Blog #3- Influential People

My little brother Nicholas, he is only little in the sense of the word of his age to my own. He has left a major impact on me as to my growth as a person that will be forever lasting. While it might be a good argument on who has learned more from the other, I would say that I’ve learned more from being in his presence (however I wouldn’t tell him that of course).

While this is not my brother and I
these two look similar in age to what we are

A great deal of tasks are subjected to the eldest child of the family, you become a nurse, handyman, counselor and (unpaid) tutor. With all of these many jobs, I have learned to control my temper, and how to talk to those around me in a way to solve a problem and not perpetuate it. He has been some of the problems, bickering with our little(er) sister, Jazmine and stressing out over a procrastinated assignment or project. From his pure responses to things that have bothered him, it has given me the gift of learning, learning how to destabilize a nuclear situation into as little fallout as absolutely.

Being the eldest also gives breeds a large ego. From your age and range of experience with life, it is no possibility that the eldest could be wrong on a certain subject. Impossible! Nick has been there to be the person to call out my mistakes and fallacies out in the open so I can fix them. Understanding that a problem exists is the first step in solving that said problem after all.

The ego of mine was much like a balloon which popped
and got a lot smaller as a result of being around my brother.

Treating my brother as a friend and as someone whom I would want to be treated if I were in his shoes rather than the ‘Hollywood’ version of what a big brother usually is has prepared me for college in the ways that I am very respectful to complete strangers and try to help out anyone in anyway that I can.

We have a better relationship than the
brothers in this movie

Another individual who has made an impact upon me would be that of Leah Russell. She is an unsung hero of the RHA e-board here on the EMU campus. While my own experiences with her I have only been that of a professional sense in that from community council as she is my advisor for program coordinators. I know that her impact on the greater community is larger than just giving myself and the other coordinators pointers on how to program for the residents we represent. I know from what she has told me in the past that she held the same position in her freshman year as I do now. Despite her less than helpful council, she was able to push through and still create events that her residents could attend from which to learn and have fun.

Starting from the left, Leah Russel, Brianna Moore,
Laura Livernois, Justin McCarty

Currently she works as an RA in the Munson Apartments and is the Program Coordinator for the e-board of RHA. She has had a hand in setting up many events such as Bingo nights, Snack and Study and other socials from which the residents can meet others whom they may never have the chance to do if it weren’t for the programs, students are more or less ‘forced’ to go and socialize. Her also being an RA brings experience which I have drawn from as I will be joining her in the ranks of student staff this next academic year. Although she is what I would consider a friend, she is not someone who I have spent time with outside of our interaction with RHA. Despite this, I have gained a great deal of respect for her and hope to be able to contact her in the future if an issue arises with that of the RA position and its challenges.

While this is too small of a room from which RHA would use for an event, these college
students do appear to have the same level of happiness and laughter that happens at a RHA event

A great leader and speaker, one that we still look back upon to today, is that of Martin Luther King Jr., his many speeches and organized marches put a dent in the Jim Crow Era and its race dividing rules of segregation. I believe as to why I hold him in such regard is due to an epiphany from which I had in the second grade, or was it the third, the true year escapes me now, but regardless, the class watched an animated movie that depicted a young boy and his friend going back in time and preventing MLK Jr.’s death by bringing his 12-year-old self to the present, witnessing the aftereffects of such an event. The epiphany that I had stemmed from this alternate reality, knowing one of the other major civil rights leaders was Malcolm X who was considerable more belligerent and divided people rather than brought everyone together in the ways that King did, the present, my present day would most likely be much similar to that of the 12-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. Furthermore, I, wouldn’t be myself, My mother and father met by sheer coincidence because my mother visited her cousin Tracey at MSU, the university my father attended. Due to the segregation of the times of civil rights, it was difficult for a person of color to attend a school with a majority of white people, with this is mind, my Aunt Tracey (while she is my mother’s cousin, she still gets the aunt prefix, always been that way with my mom’s relatives, they are like her sisters and brothers), would have never been at MSU for my mother to visit her, for my father and her to cross paths, and their first date at an ice cream parlor to happen. To add, if King was not around, much of the same racist and cruel identities would still be present as stereotypes among people of color. Although learning of my grandparents and their open arms acceptance of my mother, it is not impossible to state that my parents would have never gotten together King did not set the groundwork for people to be judged by the content of their character and not their skin tone.

While this is the reverse of what I have
of my parents, I still adore seeing
interracial couples.