0:19

Hey yo , what

0:22

is up everybody

0:24

? What is going on ? It's your girl , jay

0:26

, and welcome back to

0:29

the show . I hope everyone is doing

0:31

well out there . I'm

0:34

doing good

0:36

. I don't have any complaints . Right now

0:38

. Things are what they're going to

0:40

be . I think the

0:44

what is it called ? Retrograde

0:47

, something is in

0:50

something , some planet is inside some other

0:52

planet Sounds very

0:54

, very

0:57

adult . I don't know , but something

1:00

, something is happening . I think

1:02

it's over . Something

1:08

, something is happening , I think it's over . So I'm

1:10

, I'm feeling pretty okay . Um , I

1:17

uh , the the solar eclipse happened . Um , what day was that ? Um , last last Monday

1:19

, yeah , this week . So last Monday , the Monday that just passed was the

1:21

solar eclipse . So I don't know where you guys

1:23

are listening from , because I have

1:26

listeners I know all over the

1:28

world , but where I was

1:30

, I did not see anything because it

1:32

was cloudy . I saw

1:34

like a glimpse

1:36

, like a small glimpse , right before

1:39

it was totally covered . Um

1:42

, right , the the clouds broke just

1:44

enough for me to be able to see it , and I couldn't

1:46

even use my glasses

1:48

, because if you put the glasses

1:50

on , I couldn't see anything . So I had to take the glasses off just

1:53

so I could see that because the clouds were so thick

1:55

, but some of them broke , just

1:57

enough for me to see the little

1:59

bit of it . Almost looked like a thumbnail

2:01

. It was getting close to covering all

2:04

the way up and I know I was at work , I

2:06

got off . I think I was getting off

2:08

at one yeah , I was getting off at one and

2:10

I think the eclipse

2:13

was supposed to start doing

2:15

this thing at 135

2:18

or something like that . And you

2:20

know , then it takes however many

2:23

minutes to like close up or

2:25

cover it up , and then you know , open

2:27

up or whatever . So I

2:30

was rushing home because people

2:32

were making it seem like it was going to be this like crazy

2:34

thing , like it was going to be traffic

2:36

all over the place and you can't get food

2:38

or water and

2:40

get your gas and stuff . Now you

2:43

wouldn't be able to use your phones or anything

2:45

like that . So I just wanted to get

2:47

off and get home Because

2:50

they were like , why don't you just stay here , then

2:52

you can see the eclipse and then you can leave . You

2:54

know , after that and I was like , because this is

2:56

work and I want to be here , so

2:59

I want to get off when I'm supposed to get off and I will make

3:01

it home and my boss was like , are you sure ? Because

3:03

it might be , you know , tough

3:05

getting home . I was like I'll take my chances . So

3:08

I took my chances , got home as

3:10

I was driving , like it really looked like a storm

3:13

was coming , because it was , the clouds

3:15

were so thick and heavy

3:17

and stuff . But also

3:19

, as the eclipse is happening , because

3:21

I live about I live about

3:23

35 minutes away from my

3:25

job when there's no traffic

3:28

. If there's any traffic , it gets longer and

3:30

longer . So

3:33

as I was driving home , I could see

3:35

it getting starting to get a little dark and

3:38

with the clouds it looked like it was about to storm . So I'm hurrying

3:40

up trying to get home . As soon as I pull

3:42

into the driveway it starts to get , you

3:44

know , darker and darker . And

3:46

so I jump out of my car , get

3:48

my glasses , because I had bought some glasses when

3:50

I get groceries the other the day before

3:53

and I

3:56

go outside in the front , I look , you know

3:58

, as I'm driving through the neighborhood , everybody's outside

4:00

and stuff like that . So get to my house

4:02

, I look up , of course I can't see anything . And I look up , of course

4:04

I can't see anything . And I told y'all , you know

4:06

I couldn't see with the glasses , and I was

4:08

able to see a little sliver . And then

4:11

I went inside the house Excuse

4:13

me y'all , my voice is going

4:15

out Went inside the house , got my dogs because

4:17

they were like you know , the animals are going to be going crazy

4:19

, just be careful . And so I'm looking

4:22

at my dogs and they're not caring

4:24

at all what's going on . They

4:30

want to go out because they've been in the house all day , so I let them out out of the

4:32

backyard . I went in the backyard and then it gets not completely

4:34

dark , because it was already dark because of the

4:36

clouds , but it got . It

4:38

got pretty dark or whatever

4:40

. And so I just stood out there

4:42

, kind of like wished on

4:44

a star . I don't know what you're supposed to do during

4:47

the eclipse , but did

4:49

my little wish on my star , let

4:53

my dogs feel whatever solar

4:56

energy they were going to feel

4:58

was

5:01

waiting for my superpowers . None

5:04

of us got it , not me or my dogs

5:06

and then we went . We went inside

5:09

the house and then by the time I got back in the

5:11

house it started getting lighter and then

5:13

it was over . So I

5:15

don't know if it was anyone that's listening

5:17

that actually got to see the eclipse . I

5:20

know in Dallas they got

5:22

to see it pretty , pretty well

5:24

. I saw it on the news as it was

5:26

happening and it looked . It seemed like

5:28

it looked pretty cool . I don't know if y'all have seen the . The

5:31

the show heroes that

5:33

I think used to come on NBC . That used to be my

5:35

show , but it's about

5:37

normal people having superhero powers

5:40

or supernatural powers or whatever , but

5:42

it was because of a

5:44

eclipse somehow was

5:46

involved in that , but anyway , that's what it

5:48

looked like . They were showing it on TV and I was like man to

5:51

see that in person probably

5:53

would have been cool , but I didn't get that opportunity

5:55

and it is what it is . But anyway , saw the eclipse

5:57

. I hope you guys saw it , or I saw a piece

5:59

of it , hope you guys saw it , and

6:07

that was . That's all that I have going on this past , these past few days . So we're just going to

