Newspapers / Elizabeth City State University … / Oct. 17, 1991, edition 1 / Page 3
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ti^sday, October 17.19^ THE COMPASS Page 3 FEATURES I know I made a difference' I ^CSii grad tells of struggle to give hope \nd purpose to inner city 'problem youth' By Ursula McMiUion When Lisa Gregory gradu ated from ECSU with a degree in English/News 5dia, she never dreamed she would Ijtireatened by a cocaine addict aiding a chair, or stop a student jn setting another student’s hair on Gregory faced these and other dif- ulties while working at the Wood- ick Job Co^s Center of Woodstock, pin 1989, instructing students from ; ages of 16-21 in preparatory ijfses for the General Education (ploma (GED) examination. The stu- ^is who come into the Job Corps are ually high school drop-outs seeking |[GED and a vocational trade. Some of the problems Lisa faced iu pyromaniacs, teenage alcohol- i teenage mothers, homeless stu nts and students who had to serve as jenis for their younger brothers and ^ because of drug-addicted par t‘d’ • u ■ “Students were so diverse m tneir tkgrounds,” said Gregory. “I often |)k their problems home with me jcaiise I was not only a teacher but a lunselor, mother figure and friend to ^yof the students.” “About 90% of the students and tffwere African-American,” said [tpry. The students were inner city Mth from Baltimore, Philadelphia id Richmond, whom officials had kled as “problems.” "I really believe that I was hired (cause the administration assumed latbecause I was Black I could iden- fy and empathize with all the Black iperiences,” said Gregory, an Eliza- eth City native. “That was not true ecausel don’tknow whatit’s like to be 17 and pregnant with my fifth child and worried that my other four chil dren may be eaten by rats. I was not exposed to frequent alley shootings or big time drug op^tions in Elizabeth City. I don’t know what it feels like to sleep on a park bench because I have nowhere to call home. I don’t have drug addicted parents. “I was like Mary Tyler Moore.” Despite the difficulties Gregory faced she tried to instill drive and purpose in her seemingly hopeless students. “I had to prepare the students psy chologically before I could teach them,” she said. “I told them that the term ‘can’t’ should not be in their vocabulary.” Lisa used different tactics to in struct as well as combat classroom violence and other disruptions. She often had an uphill battle gaining re spect and credibility because she was the youngest employee at the facility. Although she didn’t receive respect from what she called “the petty-think ing majority,” she stood her ground with her students. They began to re spect her and playfully compare her with Homey D. Clown, a character on the TV Show In Living Color, by saying “Ms. Gregory don’t play that.” “I knew that 1 could not be afraid and survive,” said Gregory. “I told the faculty and the students that I was not there to win a contest, but to do a job.” ‘The administration did not always agree with how I handled certain situ ations,” she said. “They often told me to vrnte it up and they would get to it, and they did get to it—three to four months later. Sometimes local authori ties would end up handling problems that the administration could have taken care of, if prompt and adequate disciplinary measureshadbeen taken.” Some of the problems Lisa faced were students rolling razor blades underneath their tongues, students brandishing homemade weapons and a girl trying to set someone’s hair on fire. One particular student threatened to harm Gregory with a chair. She reported this to an administrator who virtually ignored her because this was thefirstreportagainstthestudent. Ac cording to Gregory most students were not properly reprimanded until their third or fourth offense. “The student who threatened me with the chair was a cocaine addict, “ said Gregory. “When I reported this threat and addiction, the administra tors felt that I was overreacting and told me that I didn’t have the profes sional ability to make this type of assessment. Two months later the Bal timore Police came to the center and arrested the student—who had in his possession a considerable amount of cocaine.” In another incident Gregory felt one of her students had a mental disor der and reported her to administrators. Nothing was done. A few weeks later the girl set another girl’s hair on fire during class. According to Gregory th^ was not a strong enough reason for the administrators to dismiss the student from the facility. “The student was finally expelled a couple of months later when she was discovered standing over her room mate, who was in bed, trying to set her on fire.” Many of the students at the center had a serious desire to learn and to better their lives. “A large number of the students with potential didn’t complete their studies at the center because the nega tive students would pull them down to their level,” said Gregory. One student who touched Gre gory’s life at the center was Jamal Warner (not his actual name), a native of Virginia. “Jamal was intelligent to the tenth power, “ said Gregory. “I wish I had the cognitive abilities that he pos sessed.” Although Jamal was not under Gregory’s instruction they would spend time chatting and exchanging information. “He taught me about his religion and I assisted him with his studies after school,” said Gregory. He would stop by her class as she quizzed