This is Tommie - Ya’ll Hear that Nolia Clap?

Well when I first went to High School I lived in New Orleans and it was different they have Parishes. Parishes are administrative subdivisions in Louisiana that corresponds to a county in other U.S. states. It also is a reference to New Orleans' basis in the Catholic Church. I lived in the Lower 9th Ward there was the Lower 9th that was the suburbs and the Upper 9th that was the inner city, people may be aware of the projects called Desire. That is in the Lower 9. I was going to a brand new school and they were mixing the kids from the Upper and Lower 9th ward.

I was 15 the first time that I ever interacted with Black people on a real deal day-to-day level. I lived in the suburbs of New Orleans and that was one part of the school, the majority of the school came from the projects people that were high school age that you might know around that time were people like Master P I mean I went to school with some real deal thugs, criminals, thieves, robbers, and killers.

Well it was on of the biggest shocks of my life the first day of school looked like something out of a Tarzan movie. I mean there were hundreds of coons all around this place. I mean they were standing on top of cars and dancing, people shooting craps by the flagpole, smoking weed right by the front door. It was like some nightmare scenario for the public education system and this was a brand new school. I remember the look on my Dad's face it was one of utter horror. He didn't calculate on the school being this rowdy. He had a look that said I did not prepare his son for this kind of environment. He asked me if I wanted him to walk up to the front door with me. I told him no. I mean hell he'd have to leave anyways.

Well, the kids at this at this school didn't like me both because I talked “white” and I acted "white". Well dumb ass I just moved from Okalahoma how the fuck am I supposed to sound? Again as was par for the course I didn’t have friends there either. I was a punching bag for everyone. If they ever were bored they'd ask me a question and make fun of how I sounded.

Well my parents had the bright idea of putting me in the marching band. In New Orleans being part of the band is something that everyone takes seriously. The whole city was based on getting ready for Marti Gras well I got on the band and basically I was subjected to the same humiliation that I got in class. I hated band practice. Kids would yell at me because I wasn't getting the steps right they would tell me that I shouldn't be on the band and why don't I quit. Hell, you don't think I tried every time I told my folks I wanted to quit they told me you HAVE to do it.

I never ate in the cafeteria because people would push me around an tease me I'd get whatever food I could fit in my pockets and book bags and sneak out of the cafeteria. I was good at sneaking and hiding. I'd go to the bathroom and eat sometimes. Well that was until the kids that smoked weed came in. They were the first people to be nice to me but at the same time they were high as kites. I didn't spend too much time in there because they would get the munchies and want my food. So I would go to the furthest stairwell from the cafeteria and I would sit there and eat and draw. Sometimes I would cry sometimes I wouldn't it depend on how the day was. Drawing was much like video games for me if I didn’t like my reality I could always draw up a new one. People have always liked my drawing and I liked getting compliments for my drawing but I never liked drawing for anyone or drawing for profit. My art is something that is very personal; it is for me to ease my pain and not for others. I tend to get frustrated when people ask me to draw something for them.

One day this guy came by when I was in the stairway while I was drawing. I'm pretty sure he was a senior and he asked me what I was doing I said drawing and he looked at my work and said you do good work then he left. Every day he would come by the stairway and ask me what I was doing and how I was doing. I never knew his name and I never told him mine I think he just felt sorry for me. He would always check up on me.

Well, in my neighborhood they didn't like me much either because my Mom drove a Cadillac. Some kids came to my front door and asked my Mom if I could come outside so they could beat me up. Today that is still so bizarre to me, they wanted to beat me up but they were nice enough to ask my Mom politely. So I didn't go outside much at the time New Orleans was the murder capital of the US. Kids killed kids it wasn't safe to not be liked. So I would stay home and play video games and escape from the world.

I think part of my Dad’s reason for retiring from the military was because he feared for our safety. My folks figured that New Orleans was too dangerous for us. In truth I agree I think if we had stayed there I would have been killed before 17.

So my Dad retired from the military and then we moved to back to Atlanta.