I was born and raised (well for the most part) in Athens, Ohio. Home of Ohio University, our famous Halloween Block Parties and the Ohio University Bobcats, who took out Georgetown University in Basketball this past season during the Sweet 16!!
I was born in O'blenness Memorial Hospital on August 9, 1985 @ 5:45am. Ooo wee! My mom was in med school at the time, I believe. Anyways, we moved around while my mother pursued her Medical career. I lived in Toledo, Youngstown, Warren and Athens. My mom, Dad and I were the only ones from our family that lived in Ohio.
In honor of my Ohio roots here is a little Bone-Thugs-and-Harmony, some home state artists:
This was such a good video btw! I mean a great video...
The rest of my family either lived in NY (Queens on my dad's side) and Spring Valley (on my mother's side) or in Canada ( my great uncle and aunts from my mother's side). Like I said my family is Haitian but my parents didn't meet in Haiti. They met in Nyack NY where the Cerans were the big names around town. My uncle Lucien(but I call him Godfather Toto) is in a big Haitian band: System Band!!! So people in the Haitian community in the states and in Haiti know of him and the band. My dad was a big soccer star in Nyack so there are a lot of people who hear our name out there and talk about the good ole days, playin soccer or running around with the fam. Anyways, needless to say holidays and vacations were spent between Spring Valley and Queens. I have to admit I had more fun in Queens, more cousins my age to play with etc. If I haven't mentioned I was/am an only child.
Anywho so when I was 3 we moved to Denver for a little while, how long I am not sure. But that began my love of Broncos and John Elway. At some point we moved back to Ohio and moved around the state for a while. People often ask if I was an army brat- my mom was in the army but that's not why we moved.
Anyways, I enjoyed my time living in Ohio. My best friend Siyarin Tan-Shuttleworth and her family were very close to me and my family. Siyarin and I joke that we were best friends before birth because we call each other womb buddies- our moms were pregnant with us at the same time. I mean we GREW up together, her grandparents were my grandparents, her uncles were my uncles. We were/are tight!!
Other friends I have had along the way meant a lot to me too.. Especially my childhood friends I had growing up in Athens and in Nelsonville Ohio. People that I went to elementary school and Middle school with, I mean they were awesome people. When I was 9 years old my cousin came to live with us. His father, my Uncle Gary died of cancer, when I was 10 his mother died. My cousin and I never really got along, I always wanted a sibling, but, well let's just say it is a lot different when you sort of get what you want. But needless to say life was good. My mom was getting in medical magazines etc. We built a new house/ mansion, we were on the rise as one of the only black families in Athens. On my 12th birthday, that whole lifestyle changed. My mom kicked my father out of the house, and my parents underwent a brutal divorce. It was the first divorce that I had heard of and that my friends had heard of as well. It was tough. Especially because it was a constant fight! UGH.. Anyways, for now let's just say I grew up fast.... That was possibly when Eminem meant the most to me. He just came out with Hi my name is
I remember when this video was first unveiled on MTV's TRL (Total Request Live) YO!! I was like who is this crazy white boy from Detroit rappin? And then I heard his lyrics and fell in love!! His album, I think might have been the first rap album I snuck to listen to- ha ha ha! And I made sure I listened to all the curse words!! OMG!! Anyways, it was sort of therapeutic, we just lost 'Pac and it kind of filled a void. Plus like I mentioned Em has been some therapy... Oh wow, I was just brought back... There is a thunderstorm going on right now, and I remember as a kid during the height of my parents divorce it always rained hard. I used to go walk in the woods behind my house with a journal, a book, a packed lunch and my Walkman and just walk for 2 hours in the rain and chill. I kind of felt that every time it rained, God was crying for me, for the pain that I was going through. Anyways, my parents' divorce took like 2 years, basically the whole 8th grade.. It was such a stressful situation. I favored my father, we had a better relationship. My mom to me was just this person in my life. I didn't really "know" her as my parent, if that makes sense. I don't know I was always with my father so I just knew him better. As a kid I would get my dad a mother's day card and his birthday card. I mean I would get my mom the obligational mother's day card also but it was more as a duty. I guess I realized that for my mother, her career came first but with my father it was different.
But back to the good memories about Ohio. I loved the quiet, I loved the outdoors. I went camping as a kid, spent time fishing, picking berries, bonfires and farms. It was a straight country lifestyle that I loved. I will always be reminded of what it was like to be a country girl, riding my bike through the woods, or catching fireflies at night. Or listening to bull frogs in my neighbors pond. I miss the block parties we had as kids, I miss the summer bbqs and just the "natural" things we used to do. I miss waking up in the morning and running outside and being out until who knows when at night. I miss the smell of rain coming through the lush green backyard that we had. Everything that I remember about Ohio is about the landscape and mainly everything that I loved about growing up and being a kid. I guess to be honest those are the memories I want to hold onto. But something in me knew that I would always outgrow Ohio.
Anyways, this blog started as an homage to the places I have lived.. So the summer before I turned 13 years old my mother abducted me (I'll talk more about that another time) and took me to California. Ripped me away from my family, my friends, my childhood. I had so many plans and dreams of life in Ohio. I was blessed to be given the opportunities that I had. I knew I didn't want to live in Ohio my whole life, but I wanted that decision to be mine. I love Ohio and I would love to go back and relive my childhood to an extent, but that place carries with it so many messed up memories that I don't know if I can ever step foot in that state again. It has been 4 years since I had to go to Ohio.. Ugh, this is so tough typing about this right now, but it's time to talk about it..
