Nashville, TN..

i am leaving for nashville, tenn. at noon today....i am returning to go to a reunion of all the classes that were taught at my journalism fellowship...there are seven classes coming back, my class had seven people in it, i think we were the smallest class...but we are all meeting up to have a sort of reunion/retreat where we will share our newsroom experiences (we all work for newspapers) and talk about journalism and have a couple seminars on writing and how to tell stories because essentially we are all story tellers...i am riding down with one of the women that was in my class we ended up living in the same city and although we work for different papers (mine is in another city), and have very different schedules, she is 37 and has a huband and two kids, and i am 23 and have myself, we both try to keep up with each other and try to go out every once in a while....

this fellowship was a turning point in my life..this fellowship helped me find a job, move out of my parents house, move to a new state and work in writing which has always been a dream of mine...but this fellowship also helped me to create new friendships...out of the seven people in my class one was a 58 year old Baptist deacon, one was a 53 year old hispanic woman and world traveler, oh and she is crazy, literally, one was a 26 year old shy spanish guy who loved to go shopping with me, lol, and then there was a 29 year old black woman, very intellectual and had a style about her that i loved, and a 26 year old black woman, who always had a string of bad luck around her, but never lost her sense of humor and both were scholars in their own right...

these people taught me so much about life and learning and living because it take alot for a 58 year old man to go back to school....i spent four years at Spelman College and i think i learned more about life from being around these seven people for three months....so many world views came together and made me stop and think about life and the world events and my goals and dreams....none of these people held anything back and being around them made me not want to hold back either...especially the women who really made me think about political issues and current events and how the choices of others can affect my life....

now being around the same seven people for three motnths of course there is going to be drama, and we had drama but we also bonded in spite of all the drama....once a week we all gathered for dinner at someones apartment and watched The Apprentice and then on another day we would gather at my apartment and watch America's Next Top Model...the weekends were spent chilling at the used book store and hitting up a local thai food restuarant and going to jazz spots....i had my first taste of brie and learned about red and white wines...i felt so cultured after i left them....

those people along with my instructor also helped me to shape and improve my writing (i know you cant tell throught this blog but one day you will see) these were some of the first people who encouraged me and told me that i had a natural talent and that all i needed to do was nurture it and feed it....

and today i am going back to the place where we met in january and i am going to see these people i havent seen since april , along with many others i dont not know, and i will sip some wine and reminice and get caught up on eveyones lives...face to face and without a telephone...and hopefully i will leave after this reunion once again energized and ready to learn more about myself and about this craft of mine called journalism...