Thought i share my story. It a long one so be prepare to read alot.
You think you know me...................
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step - Lao Tzu
Around this time I was in college and was going to be working for the SPCA. In The college breezeway with two of my close homies , his name was Al Jarreau Riley & who was from the Magnolia Project (Rest In Peace) and Terrance Johnson who use to taper me up and still does. Actually I'll say this to anybody with any form of spiritual insight......they were signs. Always going to be some form of restitution when you dealing with polar opposites: good/bad. Depending on your own interpretation. New Orleans had alot of things going on in the matter of police corruption, Killings + cold cases, area beefs, etc. I dont know how many funerals i've attend be it a friend or an associate who died before Katrina. I can remember the sky being this black color a couple of days before this popped off. Initially, My parents and my older sister we're going to stay and "weather the storm". For those that's in this thread from N.O. i was living Downtown near the Industrial Canal (BFC/CLYG). Me and my father around this time weren't cool and not getting along. I hate to say it but ive had physical fights with my own father. alot of it had to do with our mindset, both of us being nonconformist and our inability to bend. We wound up leaving the next day. We really didnt know of where to go. I think we had like 5 Gs to our name (I had more but unfortunately i left all my money at home). I can remember vividly going from city to city Vacherie, Donaldsonville and finally wounding up in Baton Rouge. My father made a connection with a friend of his from high school/amateur boxing days who was in fact with Nation Of Islam and we crash at his place.
I can still remember waking up to the sounds of his wife reciting the Al-Fatihah in Arabic 5am. Im the early bird in the family so i was always up. We stayed a week and during this time i learn a bit of Arabic and i remember her giving me this book on Rumi. Coincidentally, my aunt and cousins from Skyview were in B.R. me family wasn't aware and this was due partially to those faulty blue Katrina phones people were getting. (We wound up linking up in Fort Worth, Texas). Not wanting to be one to intrude we left B.R. the weather man was throwing subliminals as if Katrina was going to make its way to B.R so we left.
That money was slowly diminishing and i hadnt eaten anything in three days all i had was water. I think alot of people learn what it was to fast around this time. My Fam headed to Houston originally because we have a cousin named Edna who lives out there. Called her a number of 5 times and no answer. Come to find out she was on the road. She drives those big oil rigs trucks. From there we drove to Fort Worth where i had another cousin name JoyceAnn who was working in Downtown Fort Worth and living in these apartments. Pops didn't have any minutes left cause we know Tracfone was pre-paid. He was in Abileene and stop at a CVS. He went inside to ask to use the phone and receive hassle from this Mexican. Now my OG is a stern looking individual who kinda resembles Furious Styles....he wound up calling her every alphabet in the book. He finally was able to use a phone at On The Run. And we made our connection with Joyce.
When we arrived two other families were their This Mexican chick Sheila and her family and my cousins Edna (another Edna not "Oil Rig" Edna ), Renard & Courtney & her husband George (all my cousins started referring to this dude as Dru Down cause he wore his hair in a perm/fingerwaves ). Everything was smooth. But i could tell that Joyce didnt really want us to be there by her mannerisms. I didnt know Texas or anything about the area. So i mostly lift weights and read. One day i was fixing my mother & sister breakfast and Joyce had this TV in the dining area and she click to CNN this patsy ass white woman were referring to the people of New Orleans as refugees. And it really upset me to think people who had no idea of what was going on treating as as if we were less than. I seen folks outside of the Superdome....in tears. Looking back, i remember seeing two of my classmates. I try reaching out too them and no avail. Now brehs, i dont know but that situation hurt me. It like try to reach out too someone drowning and they can grasp your hand.
My father was going back and forth to New Orleans trying to salvage anything possible. A couple of times he took me back home. From Fort Worth To N.O is approximately 555 miles. My house had 4 1/2 feet of water and it really look like something out of a movie like "Book Of Eli". Dead vegetation, like this sour dead cat smell in the air. Me and my OG ate oatmeal (something i hate with a passion) for 3 days straight. I remember having a couple of G's in a Jordan shoebox. And immediately i thought "
Nah, that shyt is dead aint no way in hell that money still in that house". Main reason i thought this because you had alot of people who choose to stay running up in people houses. But i was blessed to find it.