them with the Genius Edition of Trivial Pursuit. He would zip through the game with no problem. “Jamal was not only academically gifted,” said Gregory. “He was also streetwise.” After Gregorys’s resignation, Jamal left the center on vacation status. When Gregory called back to the center to check on his progress, the center told her that he had not re turned. She called again only to find out that Jamal, while spending time with his father in New York, had been shot and killed in a drug deal gone bad. According to Gregory, Jamal was a student with great potential who had simply taken the wrong direction due to “societal influence.” He was the third student she had losL The other two deaths came as no surprise to Gregory because she had begun to recognize and accept the signs of potential fatalities in the relentless and sometimes macabre environment of the inner city. ECSU grad Lisa Gregory spent two years working at the Job Corps in Woodstock, MD. helping inner city "problem" youths prepare for the General Educational Development Exam. The centers provide housing, edu cational and vocational courses and extracurricular activities for the stu dents. It is a national program admini stered and funded by the Department of Labor. “Sometimes I felt as if the Center was all about money because the offi cials at the center would allow stu dents with obvious discipline prob lems to stay,” said Gregory. “The longer the student would stay, the more money they would get from the government.” Although Gregory had problems with both students and administration at the center, she says she misses itand would not trade the experience for anything else in the world. During her two year tenure she received copies of GED’s from stu dents, directed a commercial for the Job Corps, and her play. International Discovery (Say No to Drugs) was performed by students at the Job Corps SummerGoldGames.Theplay placed first in the state of Maryland and sec ond in the region. “Even though I had a tough time, I know I made a difference,” said Gregory, who is presently free-lanc- ingfotiitVirginianPilotlLedgerStar. “There’sabookin me somewhere,” said Gregory, “And it could very well be about my experiences at the Job Corps Center.” ^ lUuittaticn by Keviti Cruz H/ I o A celebration of the African soul through music, fashion, grafitti ECSU to offer new filmaking class 8y Rene Knight Do you dream of becoming the next Spike Lee? Do you yearn to make music vid- *8, docu-i-atnas, or commercials? If so, then you’ll be glad to know “jat the University’s first filmmaking will be offered in the spring through the Art Department Wherever you imagination is, we take you there with the equipment have,” says Professor Eugene Neal, who will teach the course. " “^d in the University’s equip- , ®"tareacomputertoenhancegraph- a video camera, editing equip- and two screens for viewing. , 0 Neal said students taking the I f I course will make their own 1 ‘>ns, ‘They will learn camera tech- I 'Wes, script writing, film editing, , '^%st production.” ^e class will begin with an intro- i to the use of the video camera. “They will learn all the parts of the camera,” said O’Neal, “and how to use it.” Students will also learn “how segments are put together into a final format,” he added. The class will be structured around group projects, said O’Neal. “Each group will have specific things to do, and then we will rotate students, to give them an op^rtunity to work on different thinp.” Projects will begin with planning sessions, in which the class decides what type of films they want to make, and make make such choices ^ whether or not to add music to the film. Each project will be onginal, O’Neal said, something that the class decides on. “By the end of the semester every student will have a working unde^ standing of film producuon from start to fuiish,” O’Neal said. “And once they’re out in the world, they 11 have the insight and experience under theu' belt.” O’Neal, who owns and operates a photography studio in Elizabeth City, has had extensive experience in mak ing videos through his business. He has also “attended seminars and work shops in the field,” he said. He has been working on getting the class started for two years. The class will be limited to 15 students per semester, O’Neal said, adding that more than that “would be hard to handle, considering all of the work they will be required to do.” “I think it’s going to be a good class,” he said. “Students will learn a lot technically, being as that we are a TV-oriented society.” O’Neal said the class could help the entire student body, citing as an example such projects as ‘ Career Day.” . “We can make an entire rilm, jn house, about that,” said O’Neal. “It could be filmed and edited in house. By Tarick Scott Most people associate the term “hip hop” with rap music. That relationship between hip hop and rap music is di rect and deep, but hip hop also is pri marily an African culturi movement that manifests itself in visual arts, dance, language, music, fashion, graf fiti and religious representation. What separates this art form from others in America or the world is its direct line to the streets—or, more specifically, the ghetto, where minor ity groups are insulated from Euro pean America. It is here where ethnic groups usually revel in their history and culture. The African, being stripped of his history and culture when abducted to this country, had nothing on the sur face