6:09

go ahead and get started with the show . So I

6:11

have been okay with my voice

6:13

the whole entire day

6:15

. It's only when I turn this mic

6:18

on Now my throat

6:20

is scratchy a little bit

6:22

. I'm having to clear my throat a lot . It

6:24

feels like I was drinking something and I got choked . I

6:26

did get choked earlier today when I was eating

6:29

, but that's been long , long

6:31

past and I didn't have any issues with that . Now

6:33

I'm on a mic . I'm starting to sound

6:35

a little raspy , but I hope

6:38

it's not too bad for you guys . So

6:40

today's show I'm calling

6:42

the Portfolio

6:44

, and the reason

6:47

I'm calling it that is because

6:49

I was in

6:51

my closet here in my studio where

6:53

I store like everything

6:56

that my mom sent me from my

6:58

childhood home is in that closet

7:01

and has been traveling with me since

7:03

I lived in my apartments and all that other stuff

7:05

. She continues to send me stuff

7:07

because she's like you have a house now

7:09

. I'm not the

7:11

storage unit . So every

7:14

chance I get I'm going to keep sending you stuff until

7:16

everything that you have that was here

7:18

is gone and you can have it at your house , because

7:22

I want my space at

7:28

your house , because I want my space and it's cool . So I have a bunch of just random boxes

7:30

in my closet that I don't really have anywhere to put the stuff . It just

7:32

has to stay in boxes , because

7:35

what is the point of bringing them ? I do have like DVDs

7:39

and VCR

7:41

tapes and cassette

7:45

tapes and stuff like that which

7:47

I could like get a

7:49

little cabinet thing and put them all in

7:51

. But I don't even have

7:54

a VCR . I mean , I do have a VCR but

7:56

I'm not going to watch VHS tapes

7:58

, I'm not really going to listen

8:00

to cassette tapes , unless you know , something

8:03

crazy happens that most of the music I can find

8:06

on a streaming service so it's no use

8:08

of , like there's no use in like

8:10

bringing that stuff out , so it's in a

8:12

box and then I have like books and other

8:15

, just other random stuff . So if

8:17

you guys heard the episode

8:20

Britt and I did when we we were doing

8:22

SW's top 10

8:25

songs , you would have heard me talk

8:27

about me and my roommates

8:29

in college doing an intro

8:31

on our answering machine to

8:33

Rain by SWV . So

8:38

I went in the closet to try to find , because

8:40

I'm like I'm sure I have it because it's in the boxes

8:42

of all this stuff that I had since high school

8:45

and college and all this other stuff I don't

8:47

throw away . So I

8:49

found the tapes , but

8:51

there are many tapes and I

8:53

could not find the tape

8:55

recorder . Like I used to have a little small hand

8:57

or handheld tape recorder

9:00

that I would bring to me

9:02

to class when I was in college and

9:04

that's how I would like record my lectures

9:06

and stuff like that . Back in the day y'all

9:08

we didn't really . I mean , I

9:10

had a laptop , but it was not something you

9:13

travel with , it wasn't something

9:15

like you bring to class . Most

9:17

of us had either the tape

9:19

recorders or a digital recorder in

9:21

class if we wanted to record

9:24

the class in case we missed

9:26

notes or something like that . So that's what we had

9:28

. We didn't have laptops or

9:30

phones that can record

9:32

or anything like that back when I was in school

9:34

. I know I'm dating myself , but that's just what

9:36

it was . Anyway , I thought

9:38

I still had that tape player

9:41

somewhere in there and I'm

9:44

still looking . I didn't find it . But what

9:46

I did find was

9:49

this book , kind of like

9:51

a binder almost , and

9:53

it says my first name

9:56

and then it says portfolio

9:58

. So I was like , let me look

10:00

in here and see what's actually

10:02

in this thing . And as I began

10:04

to look at it I was like this might be

10:06

interesting enough

10:08

to make it an episode , because

10:12

I enjoy being able

10:14

to look back and be nostalgic

10:16

, and I

10:19

got a lot of good feedback when I went

10:21

through my senior book . So I

10:23

decided I'm going to go

10:25

through this portfolio , I think . I

10:28

think this is either I

10:30

believe it's 10th grade , it's either

10:32

10th or 11th grade , I don't really know , cause

10:34

there's no real indication . There's a lot of older

10:37

stuff in here from like when I was in the seventh and

10:39

eighth grade , but it's also stuff

10:41

in here from when I was in the 10th grade . So I'm not really

10:43

sure what year this actually

10:46

is from , but I know I was probably in

10:48

high school . So I'm

10:50

going to go through it so

10:53

you can see what was in a young Jay

10:55

Buggs mind back in high

10:57

school , and I think it's

10:59

cool to kind of look back . So you're

11:02

going to hear the pages turn , as as

11:05

Jill Scott says . So

11:07

let's jump into it . So this says and

11:09

I believe I did this I did this for

11:12

a project , some kind of project in

11:14

one of my classes . I'm sure it wasn't something that

11:16

I just did by myself or

11:18

like I just wanted to do . It was for for

11:20

something . So this says table of

11:22

contents . First thing is a resume . Next

11:24

thing is a self of contents . First thing is a resume . Next thing is a self-portrait

