The Dark Continent...

One thing that I can't stand is the loss of history and culture. As an American of long-removed African descent, I know what it is like to not know one's history and not to have access to documents, artwork and artifacts from one's ancient culture. You see, the black man was chilling, living large in Africa at a time when the white man was eating his dead wife in the Caucus mountains. No, really...it's true. The first man is from Africa...fact. What royally blew about the slave trade was the blatant disregard by the Europeans for the culture and history of the African. Because the interest in Africa was purely economic, there was no need for the European to learn about the African since it was the plan of these same Europeans to simply rapaciously relocate them and have these same Africans built their civilizations for them, for free. If not for the non-written nature of African culture and the interest of a few people to learn more about the "dark continent", they might have thought that the whole continent, except for Egypt was swinging from vine to vine like most of us swing from check to check. Since the 1960's, ancient African history has slowly started to ascend to the surface. A truly beautiful thing, because I hate the loss of history and culture.

Having said that, allow me to juxtapose this knowledge next to some ignorance. I almost lost some ancient history and culture of my own. For those that do not know, I, Chad Wilder, have been to five different schools in my collegiate career, and i still have yet to have touched, smelt or tasted a bachelor's degree. (a free mix cd for anyone who can name those five schools in the order of attendance-first person only!) Maybe because I have been living like a bachelor to the Nth degree...anyways...The scholastic year of 1998-1999 I attended Howard University...the real HU...fuck Hampton and their slave-ass dormitory rules. There, I was fortunate enough to meet some cool ass brothers like mielly-miel, alibe, rob bacon, clay, cj, and kevin "this week i'm from trinidad" hutchinson just to name a few. However one dude stands out, namely the magnanimous Chris Adams. Chris Adams is the type of dude to knock on your dorm room after you've been on HU campus for one hour and every muthafucking Boule, Jack and Jill, and Links-raised muthafucka haven't said shit to you, here comes the only real muthafucka within a square mile. I think the first thing this guy said to me was, "What up Jont? The name's Chris Adams. You trying to drink some screwdrivers?" Indeed I am. So, needless to say, Chris Adams and me became cool.

Where does this lost artifact come into play B-double? Soon, grasshopper, patience is a virtue than a muthafucka. One night in front of Slowe Hall, my dorm at the time. I'm out in the front with my militant friend, Clay. We had discovered a few weeks prior to this event that the door to the roof was kept unlocked, so we started to make it our chill spot of sorts. Well, like all spots, it eventually gets blown. After about three weeks, alot of lame, corny muthafuckas started going up there to get chewed too. Biting our style like a manwich. I hate that shit. You find the spot that you think is the place...no one else can discover it...you're telling your girl all about it and how y'all can acquire that ambiance and that privacy you have been needing because both of y'all's roommates are always in the room...and then you get there and it's six muthafuckas freestying, and one muthafucka beatboxing...damn...the spot got blown. anyhow...back to me and Clay being up front. Some asshole was on the roof throwing pebbles onto the cars that were passing by. The officials of the dormitory noticed and went inside to call the campus police...

...an hour passes...

This same night night we get some 40 ounces. There really wasn't shit to do, so Chris Adams hits up this girl he was trying to holler at...so me, Chris Adams, his homegirl from California (knows how to party), and militant-ass Clay go up to the roof of Slowe Hall to drink and put one up in the stratosphere (well, not Chris Adams-he don't blaze). The view from the top of Slowe Hall is beautiful. For those that don't know, the architecture of Washington, DC is designed so that there is no building taller than the Capital building. So on a clear night, you can literally see the whole city...it's gorgeous, Maude. So we're up there pontificating on life's peaks and valleys, minding our own goddamned business, and guess who shows up in major fucking dilatory fashion? The fucking campus police.

Campus Po-Po: "We got a complaint of people throwing rocks from this roof."
One of Us: "Yeah, well that wasn't us. You got that complaint about an hour ago."
Campus Po-Po: "Wait. are y'all drinking? Come with us."