to celebrate. But within each African beats a vibe from the mother land—a vibe which some people refer to as “soul.” In his introduction to David Toop’ s The Rap Attack: African Jive to New York Hip Hop. Tony Van Der Meer writes, “This cultural expression (hip hop) was nurtured by a long heritage of slavery and resistance to racial, economic, political, social and cul tural oppression.” Hip hop is the result of Africans in America questing for their identity other than the European one that was forced upon them. This art form is not limited to “minorities.” Hip hop deals with universal themes and yearnings, the need for economic gain, political power and the right to live free from discrimination. Let’s climb down from the 1990 branch of the hip hop tree to the roots of the art form. We travel back to the birthplace of civilization, Africa. There we can find the hip hop blueprints of rap, graffiti, dance, music and fashion. In West Africa, the Savanna Griots sang of social problems and boasting. Drums were an essential instrument in these ancient African ceremonies and cele brations. Hieroglyiphics on the temple and pyrmaid walls communicated what the African of that time was about, just as contemporary graffiti on the A-train communicated the hopes and dreams of urban youth. The Essay Savanna Griots’ boasting is recapitu lated in a modem idiom, “the dozens,” a name calling game in which two contestants insult each other in arhym- ing form, this also appeared in Muhammad Ali’s bragging predic tions before a fight. Rap evolved out of urban gang warfare in the mid- 70’s, after gang members started talk ing about each other in place of fight ing. Musically, hip hop draws upon the strengths of all Africa in American art forms. Blues, jazz, rock & roll, funk, R&B and reggae from Jamaica all make up pieces in the hip hop puzzle. The combination of these forms gives hip hop its own special identity. Hip hop in its current form came about in the Bronx in the mid 1970’s. A brother, named KoolDJ. Here was tearing up park parties with his boom ing sound system. He would take two different records—^rock, funk, disco— and when the drum break ended on one, he would fade into the drum break on the second record. This cre ates a continuous sound, called “mix ing.” The drum break was the only part of the record that was worth listening to, according to the party goers, so that was all that was played. In these sessions, the M.C. started to play a part in this percussive move ment as a crowd motivator. The M.C. would do what is known in Africa as call and response, saying something like, “Everybody say. Ho!” and the crowd would respond by saying, “Ho! ” In essence the crowd was being in cluded in Ihe function, making them part of the party. Eventually the mas ter of ceremony started to recite poems over the music, and thus the term “rapping” originated. Graffitti, hip hop’sartform, started out as an individual’s or gang’s tag (name) on the wall, identifying terri tory. It then evolved into a form in which the style of writing itself was important; the calligraphy was so highly individualized that words would be unrecognizabable to people from other neighborhoods. A mural depicting street youths accompanied the words. Bombed (spray painted) subway cars travelled through all of the inner burroughs of the city, giving the rest of New York and the world a glimpse of what life is like in the places seldom seen by the outside world. The young pioneers of hip hop did what they did because it came from the heart. There were no platinum albums to be made or graffiti clothing to be sold. Their work was for the pure love of the art and competition. Today hip hop is being exploited commercially—especially in fashion and music, as corporate America is starting to realize the major influence that African culture has on society. But the music and fashion merchants are skimming off the surface of hip hop and neglecting its substance. Stars like MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice are exploiting hip hop without paying Uibute to the true originators—the ghetto youths. . Writing in the Village Voice, Rob Tannenbaum wrote this about Vanilla Ice, “This mediocre white superstar rapper treats hip hop as just another sub genre to be subsumed and dis torted by the top 40 juggernaut.” Then there is the McDonalds commercial depicting African people shucking and jiving just to sell over a billion more burgers. On the outsi^ these few examples appear to be hip hop related, but where is the sub stance? The cosmetic look is easy to dupli cate, but the true soul is not Since hip hop is of African origination, its by products all bear some sort of relation to the African. Will hip hop suffer the same fate as other African-in-Amer ica art forms, such as rock & roll? Can hip hop be exploited so much that the majority of African people do not associate themselves with it, much less acknowledge that their people created it? Are we to learn from the past and keep what’s African pure? In “Who Stole the Soul?” Public Enemy sing,“Ain’tnodifference than in South Africa/Over here they’ll go after ya to steal your soul, like over there they stole our gold.” (Tarick Scott, a freshman Music Industries major, is from Long Island, New York.)
Elizabeth City State University Student Newspaper
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Oct. 17, 1991, edition 1
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