11:27

. Third thing is a parody . Fourth

11:29

thing is a response on , I

11:31

guess , something I had to read Thanatopis

11:34

. I'm not sure , I don't even remember reading

11:36

that , but okay , then

11:39

it says the relationship and then it says

11:41

self-assessment . The

11:43

next thing is awards and honors . The

11:45

next thing is reports and best current

11:47

work , and then nine is

11:50

the last thing is the special interest

11:52

. So we're going to go through this as much as it

11:54

makes sense . Some stuff I'm not going to go through because

11:56

it's just random reports

11:59

and stuff like that . But

12:01

let's check it out , let's see

12:03

what was going on in my mind back

12:07

in the early 90s . All

12:09

right , looking at my resume , I

12:12

did not have a job . So

12:14

I think my

12:17

mom just

12:19

had me write down what I

12:21

was doing in school . I

12:23

didn't have a job in high school guys , because my

12:25

mom would not allow me to work , because

12:28

she wanted me to

12:30

put school first and not be distracted

12:32

by anything . But she also

12:34

didn't give me money , like she was very

12:37

scarce with the money . So

12:39

it was pretty , pretty tough

12:42

. I'll have to ask for things

12:44

and then she would decide if she really wanted to do

12:46

it or not . And then I'll be like I can just get a job

12:48

and get it myself . And she was like no

12:52

, cause , you need to be in them , school

12:54

books and not , you know , whatever

12:56

else . So it was . It was a tug

12:58

of war in my household as

13:00

far as things like that . But anyway , the resume

13:02

. It says my occupational

13:05

goal is to be an electrical

13:08

engineer . My education

13:10

Benton Harbor High School , ninth

13:12

and 10th grade . So this had to

13:14

be , like I said , around 10th or 11th

13:17

grade Coursework

13:19

English Geometry

13:21

, algebra 3 , world History , biology , chemistry , algebra 1 , pre-calculus

13:23

U three world history , biology , chemistry , algebra one

13:25

, pre-calculus , us

13:27

history , physical science . I don't

13:29

know why I wrote it like that

13:31

and why I have algebra three before algebra one

13:34

, but hey , that's what's there . Extracurricular

13:37

activities is the church

13:40

youth group , which makes sense it

13:42

tracks because I grew up in

13:45

a very , a

13:47

very strict religious household and

13:50

Michigan youth and government I believe I

13:52

talked about that before . Michigan youth and government

13:54

was an organization in high school that we had

13:57

in which it taught us

13:59

how the government works and

14:01

every year we would

14:03

get to go to the Capitol State Capitol

14:06

in Lansing , michigan and

14:09

while the Congress people

14:11

or Congress was out on

14:13

a break , we would get

14:15

to spend the week in in

14:18

the Capitol like performing

14:20

Capitol duties . So we would

14:22

pretty much you will be assigned

14:24

. So it was all the , all these different schools around

14:27

around Michigan . Right , we

14:29

would meet up there and

14:31

then we would be assigned

14:33

different things . You , you would like pull

14:35

like a card or something or like they

14:38

would just randomly randomly assign

14:40

you things and when you get your name badge you would see

14:42

that you're a representative or you're a Senator . And if you get your name badge you will see that you're

14:44

a representative or you're a Senator . Um

14:46

, and if you were , you know what committees

14:49

you were on and things like that . So

14:51

pretty much we would literally go

14:53

through a whole week of what , uh what

14:55

a government session would be . We would vote for

14:57

a governor , we would vote for the Lieutenant

15:00

governor , we would vote for the Sergeant

15:02

at arms like all the people that like

15:05

run , run the the

15:07

house and sit in , and stuff like that , and

15:10

then we would

15:12

perform these duties . I remember I was

15:14

on the Department of Transportation

15:16

Committee , so it was my job to

15:19

pretty

15:21

much come up with different

15:24

bills and things that we wanted to

15:26

present , because I was also a representative

15:28

. I remember I think both years

15:30

I was a representative . I don't think I ever was

15:33

a senator , but

15:35

either way , one year I

15:37

was on a department of transportation

15:39

. So it was our job to come up with like different

15:42

bills that hopefully would turn into laws

15:44

, like is dealing in , dealing with , like public

15:46

safety or something like that . And you would literally have

15:48

people come in that were lobbyists

15:51

to try to get their points

15:53

across , to get you to you

15:55

know , vote or make

15:58

a bill based off what , what

16:00

they're , what they were trying to get you to

16:02

do as a lobbyist . So

16:08

I did that and then , once we

16:10

made , once we figured out what

16:12

we were going to present to be

16:14

bills , of course we would go to

16:16

the chambers , bring that

16:18

up , talk like anything . So pretty much the

16:22

way the government is supposed to work . That's what we did

16:24

for the whole week or whatever . But outside

16:26

of that we would get to meet other high school kids

16:28

from all over . Most of the time

16:30

. Side of that we would get to meet other high

16:32

school kids from all over . Most of the time we

16:38

kind of navigated to the kids from Detroit . We became friends with a lot of them , we would hang out

16:40

, you know different things , whatever . It was a good time . But that was Michigan Youth Government . I

16:42

really , really enjoyed that class and I thought that was

16:44

dope to teach young kids about

16:47

laws and how things are made , and I wish

16:49

they kind of had something . I don't know if they still

16:51

have anything like that these days

16:53

, but I

16:55

don't think they do . I think civics is

16:57

probably as close as you're gonna get , but

17:00

I thought it was a dope thing

17:02

to be a part of . Anyway , my hobbies

17:04

on here are writing , music and

17:06

computer works . What are computer

17:08

works ? I don't know . My mom made me write that . And

17:11

then my work experience the summer

17:13

of 1990 , I was a bookkeeper

17:16

at Christ Construction Company , which is

17:18

my dad's former

17:21

construction company . He owned it and

17:25

that was my resume . So

17:27

my self portrait . So

17:29

I believe from reading this prior

17:31

, I believe it was like a fill in the blank

17:33

type of thing , like they gave you

17:35

how they wanted you to start , different

17:37

sentences and then you just fill in the blank , but

17:40

then you take that whole thing and you type it up . So

17:42

this is what my self-portrait

17:45

is . It says

17:47

hi , my name is what

17:50

my name is . And here is a self-portrait

17:52

of myself . My favorite

17:54

color is blue . The darker

17:57

the blue , the better it is . I

17:59

love any kind of food , but if I had to pick

18:01

one food it would have to be pepperoni

18:04

pizza . My favorite musical

18:06

instrument is the keyboard . There

18:08

are many things I can do , but I think I have

18:10

a hidden talent that has yet to

18:12

be found . My favorite sport

18:14

is basketball . I cannot

18:17

write or sing very well and by

18:19

right I mean like handwrite , because my handwriting

18:21

is horrible . But I cannot

18:23

write or sing very well . But I'm working on them

18:25

. Most people like to tease me about my musical

18:28

interests , like music artists or different

18:30

music . One of my unique mannerisms

18:33

is that I have a nice laid

18:35

back attitude . My pet peeves

18:37

are people who are fake and people who don't

18:39

show or give respect that

18:41

is due . I plan to pursue a career in electrical

18:44

engineering , recording engineering

18:46

or acting , because I feel like

18:48

that . These are awesome

18:50

careers that I can be successful in

18:53

. Spoiler alert I

18:55

did not do either . I didn't do

18:57

any of those . I did

18:59

go to college . I started college

19:01

as an electrical engineering major

19:04

and the

19:06

math was not mathing and

19:08

I decided that was not going to be

19:10

my you know my

19:12

forte . So I switched it

19:14

to business and

19:17

then also I was going

19:19

to go to . After I graduated

19:21

college I started to have

19:23

interest in this school called Full

19:26

Sail , which is in Florida , right

19:28

outside of where Disney World is sale , which is in

19:30

Florida , right outside of where Disney World is . I think

19:32

it's Winter Park , florida

19:37

, and actually it's a really notable school . A lot of people that work on

19:39

Disney movies and stuff went there and

19:42

got their degrees and stuff to work on the animation

19:44

or the production or whatever . It's

19:48

a big time thing . I applied

19:50

to go there . I got invited to

19:52

come out to tour the school , went

19:54

out there , um , I wanted

19:56

to go for recording engineering shocking

19:59

right and um , I

20:01

don't know why did I not go . I ended

20:04

up I don't remember it

20:06

might've been cause I couldn't afford it , cause my mom was

20:08

not going to . They weren't going to pay for any more school

20:11

for me once I graduated , um

20:14

, and I had actually my

20:16

by the time my junior year rolled around

20:18

. I was not . They weren't

20:21

paying for school for me . I had

20:23

, um , enough scholarships and

20:25

I had become an in-state

20:27

student . So with my scholarships

20:29

and work , study and stuff like that , I actually

20:32

was paying for school

20:34

and they didn't owe anything

20:37

outside of that Like they were done , other

20:39

than my school loans or whatever . But

20:41

I still had that that . I wanted to try

20:43

to do it , but I just didn't end up doing it . But that's

20:47

pretty cool to look back to see . I didn't

20:49

realize that I wanted to be an actor or actress , but yeah , that's pretty cool to look

20:51

back to see . I didn't realize that I wanted to be an actor or actress , but

20:53

yeah , that's pretty cool to look back . Anyway , my strongest

20:56

character trait is the ability

20:58

to stay determined and not let anybody

21:00

change my mind . I admire

21:02

Rosa Parks because she was

21:04

determined to fight for what she thought was right

21:06

. My biggest fear is not being

21:08

able to achieve any goals I

21:10

have set for myself . That's

21:13

pretty . That's pretty accurate

21:15

. My eyes are brown like iced

21:17

tea . My hair is dark

21:19

. My eyes are dark brown like iced tea . My

21:22

hair is dark brown like cherry , oak , wood

21:24

, what ? My

21:27

skin is brown

21:29

like sand . I

21:34

can compare myself to a VCR , because if anyone missed anything on TV

21:36

, they could ask me and I could

21:38

give them a playback . I am most

21:40

like a fly , because I'm always bugging somebody

21:43

. I would describe my walk as

21:45

different . I don't know why they asked

21:47

about our walk , but okay , I would describe

21:50

my walk as different but normal . What

21:53

If I

21:55

would create a nickname for myself

21:57

? I would call myself Crazy Jay because

22:00

everyone calls me crazy . Everyone

22:02

did call me crazy , not crazy in a bad way . They'd

22:04

be like girl , you're so crazy , that type of crazy

22:06

. And actually people did call

22:08

me Crazy Jay . Some people wrote

22:10

that in my yearbook . Most , most of the people

22:13

that call me that was

22:15

, I think I get that name in

22:17

like seventh or eighth grade . Don't

22:20

nobody call me that , please don't do that . But

22:22

um , that was like an old , old

22:24

, old nickname , um , from back

22:26

in the day , um . So the next

22:28

, the next portion of this

22:30

is a parody

22:32

. I wrote several

22:34

of these . Just growing up , I

22:37

used to spend time in

22:39

my room trying to make music

22:41

, trying to write short stories

22:44

or books or whatever . I like

22:46

to write , I like to read , I like to

22:48

make music , I like to write music . Those

22:50

were some of my hobbies and one of my favorite

22:52

things to do , which I got this from

22:55

Russ Parr , the Russ Parr

22:57

radio show . I don't know if y'all know

22:59

who Russ Parr is , but when I

23:01

was growing up we listened to WGCI

23:04

, which was a Chicago station . Even

23:12

though I'm from Michigan , I live very , very close to Chicago

23:14

and because we were very small town , we usually

23:16

got Chicago stations on TV and the Chicago radio stations

23:18

will come through on the radio , and so , anyway

23:21

, russ Parr would come on

23:23

. I want to say Saturdays . We got Wendy

23:25

Williams at a certain

23:28

time and then it was either before or after

23:30

that . Russ Parr and Alfreda's would come

23:32

on . Alfreda's , every

23:35

week she would do

23:37

a parody song of whatever

23:39

. So she would take like a popular song like that's

23:41

the way love goes and I actually

23:44

might if I can find

23:46

it and I keep saying this , if I can find it , cause

23:48

it's just in boxes in my closet . It's

23:50

just a matter of me like going

23:52

to dig through them If I can find

23:54

one of the parodies that she did . I

23:56

remember her doing one on that's the way love

23:58

goes . I forget what the parody was , but

24:00

she would do those every week and so I

24:02

became inspired . So I would listen

24:05

to songs and then make parodies of them

24:07

, kind of like Weird Al Yankovic

24:09

. Young kids y'all don't even know who that

24:11

is , but people my age y'all know who that

24:13

is . He was a parody singer

24:16

. He took a lot of popular songs and also made

24:18

them into parody . So I became very

24:20

inspired by that . So

24:23

I

24:25

did a parody

24:27

of At your Best

24:29

, you Are Love , performed

24:31

by Aaliyah , written

24:34

and remixed by you

24:36

know who , and I'm

24:38

not going to read it

24:41

out of respect

24:43

, because I was

24:45

young y'all we already know like

24:48

the whole story

24:50

of Aaliyah and Robert , and

24:52

looking back at it now

24:54

, that was not cool . But as

24:56

a young kid I don't

24:58

think I really knew the magnitude of what was going

25:00

on . So because of that I will

25:02

not read this parody . But

25:04

those of you that are cool with me , if y'all

25:07

want to know what the parody says

25:09

, I will let you know , but

25:12

I'm not going to read it because it's

25:14

just , it's not in good taste

25:16

per se . There's

25:18

another piece that I am going to read that probably

25:21

isn't in the best taste , but I feel like

25:23

it's a little lighter than

25:25

what I did for At your Best , but

25:27

I did . It is in there . So

25:29

the next one is

25:32

the relationship . So

25:34

this is what I wrote

25:36

. So again , y'all disclaimer I

25:39

am not , in no way am

25:41

I excusing or making fun of

25:43

domestic violence

25:45

. I

25:47

was 15 , 14

25:50

, 16 , somewhere around there Again

25:52

, did not really realize the magnitude

25:55

of things . So just take this as

25:57

this is a young kid writing

25:59

this back in the early 90s . Times

26:01

have changed , okay . So don't

26:03

send me no angry feedback

26:06

or anything like that , just go with it

26:08

. I just want y'all to see kind

26:10

of how my mind was working back then . All

26:12

right , the relationship

26:15

by me . There

26:18

is this female by the name

26:20

of Lisa . She burned

26:22

her man's house up because he just

26:25

couldn't please her . She

26:27

slapped him in the face , he

26:29

punched her in the eye . She

26:35

also cussed him out . Then she began to cry . All this happened

26:38

because he came home too late . When

26:41

he came home , she didn't hesitate

26:43

to tell him how she felt . You

26:45

know what was up . But to her misfortune

26:48

, some more bad luck . She

26:51

couldn't control him . He went

26:53

into rage and probably

26:56

hit her as many times

26:58

as her age . Y'all , please , I'm sorry

27:00

, just go with it . He

27:03

stormed out of the house for a 20

27:06

mile walk . What is going

27:08

on is what she thought . So

27:11

she pulled herself together and

27:13

tried to let it ride , but

27:15

with the bruises and pain she

27:18

couldn't let it slide . So

27:20

she took some matches and

27:22

burnable things , started

27:25

a fire . Quick , nice

27:27

and clean . It

27:29

didn't take long before it started

27:32

to blaze . The smoke

27:34

came out like a thick

27:36

black haze . She

27:39

gathered her things and

27:41

went on her way , thinking

27:43

to herself he won't forget

27:45

this day . She went outside

27:47

to watch it a while . On

27:50

her face was a mysterious

27:52

smile . But she was not

27:54

satisfied . Oh no , not

27:56

by far . So she went and

27:59

vandalized his expensive

28:01

cars . By this time

28:03

she felt she was done and

28:05

got in her bins and went

28:07

on the run bins

28:16

and went on the run . Where she went then and what she did after , no one knows , but it filled

28:18

me with laughter , see , because when Andre came back he

28:20

thought he was jamming , but when

28:22

he saw the house , his heart

28:25

he was grabbing . The house was

28:27

totally burned , nothing

28:29

more , nothing less . Left

28:31

Eye turned herself in . Andre

28:33

became homeless . They

28:36

were both on the news every hour

28:38

all the time . Andre

28:40

told the press that something was wrong

28:43

with Left Eye's mind . It didn't

28:45

take long before Lefty was released

28:47

. She volunteered for AA

28:49

so some of her pain could be eased

28:52

. Now she's back with her

28:54

group and a new album and video

28:57

are out . She's trying to leave

28:59

her troubles behind , but

29:01

they always seem to come about . Meanwhile

29:04

Andre is getting into the music business himself

29:06

and the outcome looks shady

29:08

. I hope they both go on

29:10

with their lives and work something out , because

29:13

this relationship is crazy

29:16

. So

29:18

that

29:23

was the relationship by

29:25

me written

29:27

, obviously , about the situation

29:29

with Lisa and Andre . And

29:32

again , I understand

29:34

that there was some domestic violence

29:36

going on . I

29:39

was a teenager , didn't really

29:41

get the magnitude of what's going on

29:43

, so if anyone was triggered by

29:45

that I do apologize . But again

29:48

, this is the 90s , I was a kid

29:50

. But I have to say , outside

29:53

of that , y'all have to give it to me , like

29:55

I this , like the

29:58

poem , the

30:00

creativity , like I

30:02

wrote all this by myself , so I

30:04

have to give myself some snaps for that

30:06

. So now the self

30:08

assessment , it says I

30:10

think this was just why I did this

30:12

, or whatever it says , the occasion of my self-portrait

30:15

is to allow other people to know more about

30:17

me . I didn't use any particular

30:19

process to write my self-portrait . I

30:22

learned that I can see myself in a different way . I

30:25

like the self-portrait because it gives you

30:27

a chance to describe yourself

30:29

the way you see yourself . Okay , I selected this piece because

30:31

it is you a chance to describe yourself the way you see yourself . Okay , I selected

30:33

this piece because it is a good opportunity

30:35

to let others know about

30:37

you . The reason I chose

30:39

to do At your Best for my parody is to make

30:41

people laugh and bring them up on

30:43

a certain event . I

30:46

wrote a song with the first and third lines

30:48

rhyming . I learned that I can turn

30:50

any event into a song and make it sound

30:52

just like the song itself . I

30:55

liked writing my parody because it allowed me to

30:57

use my mind in a fun way . I

30:59

selected this piece because I feel that it shows

31:01

some of my writing skills . The

31:04

reason I decided to do the relationship

31:06

was to inform people of a strong feeling

31:08

within myself in a comical way . I

31:12

wrote this piece in poetry form . I

31:15

learned that when you have a strong feeling of

31:17

something , it's easy to put into words

31:19

. I selected this piece because

31:21

it was my favorite piece of writing that

31:23

I wrote myself completely from scratch

31:25

. I

31:27

like this piece because it makes me feel good

31:29

to be able to look at other people reading my

31:31

work and enjoying it also . So

31:35

that was it . That was it of that , and

31:38

then the rest of this is just some

31:40

certificates . So I see that

31:43

I was awarded

31:45

this doesn't say what

31:47

year , but it had to be seventh

31:49

or eighth grade . I was awarded a scholarship

31:51

to study at Michigan Tech , which

31:55

was a technical school that

31:58

taught you I think it was like engineering

32:00

, because I was wanting to be an engineer back

32:02

then . So it was like robotics or something like that

32:04

. Have

32:13

an award . Oh , this is . This is freshman year of high school . I was awarded a certificate

