My Racial & Ethnic Identity… And Then Some.

In Race and Ethnic Relations Sociology class, we were given an assignment to write a paper (of 2-3 pages — I wrote 5) in order to answer 3 questions: 1) How do you identify racially and ethnically? Who are you? Who are your people? 2) How do you explain the origin and emergence of racial and ethnic diversity and stratification? 3) How do you explain the continuation of racial and ethnic diversity and stratification? When I mentioned the essay initially, I had quote a few people who wanted me to share it, so behold, below is my response:

Check The Top Box, Or Something Like That: A White Man’s Racial and Ethnic Identity and Ideas on the Origins of Race and Ethnicity

Identifying my race  has never been complex or difficult; it’s actually rather easy. I’ve always been able to check a single box — usually the one at the top — and keep things moving.

To look at me, you’d quickly assume that, because of my pale skin which, even in Summer, rarely tans, my blue-ish/green-ish/grey-ish eyes, and my straight, brown hair, that I am a White American man. And you’d be right. No secrets here. Nothing ambiguous to discern, discover, and detect.  Only the obvious. But how I identify myself ethnically is another story. read more

If I Can’t Talk To Twitter, Who Can I Talk To?

It should come as no surprise to those who know me that I use Twitter and Facebook as my relationship therapist on occasion. I tell them — more-so Twitter than Facebook, because, well, sometimes Facebook gets more in my business than I prefer — about a date I’ve gone on, or am going on, or perhaps about a young lady that I might have just met, or have a particular interest in. They give me advice when I’m confused about an issue and what ramifications a decision might have, as well as the best way to resolve conflict. They’re really great.

Yet I have recently encountered a problem. The problem is this: there has been a transition, in at least a few cases, where the females that I would want to talk about are on Twitter (and follow me) and are perhaps on Facebook as well, thus making it more awkward for me to talk about them like I don’t know that they’ll see everything I right. read more

FLiP TweetUp & EatUp Thank You

A HUGE thanks to everyone who came out to FLiP burger boutique to help me celebrate me birthday! I cannot tell you how floored I am everyone came out. Words just don’t express it fully, but here’s a little video to show my appreciation.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiKzhx7M9Vs]

My 25th Birthday Thanks!

Just a quick video to say thanks! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOiwrzrCTgE]