My Teachers: A List

This is a list of my teachers:

• My mother–a saint in my eyes, especially because of her faults
• My father–piece of shit that he was.
• Malcom– for showing me a possibility of how to be, when I had no hope.
• Dr. Reisch–for hazing my ass intellectually, and laying the foundation for my intellectual investigation.
• Marvin–a counselor at Elmhurst Boys, who gave me a visible example of how to behave.
• The boys of Elmhurst Boys-with and amongst whom we hustled, fought, stole, smoked, drank.
• The boys of Lefrak City–who taught me how to take a beat down.
• Celeste–with whom I learned the possibilities of intimacy & the lunacy of relationships.
• Those sons of bitches who cut me up, and left me for dead that night in Brooklyn.
• Sheikh Ali–who taught me spiritual insight.
• Karriem–my Brother. I’ll miss you. Didn’t get to say goodbye.
• Dr. Sampson–who did her job when others just wouldn’t.
• Eddie–who taught me to man up.
• The NCOs of the Ranger Regiment–who forced me to meet the Warrior.
• B.I.B.–because of the shit we went through. Those who know, know.
• My wife–who has been my mirror, whether I wanted her to be or not.
• My children–who can count the lessons?
• My business–for bringing me brutally face-to-face with my shortcomings.
• Daisy, my dog–because she just is. She is a Warrior.
• Tomiko, my dog–for making me eat my words, and winning me over, despite peeing all over the place.
• Sugar, my cat–who first showed me what loyalty might look like.
• My wife’s Grandfather–who was a Real Man. May I ever live up to his example.

That’s it for now. A starter list. I will probably amend the list as time goes on.