32:15

for my badminton tournament that I got second place in me and my friend

32:18

Tonette . Shout out to Tonette we

32:21

got second place in the badminton

32:23

tournament . Y'all don't want to see me on on

32:25

on badminton . Y'all want to see me ? Um

32:28

, I also got an award for

32:30

school service . What

32:33

, and that was before

32:36

high school , I don't know what

32:38

that was for . Okay , I have another

32:40

award here , for

32:44

. This is to certify that

32:46

I have maintained an exceptional

32:49

standard of scholarship and has duly

32:51

earned this honor academic achievement

32:53

. It must've been like my grades or whatever

32:55

, for seventh grade . Here's another one

32:57

for my school

33:00

. My junior high was called McCord Renaissance

33:02

Center . I went to Stern

33:05

Brunson for kindergarten

33:07

through first second grade

33:10

, which is no longer a school . Then

33:12

I went to Gifted and Talented

33:15

Academy for the gifted and the talented

33:17

for until sixth

33:19

grade and I went to McCord seventh

33:22

and eighth grade and then I went to just

33:24

our regular high school . We only had one

33:26

, and from a small town for high school , anyway

33:28

. So this says this is my diploma

33:31

. Hereby , let it be known , upon

33:33

the recommendation of faculty

33:35

of McCord Renaissance Center , an

33:37

eighth grade diploma has been conferred

33:40

upon me in recognition

33:42

of the satisfactory completion of the

33:44

academic requirements of the Benton

33:46

Harbor Area High School Board

33:48

of Education . Blah blah , blah , blah blah

33:51

. Then

33:53

I also have an honor roll certificate for the first semester

33:56

, I wanna say , of eighth grade . I

33:58

have another certificate

34:00

. This is a scholarship that I was awarded

34:03

in junior high to study

34:05

at Dance Arts Academy

34:07

. I used to dance

34:10

, dance like tap dance . Well

34:12

, I got , I got the scholarship for

34:14

tap to go to the Dance Art Academy

34:17

to learn tap , for I think it was two years

34:19

. I did that in the summer , so

34:21

I took dance during school and in the

34:23

summertime I would go to dance

34:25

dance art and take a

34:28

tap . So I danced

34:30

for , I mean , two

34:32

years and some change total , but it was

34:35

like two full years , because I took two

34:37

semesters of it in school

34:39

and then I took it during the summer

34:41

for both years or whatever . So that was

34:43

cool . Then I have

34:45

let me see this is my National

34:48

Junior Honor Society certificate

34:50

the Hazel May chapter and

34:53

my little card . I also got an honorable

34:55

mention for mathematics and science

34:57

had to be for science because it

34:59

couldn't have been for mathematics . Then

35:04

okay , here we go . Then here is

35:06

a report card that

35:08

I got . This was 10th

35:11

grade , 10th grade , the

35:13

first semester of 10th grade . So

35:17

on one side they have the course

35:19

description , then they have the

35:21

teacher and it is how many

35:23

credits you get per class , and then it

35:25

has on the other side the grade and

35:28

then it has a spot for comments and

35:30

then a spot for absences

35:32

. So let's see , let's

35:35

see what was popping with

35:38

me in the 10th grade , first semester . So

35:41

I had honors English , 10th

35:43

grade English with Miss Chambers I

35:46

got a B . Spanish

35:49

one . With Mr Ollers I

35:56

got a B Spanish one . With Mr Ollers

35:58

I got an A . Multicultural history with

36:00

Ms Churchwell I got an A . Algebra three with

36:04

Mr Woods I got a B . Honors biology I

36:07

don't remember this name , ms Chenault's

36:10

, I know it was a lady , I think I

36:13

got a C and

36:15

in computer literature , ms Sunblad

36:17

, I got a B minus

36:19

. So my

36:23

GPA that semester was

36:26

a 3.5 . A

36:36

3.5 . And let's see what these some of the . They left some comments . So under

36:38

honors English that I got to be in the comment is a number one , and

36:40

number one says should ask for

36:42

extra help . That

36:44

makes sense . That makes sense . I did struggle

36:47

in English with writing

36:49

. Although I really liked to write it

36:51

was I don't know I found it hard

36:53

to like get out what I wanted to

36:55

say and make it make sense and like have

36:57

all the right punctuation and all that other stuff

36:59

. So I

37:02

struggled in that , even though I had a B , it

37:04

wasn't until I got with two of

37:06

my teachers , miss Holmes and Miss Richburg

37:09

, that they actually took the time

37:11

with me after school . I

37:13

would stay after school and they would literally like

37:15

tutor me and just like

37:17

help me write . They would make me like write a bunch

37:20

of different things . I had like extra homework

37:22

every day to

37:24

try to get me you know good at

37:26

, you know writing and understanding

37:29

all that stuff . Anyway , they did great . Shout

37:31

out to Miss Richburg and Miss

37:33

Holmes . Um , so

37:35

yeah , needed extra help . Spanish one

37:37

alers . I got an A right

37:39

. When you look at the communication , though

37:42

cause I did not go to that class , it

37:45

says zero . Often

37:47

absent or tardy is the

37:50

comment . I literally did not

37:52

go to that class . I don't even know how I got an A

37:54

. I was very , very charming

37:56

in high school . For the most part I

37:58

did my work , but like Spanish , I'm

38:03

not . What do you want me to do ? What do you want me to do

38:05

, mr Allers ? I would show up , pass

38:07

the test and then I would leave class

38:10

. I would go find

38:12

something else to do A lot

38:14

of times I would ask him we had like

38:16

a viewing room across

38:20

the hall from his class , like where

38:22

you would go to watch film or whatever . For

38:24

you know , special classes can go in there and watch

38:26

film . I would go in there

38:28

, I would bring my VHS

38:31

tapes of whatever I recorded

38:33

, like Martin or In Living

38:35

Color or like Living Single

38:37

or something , and I would play those in

38:39

there and I would get other students to come over

38:41

and then we would just spend the whole class watching

38:43

it in there and not not

38:46

being in class . So , yeah

38:50

, that explains the often absent or

38:52

tardy . But then under absence

38:54

he doesn't have anything . So I don't know if I was just absent

38:56

or just not , like if I showed

38:59

up and left , that probably didn't count as

39:01

an absent . I don't know if I was just absent or just not

39:03

, like . If I showed up and left , that probably didn't count as an absent ? I don't

