May 1996 The News Argus - Page 14
FEATURES
Baker State University
It’s 9 a.m. and the campus is pretty
as a picture or at least that’s how it looks
to Sharriff Parks, as he approached Baker
State University’s campus in his shiny
black jeep. He never thought he would
be a student at a historically black
college. Today, is the first day of school
and his first class is at 11 a.m. (At his
previous school the rules were, a little
different, you didn’t have to attend the
first day of class.)
As Sharriff pulls up to the student
union, he noticed that the union at the
college he transferred from was much
larger than Baker State’s. As he walked
slowly into the union he began to smile
as he looked at all of the beautiful
African paintings and pictures of African-
American achievers on the walls. It
made him feel like he had stepped into a
history book.
In all of the excitement, Sharriff
bumped into a beautiful, cocoa- brown
skinned “sista.” “Excuse me miss,”
said Sharriff. “That’s okay! Are you
new here?,” she asked. “ I am a u-ansfer
student from New York. My name is
Sharriff Parks, and your name?” “My
name is Chenzy. It’s African like your
name,” she said. Sharriff had no idea of
the significance of his name or its
background. Hopefully, Chenzy, his
new friend will help him
The last thought on Kevin Smith, a
North Carolinian, mind was coming to
college. On- the-other hand, since he
stays in trouble, going to jail would have
been the first. Sitting in the passenger
seat of his mother’s 1988 Cadillac, he has
a frown on his face.
Enrolling at Baker State University
bccame a reality when Kevin managed to
earn his General Education Diploma
(GED) during the summer. Making this
deal with his mother and Officer Johnson
was not the real deal. Officer Johnson of
Tingle County, a very close friend of
Kevin, had known him since he was
young and from his stays at detention
centers. If he continued his education,
Johnson would stay off of his case. Now
Kevin must be good and keep himself out
of trouble.
“ You need to drop that so called
altitude,” his mother said. “Leave me
alone ma,” Kevin replied. As he turned
his head around to look out of the
window, his mother smacked his head so
hard that he hit his head on the dashboard.
“Ouch!” he hollered. “Why did you
smack me so hard? Why did you smack
me period? I ain’t do nothing. Kevin’s
mother gave him a look from hell, “Don’t
you ever get smart with me again. Next
time I will knock you out of the car. Now
get out and find the Registrar’s Office.
And take that hat off and pull up those
raggedly jeans...
“So this is Baker State University,”
Biron Falta thought as he stood in front of
the Registrar’s Office. “I should have
known.” He bent down to pick up his
brown leather bag. When he stood^up he
saw a group of girls walking his way.
“Well ,” he thought to himself, “maybe
Baker State isn’t so bad after all.”
As he straightened his clothes, he
thought he looked pretty good especially
in his new sneakers his mom bought him
to play ball in. She would kill him if she
knew he had them on. He stopped
thinking alx)ut his mother an^ put a smile
on his face as the girls got closer^. The
girls walked by with out even looking his
way. “Maybe Baker State-isn’t going to
be the place for me he thought.”
Biron began walking towards a
building where he saw a group of guys
wearing sweatsuits standing in frqnt of.
“Excuse me,” he said to one of them.
“ Could you tell me where I need to go? I
have a basketball scholarship.” The guy
turned around, his eyes were blood red,
half open and watery. “Yeah man, you
are in the right place. I’m Ray.” The guy
extended his hand to shake Biron’s hand.
“I’m Biron, but people back home call me
‘D’.” Ray and Biron shook hands.
“Where is back home?” “Miami,” Biron
answered. Ray’s eyes opened wide and a
smile sneaked across his face. He smiled
and said, “Miami! Yeah me and you
gonna be real cool. Real cool.”
Biron returned the smile. Only he
didn’t exactly understand what Ray
meant. All he knew was that he was here
to play ball and that is what he intended
to do...
"STATE U," is a mini drama written
by Jhonnell Ridout and Preslyn Young.
Pick up the summer issue of The News
Argus and find out what happens to these
guys.
Lewis-Thornton Speaks At WSSU
BY JERMAINE BRODIE
Guest Writer
When one thinks of a person with
full-blown AIDS (Acquired Immune-
Deficiency Syndrome), one often thinks
of a person extremely weak, thin and
confined to bed.
But young, attractive, educated,
assertive, and ambitious describes a
woman who discovered in 1986, during a
routine blood drive at a Washington,
D.C., Red Cross Center, she was HIV
Positive
Rae Lewis-Thornton, of Chicago,
uses her oratory skills, personal
experience, and honesty to educate people
about the disease and to comfort people
suffering with the death sentence.
On April 2, the Winston-Salem State
University chapter of the National
Association For Equal Opportunity in
Higher Education brought Rae Lewis-
Thornton to the campus. She was very
straight to the point about how she
contracted AIDS.
“A magna cum laude university
honors graduate of Northeastern Illinois
University and a political science M.A. at
the University of Illinois will not save
your ass from AIDS. Look what
happened to me,” she said.
Lewis-Thornton told the audience
that she got A^DS at the age 23 from one
of her many sexual partners. After she
received the news, she told her mother
that she had AIDS, and her mother said
“See, 1 told you that you weren’t going to
be s— in life.”
A member of the audience asked,
“How did you deal with rejection from
you mother?” Lewis-Thornton replied,
“With unconditional love for the Lord I
found salvation.”
Being in Christ, she said that God
sent her Kenny Thornton. Kenny and
Rae started dating and got married.
Lewis-Thornton, held up the
microphone and asked the audience for
questions they might have. One question
asked was, “how does she deal with the
fact of knowing she will die soon?”
Lewis-Thornton stopped and looked
the girl in the eyes and proudly said,
“With love of God and support of my
husband, Kenny, I survive, I am living.”
Ver Sell, 46 of Winston-Salem said
found the talk, “Very informative,
straight to the point. During the time
when I was growing up the main problem
was drugs. The problem young people
face today, AIDS, is far a greater
problem. That’s why I made sure I
brought my son, Johnathan, 16, to hear it
first hand. It is important for people to
understand that AIDS does not
discriminate. It attacks all.”
Looking for Plants,
Crafts, Baskets,
Baked Goods or
Produce...
The Downtown
City Market
at 6th and Cherry
Streets
is now open
every
Tuesday and
Thursday from
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
until October.