RedFlagMagazine

What do you do for a living?

I’m a manager at a major U.S. bank.

What do you do to feel alive?

I love Barnes and Nobles. I love Home Depot. I love learning things. When I grew up I loved the adage of being a “Jack of All Trades” and I am a master of some – at least. I like to be able to talk to people about when Napoleon invaded Russia, why the price of soybeans is changing, why pro-football dominates the American landscape and why Cosmo sells more magazines than ever – I like to be broad-based. Learning makes me happy. To me the most interesting TV show is Jeopardy.

A lesson you learned from your mother:

Keep things simple and treat people as you want to be treated – the Golden Rule.

A lesson you learned from your father:

Work hard and do better. I remember I would say “Daddy, daddy I already picked two bushels of beans – and grandaddy, actually, would say “You can do better!” – There’s always room to sharpen your ax to do more.”

What’s the most beautiful thing you saw today?

When I came in to work at about quarter to eight I saw a group of men walking their kids. Men are usually seen as more rustic and not as sensitive as women. This one man – must have been in his 30s – came in with his two kids – he could have been on the front page of Ebony or O magazine.

What’s one thing you wouldn’t want anyone to take away from you?

My independence (to the point of being stubborn), my interest in a hodgepodge of things, and my thirst for knowledge.

What’s a thought you would like to never have again?

There are certain things that turn me off, but there’s not a specific thought that I would want to get rid of.

If you could become an inanimate object what would it be?

A book – words have the power to uplift people.

When do you feel most loved?

No mushy stuff! I feel most loved when I can talk to people and be appreciated as I am – and to experience who I am while dancing around topics and expressing all the ways I am – When I am allowed to express all the facets of myself.

If your life were to end tomorrow what would be left undone?

I probably still want to bestow more hope and uplift to the world in general. I never wanted to conquer the world. I don’t want to be someone who’s name is in lights, but I did want to make a difference in the world. Even with one person you can make a difference, but I would like to make a difference to the masses.

What global issue would you take on if you didn’t have to worry about how?

Hunger or disease. Disease is tough because Mother Nature always mutates so you think you’ve conquered Malaria and then it pops up somewhere else in a different form. It would probably be hunger because you have people living all over the world who don’t have food to sustain themselves. No one should be starving to death on this planet. That is a tough question. There are so many causes that are worth while.

What’s the scariest thing that ever happened to you?

I’ve compartmentalized everything from a near death experience, to a car accident, to a relative who is very sick, to natural disasters that I’ve lived through. I don’t have one particular. It’s scary keeping a job and scary what I’m about to do right now which is jump ship and retire.