39:05

know , but I do know I was not in that class . Very much the

39:08

multicultural history of Ms Churchwell

39:10

, even though I had an A in that class

39:12

as well . She also put down that I was

39:15

often absent or tardy and

39:17

I had one absence . She put down often

39:19

absent or tardy and I had

39:22

one absence . She put down . So

39:24

it had to be tardy . And again , I'm

39:29

a good kid . But also , if my friends are , we had three stories in our school If my friends

39:31

are on the first floor , I'm going to be on the first floor with them and then when

39:33

the bell rings I'm going to sprint

39:36

up all

39:38

those flights of stairs to get to my class

39:41

that's on the third floor and yeah , I'm probably

39:43

going to be late . And we had this thing like

39:45

if you were late , like if you were in the hallway you didn't

39:47

have a pass , you would automatically go

39:50

to the principal , you would get written up , you would

39:52

get what they call a demerit or something like

39:54

that . You would get written up and have to

39:56

go to principal's office . So I found

39:59

a way to like I knew it really wasn't

40:01

like security guards , because we had security

40:03

guards in our school . It really wasn't

40:05

like security was going to be upstairs

40:07

too much on the third floor because nobody

40:10

really was up there Like the teachers that had

40:12

that upstairs classrooms

40:14

, the third floor classrooms . It

40:17

was nobody up there , like everybody

40:19

hung out on the first or second floor . Anyway

40:21

, I didn't get caught . I never got under

40:24

married . I never got in trouble for being late

40:26

, but I definitely was late a lot

40:28

. Um , algebra

40:30

three that I got the B

40:32

in , of course , the cat , the uh

40:34

comment is should ask for extra help

40:36

, cause I definitely needed that in

40:39

honors biology

40:41

that I got to see the same thing . I should

40:43

ask for extra help . And

40:45

I feel like in this

40:47

class this class was on the third

40:49

floor I think I remember

40:52

this

40:54

. I don't know if kids still do this , but

40:56

this was back in the day where

40:58

you would get a like

41:01

an animal and

41:03

have to dissect like a real animal

41:05

. So we had we had a fetal

41:07

pig one time and then we had a frog

41:10

another time Like

41:12

literally , you have to cut this frog . I would never

41:14

be able to do that today , but for whatever reason

41:16

, I was into it in the 10th grade . We

41:19

cut that thing open and you had to , like tell

41:22

the different parts of the anatomy , like

41:24

the heart or the lungs or the

41:26

intestine , whatever , right . I

41:28

remember making

41:32

my frog into left eye , so

41:34

I made like a little paper condom

41:36

thing to put over the eye and

41:40

then I made him a hat and

41:42

some boots . This is what I was doing to class

41:44

. This is why I got a C . This

41:47

is why I got a C Okay

41:50

, computer lit . I got a

41:52

B minus and I got a

41:54

nine for the comment the nine

41:57

says lacks concentration in

41:59

class . I don't even remember

42:01

if I went to that class , so it probably

42:03

that's probably right . And

42:06

then I have a little piece here of letters

42:09

. So back in the day when we

42:11

had the magazines Word Up Fresh

42:13

you know the white kids had the

42:15

Tiger Beats and Team Beat

42:18

or whatever it was called we had fresh

42:20

write on word up stuff like that . So I

42:22

used to write letters like snail

42:24

mail letters to these

42:27

magazines and hoping in hopes of getting

42:29

my stuff in the magazine . And I did

42:31

. And I actually posted this on on

42:33

Twitter a while back when I first found this

42:36

book . But I'm going to read you the two letters

42:38

that I have in here that were published

42:40

in Fresh Magazine . So the first

42:42

one says Baby Pics P-I-X

42:44

. It says I have a suggestion

42:46

for Fresh . How about having an issue

42:49

with baby pics of all the hot

42:51

stars such as TLC , boyz

42:53

II , men , jodeci , etc . Their

42:56

fans would love to see how they looked back . Then

42:58

Go ahead and do it . You won't

43:00

be sorry , and

43:03

I think they did end up doing an issue

43:06

of that . I don't remember if they did or didn't , but

43:08

yeah . The second one is called Females

43:11

Coming Up . I don't know why I like to use this

43:13

females word , but that was

43:15

my jam Females Coming Up

43:17

. I just like to give mad

43:20

props mad with two Ds props

43:22

to all the new female artists

43:24

out there , like Da Brat , sista

43:27

, lady of Rage , entice

43:29

and Simply E . They are

43:32

doing a great job of making noise in the nine

43:34

four and I say it nine four

43:36

, letting

43:38

folks know that this is a year for females

43:41

to come up . Thanks to all

43:43

of you for continuing to let the sisters

43:45

be heard , stay real and

43:48

keep up the good work Signed

43:52

by me . Oh

43:54

man , I can't believe I even had

43:56

that in there . The rest of this

43:59

is just like

44:01

some of my work I guess I had to put in here

44:04

like stuff that I got . I wrote a paper

44:06

on a greenhouse effect , got an A on that

44:08

. This is my . Is

44:10

this Spanish ? No , this

44:12

is something else . Whatever it is , I got an A on

44:14

it . Pre-calculus I got an A on

44:16

it . That's probably my only A , because me

44:19

and math don't go together . And

44:21

then I had a list

44:23

of books and magazine

44:26

articles that I had read

44:28

. Books I know why the caged

44:31

bird sings , the old man in the sea that

44:33

was definitely for school . Romeo

44:35

and Juliet was for school . Julius Caesar

44:37

was for school . Durango

44:39

Street I think I read that

44:42

on my own . The 101

44:44

Dalmatians I read that on my own . And Fat man

44:46

from Space I read that on my

44:48

own . I don't remember what that was

44:50

about . It was a sci-fi book

44:53

, though . I used to spend

44:55

weekends at the library , y'all . I was such a a . I

44:58

was a borderline kind of

45:00

nerd like my . My best friends

45:02

were popular , um , but

45:04

my mama wasn't having too much of like

45:07

doing popular stuff , so you had to be

45:09

in in the books . So

45:11

