'97 mentality

i haven't had much to say this past week...



couldn't tell you why, i just haven't. perhaps too many uncomfortable thoughts that i'd rather not share.



but all that changed the other night when i was doing my daily hip hop once over. i checked all my little hot spots for new songs and rap related dish. what can i say? it's not an image, i live it.

in all honesty, my short term memory isn't the well-oiled machine it should be, but my long term picks up the slack and keeps me balanced...for the most part.



for some reason, on this night i get this colossal flash back and i go on the hunt...i'm searching for one song:




wow.


'97 in june...my grades were too screwed up to walk in my graduation. i had to attend summer school.


i played this song everyday.

my 6 weeks in purgatory at central high school were probably more fun than a kid should have when his diploma is on the line. the weather was stunning, as was my crush at the time: jennifer. what a beauty...i wonder what happened to her from time to time.

her backyard spoke with thunder-

in a simpler time when folks still used beepers, i had her number. and when i passed easy pickins...i was only looking in the window to see if she was working. i had math class on one day and a social studies class of some sort on the other day. math was exactly what it sounds like: lame.

it was the other class that made us feel less like losers and more like an exclusive club.

there was never a shortage of laughs. and the teacher wasn't half bad himself. if i had him i probably wouldn't have failed the class in the first place.


after class i'd bounce back to my block. i still lived on erie ave. back then...me and my friend khalik lived around the corner from each other at the time. i think he may have been courting the deaf girl across the street from his place, and the only things of any real concern are trivial after years of toiling in a twisted metropolis.

you never believe that it's all so simple...until it isn't anymore-


i guess the reason i look back with such fondness is because it quite literally is the final chapter in that part of my life. i can look back and pin-point it with clarity. 6 weeks and one chance to cinch up 4 years...


the sun was brighter then...

when the last day of the summer session came, i went into the crowded halls of the school. everyone was in a mad rush to get their grades and end it all. i walked up to my math teacher, he handed me an envelope. i knew i hadn't done well enough in his class to get a passing grade. i opened the envelope and to my surprise he let me squeak by...it meant that i had my diploma...high school was at an end.

i never had to go back.

i looked out into the sea of students, trying to find my teacher. to connect with his face. peeking above the crowd i don't know if he saw me for sure, but i think he did...and if he did then he knows that my backward glance was a silent thank you.




to the shining city blocks, and those watermelon lollipops from a teenage crush...



may we all find those bright days again, and chase away this corruption and darkness.







custamato~