You had alot of folks running up on you with Dial soap passing it off as crack and oregano passing it off as weed. Some women where "sending" themselves. (Sending = selling themselves). Anything for a quick come up. Travelling back my pops connected with my aunt Troylynn , her husband Gerald and my 4 cousins : David, Troy ("Lee Lee") Rannika & Myiesha (Tee) who was pregnant at the time from Skyview & WSG (6th Ward - Lafitee Projects) who were in the William Rogers Center. Joyce welcome them with open arms to her apartment. I love my extended fam , but my two cousin David and Lee stay in some shyt. The apartment was small so we were damn near bumping into one another. Before we know it an argument ensue between Troy, Edna and Joyce over clothes washing materials. Yeah brehs something petty. Edna got mad and packed her stuff and left. Joyce and Edna were sisters however always had this sibling rivalry/friction. It sort of magnified 20x during Katrina. Gerard use to drink but he became sort of a lush.
David & Lee were leaving going to the gym and getting Joyce wrote up.
Eventually they wound up leaving and we left soon afterwards. From Joyce apartment we all wound up in the same apartment: Caryle Crossing which was on Altamesa Blvd in Fort Worth. Ive seen alot in those apartments. Something i'll never forget. Across the street there was another apartment. Unknowingly to us N.O heads there was serious beef between these two apartments. Life was smooth....all my cousins wound up getting jobs. Renard wound up working at Ben & Jerry and i wound up working at Krogers in this strip mall. I was suppose to work with Renard but i didnt like the hours.
On my first day of work i stayed to myself. Ive alway been the "let me do my work and leave me the fukk alone type". Still Am.
Alot of thoughts were circulating in my head on family, friends, chicks and how they wound up. Alot of anger. All my co-workers referred to me as "Lee" , since they always mispronounce my given name. They didnt know where i was from until one day me and the manager Mr. Schroder and this dude Curtis who was a hardcore Jew and looks like Dierks Bentley (white folks on the coli who listen to country music know who the hell this is
) we're in convo. He picks up on my accent and ask where i was from and i told. After that its like certain people took a liking to me. Dont know if it was out of mere concern and some had all these stereotypes when it came to N.O. folks: we're hotheaded, we're grimy, etc. This is also where i met Cierrea (i posted her picture & talked about her conniving ass in Born2BKing Thread "Pictures of chick you've dated"). I receive alot of funk from this fat chick Stephanie & this Uncle Tom ass negro Timothy whose hoe card i wound up pulling on numerous occasion and came close to fighting. Schroder was happy as hell that i told dude off.
In the apartment these dudes from out the 7th Ward: Slim & Kool-Aid they were brothers(never knew these dudes actual name) Had move in. And "Tee" boyfriend Elvis move who was from Slidell. it's as if we all came under one unit despite the 9th ward and 7th ward folks not getting along. Slim, Kool-Aid & David, Lee myself all hung together when i wasnt working. Alot of tension was brewing between Texas and New Orleans within that apartment. It eventually it spill over with Slim getting into it with some biggitty cat that lead to Slim letting off a Mossberg pump in the air. And me having a.......
yeah i better not incriminate myself. Nobody got shot luckily and the dude who Slim had beef with move. Remember my father grabbing me with this hold and pulling me and Elvis inside and talking to all of us. Dudes respected my father. Dru Drown perm rocking George was messing with Edna but skirtchasing, Gerard was drowning his problems in Corona bottles. That situation brought me and my father a tad bit closer.....thats one of the reason that scene with Tre & Furious in Boyz In The Hood is a bit personal to me.
We wound up moving officially back in October of 2006. I still say this was a setup i seen that barge and it makes no sense.
They had to force my granddad out.
Rest in Peace Easy-E Sr.
Is he talking about? And then I turned on the new and was like :wowwow2:. Damn.