Anyways I moved to California with my mom, my cousin was sent to boarding school in Idaho, I wasn't allowed to have any contact with my father. I guess I got it in my head that my parents couldn't get along in one state so the only way that we could all live sanely is if they were 3,000 miles apart. No one really prodded me or asked me what happened and I never pushed to have that conversation. I went to a private alternative school- Palo Alto Prep. Oh boy, I transitioned so much. My best friend in High School was Jessica Fortier- we didn't like each other at first. Our personalities were too much the same. But Jess became someone who changed my life in more ways than one. I am so thankful for her friendship, even if she doesn't realize how much she did for me. We were so much alike, HUGE Eminem fans, we loved the same music, the same movies, we just had a great time!
California is my home, it has my heart. Because I was taken away from my family and because my living environment wasn't the best, my friends became my family. So Jess was like the sister I never thought I would get. When I turned 15 I got a job at Chili's in Mt. View that gave me a little freedom from my home life and let me sort of grow up. I was a great student, and a great worker- but part of my life slipped away from me (again a story that can be told later). But the people at Chili's like J, Jenny and Madeline, they took me under their wing and helped to raise me. I don't know what they saw in the little "messed" up chick from High School, but I am so glad that I met them. God puts people in your life for a reason, and I think to be honest the people I met at Chili's were there because I needed to be reckless, but I need a safe place to do it. And they let me have my reckless moments... Chili's was a HUGE part of my life, I worked for the company for 9 years, helped put me through the first part of my college career, helped me support myself and my vices. It really gave me my two feet to stand on. Not to mention all the great people I got to meet, from customers to coworkers I had a lot of great people to look up to and who supported me then and continue to support me now.
Oh and how the Bay seeps into your skin. I am a BAY girl for real. Ah, the Bay! From the East Bay, to the South Bay to the Peninsula I am such a Bay girl!! I love driving up 280 on a nice day with the windows down just coasting. And hanging in San Francisco on a random afternoon is the best. Not to mention all the good eats, the Bay Area has a flavor all of its own and a place I know like the back of my hand. I have watched it transform so much that it surprises me every time I go back. But let me be clear my Cali love runs for the Bay Area and maybe San Diego only.. There is a HUGE difference between LA (SoCal) and NoCal.. So here is a little bit of my Bay Love and then Cali Love at its best:
E-40 "Sprinkle Me"
And of course you can't be a Cali girl without loving this song
2-Pac "California Love"
So let's see there is a lot I am skipping because I just want to highlight some of the best parts where I have lived. So now on to the NY, when I graduated from Foothill College (yes I skipped a few years) I decided it was time for a change. So your girl picked up and moved to NY. I wanted to get closer to the family I was taken away from, it was the best decision I had made.. and it was always something that I told myself I would live in NY one day. No better time than now right. NY is home for family, I haven't been able to make it home home, not like the Bay that's for sure. But I love NY and for that I have to give this one to Jay-z and A. Keys I think we can all agree that this has definitely become the NY anthem, regardless of the fact that there have been many great artists who have come out of NY and repped hard for it as well. NY is a beauty that allows me to catch different glimpses of it every time I return. I have been blessed to know the city as a kid and then to watch it grow as I have grown into an adult. Each time I see the big lights of the Manhattan skyline, I have been so refreshed. I get so excited to see that concrete jungle and knowing that at least for a little while I am taken care of. NY is comfort- if you've never been go at least once, it will show you things and take you places that you have never been. But here is my NY anthem:
Jay-z and Alicia Keys " Empire State of Mind"
NY because my family is here will always have my heart! I find peace being in NY it is where I come to focus, to find grounding and to just be...
And now I currently live in D.C. so big ups to GoGo and the family that I have made here. This point in my life has been about me being able to live my life for me and about me. The first real area that I have sort of made my own because it was my choice to be here. Why do I love D.C.? Because politics is here, and as I mentioned I am a political thinker. I am so blessed to be in the city "where change happens" and I am living so many great opportunities. The other best part about D.C. is that there are so many different neighborhoods to fall in love with here. So many places to enjoy and grow in, I have been extra excited to get to know them all. And I am doing what I have to do to get to where I need to be. So from a true DMV native I am like the song says " D.C. Chillin,"
I don't know where the next city will take me. My goal is to live in D.C. for at least another year or two and then I would love to move to New Orleans for a while. I think home base I might move back to Denver, raise a fam there, get a glimpse of my childhood without being in Ohio. To be honest I would love to have a home in every city that I love, one in NY, one in the Bay one in D.C. and home base in CO.. But we'll see where that road takes me. I guess I have never really been scared to go out on my own. When I was a kid my dad and I would go on these long road trips. I got to see so many of these great United States on these trips. It was so much fun and I guess seeing all of these places really taught me that I have a lot of places to explore and see. So here is to still exploring and for that matter growing.
Thanks for giving me a moment to reminese on the many places I've been while giving you a chance to sort of see why I love them so much too.
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