, um , to keep myself out of trouble

45:13

, I just read a lot of books and then I would love

45:16

to go to the library to go check

45:18

out books and see what was new and things like

45:21

that . As I was growing up , like by the time I

45:23

got into high school I was still reading

45:25

, but not like I was when I was like in

45:27

elementary and junior high . But anyway , magazine

45:30

articles Ebony Tony

45:32

Braxton talks about men , sudden

45:34

stardom and undying and the

45:36

undying rumor . Fresh Snoop

45:39

, murder pays off . Fresh

45:41

TLC love them or leave them . The

45:45

best of R&B the brat

45:48

, no , posing no pretense . Black

45:50

Beat , aaliyah , the success

45:52

and the controversy , yo

45:55

Trouble Stalks the Stars

45:57

. And then Ebony , again , battered women

45:59

how to get and Give

46:01

Help , yeah , fresh

46:03

, the Best of Rapping . R&b

46:06

. Black Beat , yo , word Up . All those

46:08

were magazines back in the day . And

46:10

then I think last

46:12

in here , I got a certificate

46:15

from my church for a scholarship . They gave

46:17

me a scholarship um , partial

46:19

scholarship for college . And

46:21

then I have my welcome to PV

46:23

and AM , a&m university

46:26

um completion

46:28

of general studies as a freshman

46:30

um certificate there . So

46:32

yeah , I think that's it

46:35

, that's in here . So it's very interesting

46:37

. I know it was kind of like a random

46:39

thing to have an episode

46:41

about , but I thought

46:44

it was pretty dope to kind of look back

46:46

and as I'm looking I see another picture

46:48

of this . Was this

46:51

was my 30th birthday

46:54

. A friend of mine made me a collage and , oh

46:56

my God , I am so

46:58

drunk in all these pictures

47:01

. Why did they do that to me ? Oh

47:06

, but yeah , I thought it was cool

47:08

to look back , seeing

47:11

that thing like just what I wanted

47:13

to be when I was growing

47:15

up and the fact that I had a fear

47:17

, or I say my biggest

47:19

fear is not being able to accomplish my goals

47:21

. It's pretty cool to be able to look

47:23

back and say that you know , it's

47:27

not , it's OK to try

47:29

and maybe not make those things . Your life pivots

47:31

as you get older and what

47:33

you think may happen when you're a child doesn't necessarily

47:36

always happen as an adult . But I

47:38

can look back and see that I

47:41

was super creative , my mind

47:43

was very expansive , I

47:45

was smart and , yeah

47:47

, I knew . I knew I wanted to do

47:50

something in entertainment and I keep going back

47:52

to that , the fact that I have a podcast , the fact

47:54

that I'm doing YouTube videos

47:56

now and stuff like that , like having

47:58

people having an audience and stuff , really

48:02

kind of full circle moment

48:04

to , when I see stuff like that , because maybe

48:06

I'm not a recording recording engineer

48:08

, but I know how to produce a podcast . I

48:10

know how to edit video . I know I know how

48:12

to create a show , something similar

48:14

. I'm not an electrical engineering

48:17

, I'm not an engineer

48:19

. I'm

48:23

not an electrical engineering , I'm not an engineer

48:25

. But I learned things along the way that I can still pull some stuff

48:27

apart . I used to fix VCRs back in the day and I

48:29

know how to break apart my

48:31

remote and see if I can get that to work . I did a

48:34

lot of that . That's the reason why I wanted to be an engineer

48:36

. Because my mom was like girl , break

48:39

one more thing open in here . Like no

48:41

, we're not doing that , put that , put it back

48:43

together and go sit down somewhere . Cause I spent

48:45

a lot of time breaking stuff apart , trying

48:48

to like see how it works and see if I can get

48:50

it back together . She was

48:52

like you need to go to school for that and

48:54

leave my stuff alone . But it , that didn't

48:56

, that didn't happen . But you know , life

48:59

, life be life and

49:01

things happen and I think the biggest thing

49:03

is just allowing

49:06

the pivot to happen . And

49:09

you know , do the best with what you got

49:11

. Not

49:15

, I'm not at all

49:17

like sad or

49:19

I don't feel . I

49:22

don't feel any way , for

49:24

you know , looking back at this , you know , sometimes people

49:26

look at things and they're like , man , I really didn't make

49:28

it , I really didn't do what I wanted

49:30

to do . You know what happened and there was

49:32

a certain point in my life probably

49:35

about 10 years ago , 10 , 15 years ago

49:37

where I I did feel like

49:39

that . But as I'm

49:41

getting older , I realized

49:43

the value of like just being alive

49:46

and just surviving and

49:48

, you know , accepting

49:51

and celebrating the small things

49:53

. And what's small to you is actually

49:55

big to other people . You know I'm saying the fact

49:58

that I'm independent

50:00

, I have my own house

50:02

, that I pay for my car , my

50:04

, you know , a job , and blah , blah , blah

50:06

, blah , blah . And some people look at

50:08

me from back home and be like , oh

50:11

, you're so successful , you have all this stuff

50:13

or whatever you know . So I

50:15

think it's all about perception and

50:17

if you look at it in a positive way

50:20

not to say that we can't always grow

50:22

and learn and keep pushing and keep striving

50:24

to be better but if you

50:26

, if I , look at where I came from and

50:30

look at all the things that I've been through , I feel

50:32

that I'm successful and I feel like the

50:34

young girl that wrote this stuff , the

50:37

young girl that had those dreams . I think

50:39

I think she'd be . I think

50:41

she'd be proud of me . Now she might be mad

50:43

because you know I'm , I didn't get to work for

50:45

Video Soul and I didn't get

50:47

a job at BET Maybe . Maybe

50:50

a little disappointed that I wasn't

50:52

one of the head writers of Word Up

50:54

magazine . But outside

50:57

of that , I think I think the

50:59

the young , the young Jay would

51:02

be would think I'm pretty cool . So

51:04

anyway , that's all I have

51:06

for this episode . I thank y'all for listening

51:09

to my random episode of my portfolio

51:11

. I hope you enjoyed it . Um

51:13

and uh , I'll talk to y'all

51:15

. Talk to y'all later . Peace

51:18

out .