Now, as aforementioned, I have been to a few schools, but never have I ever seen a school that is so prude when it comes to alcohol than Howard. Truly they are archaic and unrealistic in their assessment of alcohol on the college campus. Alcohol to the college student is like power pellets to the Pac-Man...gotta get it. But Howard acts like drinking is worse than rape, so the hugest deal was made of this situation. The dormitory director was called in from his house at like 2 in the morning; this dude was a major prick with the hugest beer belly in the country, which puts him in the running for the hugest beer belly on earth. That night, the director acted as if we were going to get kicked out of the dorms for good! For drinking fucking 40s on a roof! After a trial which was a mockery of justice, we all recieved our punishments. Chris Adams' girl, who was a sweetheart and probably didn't even drink but 4 sips was banned forevermore from Slowe Hall. I suppose that threw a monkey wrench in his program considering that Slowe was the only dorm at the time with overnight visitation. Me, Chris Adams and Clay had to, 1-go and talk to a counselor to see if we were indeed alcoholics (I told the counselor that I was a lightweight and could only drink a beer or maybe two after I have ate at least a porterhouse steak. I didn't get a recommendation for any further counseling, nor did Clay. I am not sure what the fuck Chris Adams told them, but he had to do a weekly counseling session for the rest of the semester), 2-do 20 hours of community service (which none of us ended up doing-fuck the black community...that was a joke), and 3-we all had to write an essay concerning the effects of alcohol on Howard University's populace...mine was very straight foward and to the point, as I'm sure that Clay's was, but Chris Adams, naw...that nigga's a different breed...you gotta read this jont...and to think...I almost couldn't find this artifact...it would have been lost to the sands of time, just like the lost culture and history of Africa...

P.S.-I was in the room with Chris Adams when he wrote this. We were drinking a terroristic amount of screwdrivers. I have edited the following piece in no way...
============================================

Alcohol and Howard University

Whether it be on a college campus, an after dinner party, or a local bar, alcohol is a very hot and controversial topic. It is so because; it is responsible for many traffic deaths, death among many college students, and many social problems. This topic is also highly debatable because it is the number one socially accepted drug in America, especially among college students. The topic of alcohol reminds me of a movie, called Animal House, in which Jim Bellushi plays a member of a fraternity at a large university. He and his frat brothers played pranks, threw wild toga parties, and had sex with many beautiful women, all under the influence of alcohol. The underlying question here is: “What is wrong with alcohol if you get the same results as Bellushi and his brothers?”

Just so there will be no one will miss conception about my take on this issue, I am very pro-alcohol. However, let me also make it very clear that I do not condone alcoholism. My definition of alcoholism is not that of a grown man drinking on the roof of a building. A man who stays out and drinks all night, can’t provide for the household, beats his wife, and molests his daughter is my idea of an alcoholic. In the spirit of Jim Bellushi, everyone should just drink, party, and have a good time.

Alcohol is something that has been around with us of a long time, even as long ago as the biblical days. I don’t think they drank cherry Kool-Aid at the last supper. My grandmother is seventy-two years old. She drinks. In my eyes she is a retired and very successful woman. As long as these things remain true, I will have a very hard time taking the anti-alcohol view.

In my opinion alcohol has no affect on Howard University’s student body. I believe this is true because, black students do not binge drink, as opposed to a white campus, such as University of Maryland. Since we do not have any Greek houses on campus, you don’t find your classic keg or toga parties. Marijuana has a much greater effect at Howard than alcohol does.

It is really quite simple, alcohol is part of college life. If used irresponsibly alcohol can, of coarse, be harmful and even deadly. On the up-side of the issue alcohol can also jazz up a boring party and make people a little more fun to be with. To answer the afore-mentioned Bellushi question: I don’t think there is nothing wrong with events which include alcohol as long as it is done with responsibility.