My dear faithful readers-
Ten months ago I landed on the warm lap of my dear Mother America. At that exact moment, she crapped herself. At first glance, NYC in September 2008 looked something like an overanxious mother hen, begging the question will the economy collape? Will Sarah Palin rule over us with her winking gaze when John McCain bites it? Will I ever retire? The worry was palpable, thus not the best time to be poking around for some casual employment, respectable employment seemed to be out of the question.
I only got 10 days of work as a temp before that well dried up. So I took up a job as a flyer girl. I passed out ads for a gym down by NYU and watched the college kids walk by dressed like Kanye West. When the snow started to fall and my ego couldn't take anymore rants from random street crazies I took my reprieve to California for the holidays, still underemployed but hoping something would come up.
At the New Year I returned to the city and I almost got a job with the New York City Department of Law. That was until the budget was not passed and I was left on the backside of two months worth of applications and tests with no position. Sweet.
The New Year also brought school, The New School to be exact. I began my first graduate level classes at The New School studying Nonprofit Management hoping that I would not hate my classes, other students, future prospects. All the while I was living with family friends who had an endless supply of hospitality and encouragement as I wallowed and wailed.
How ever could I blog about that?
And then in April EVERYTHING CHANGED. Within a month I got a job, I found a sweet apartment in Nolita, and I kicked my first sememster's behind like it drank my last beer. All of the sudden I was a freaking vision of success in America, back and ready to rumble.
But I am not finished. Not by any stretch of the imagination am I done challenging myself and changing. So I would like to reignite my blog as it just so happens that the stuff I see on a daily basis is as weird as anything I saw travelling. The greatest lesson I have learned to date is truth is much stranger than fiction.
With this in invite you to return to my little opus frequently as I describe absurdities and entertain you with my tales.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Connected
Today I woke up speaking Pulaar. The phone rang at 9am on the night stand next to the bed. I read 221- as the country code and knew the number was from Senegal.
“Hello?”
“Jenaba!”
“Allo? Neene?”
”Jenaba, Tana allaa ton?”
My host mother from my village in Senegal seems to be psychically connected to me. The night before, I remarked that Jenaba Sidibe, who I was named after, was probably the only person I knew in those two years who saw me. She saw who I was, what drove me to find her village, and why I must continue my work in America. Her love for me was real, because when the time came she cried but let me go. Now, six months later she is calling me on the European cell phone I left to her. The exchange was brief and I think she said she wanted me to call her back later, but I am unsure. It is too late to call tonight but I must find a calling card tomorrow and find out what my dear friend needs.
“Hello?”
“Jenaba!”
“Allo? Neene?”
”Jenaba, Tana allaa ton?”
My host mother from my village in Senegal seems to be psychically connected to me. The night before, I remarked that Jenaba Sidibe, who I was named after, was probably the only person I knew in those two years who saw me. She saw who I was, what drove me to find her village, and why I must continue my work in America. Her love for me was real, because when the time came she cried but let me go. Now, six months later she is calling me on the European cell phone I left to her. The exchange was brief and I think she said she wanted me to call her back later, but I am unsure. It is too late to call tonight but I must find a calling card tomorrow and find out what my dear friend needs.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Sunday, November 09, 2008
The Movie!!
Finally I present to you the movie I helped edit and produce in Senegal titled "Elle Travaile, Elle Vit!" (She Works, She Lives). Enjoy!!
Elle Travaille, Elle Vit! (She Works, She Lives!) from Barry Pousman on Vimeo.
Elle Travaille, Elle Vit! (She Works, She Lives!) from Barry Pousman on Vimeo.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Where were you when Obama won?
November 4, 2008 11pm- In my NYC Apartment
I stared at the TV screen and blinked a couple of times. Tears welled up and blurred the beautiful image.
PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA
History had been made. I jumped to my feet and started doing my Pulaar happy dance. Outside you could hear crowds erupt with cheers. Yes we can!
The whole family poured out of the apartment and down the stairs. Out in the streets in front of the Obama headquarters on Broadway and 105th there were hundreds of people dancing in the streets. Slowly cars would inch through the crowd with honking horns and jubilant cries. A bus pulled up, a large black bus driver was weeping, his fist raised in the air, Yes we can. The crowd enveloped the bus, cheering and dancing, everyone raising their fist in a salute to our Joe the Bus Driver, as more tears streamed down his face and we screamed, Yes we can. Traffic stopped, hundreds of people started singing the national anthem, cops scrambled to get the people on the side walk, but more people poured into the streets from all directions. Parties began to erupt all over Manhattan, an explosion of pride for our country and pure joy.
Well into the night I ran the streets of New York City, screaming and hollering OBAMA, to which inevitably there would be a distant cry of joy from some other drunken reveler who couldn't believe that today the world changed for the better.
I stared at the TV screen and blinked a couple of times. Tears welled up and blurred the beautiful image.
PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA
History had been made. I jumped to my feet and started doing my Pulaar happy dance. Outside you could hear crowds erupt with cheers. Yes we can!
The whole family poured out of the apartment and down the stairs. Out in the streets in front of the Obama headquarters on Broadway and 105th there were hundreds of people dancing in the streets. Slowly cars would inch through the crowd with honking horns and jubilant cries. A bus pulled up, a large black bus driver was weeping, his fist raised in the air, Yes we can. The crowd enveloped the bus, cheering and dancing, everyone raising their fist in a salute to our Joe the Bus Driver, as more tears streamed down his face and we screamed, Yes we can. Traffic stopped, hundreds of people started singing the national anthem, cops scrambled to get the people on the side walk, but more people poured into the streets from all directions. Parties began to erupt all over Manhattan, an explosion of pride for our country and pure joy.
Well into the night I ran the streets of New York City, screaming and hollering OBAMA, to which inevitably there would be a distant cry of joy from some other drunken reveler who couldn't believe that today the world changed for the better.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
To The New Great Generation
It is a momentous time in our history as a country. The national conscience is focused on the demise of our corporate empire and we, the youth, are left to meditate on our future. "Not since the Great Depression..." is a phrase I have heard often in the last two weeks. It describes the burden and challenge the present generation faces as we are still tallying the bill, projecting our future lifestyles and choices.
I arrived to Wall Street on September 2, 2008, hardly aware of the economic crisis about to unfold before me. After living in a mud hut for two years, financial Armageddon was the last thing I expected to come home to. It is becoming more apparent to our generation, the ones who enjoyed our childhoods in the peaceful and prosperous 90’s, that we will need to reorder our society to maintain our quality of life, and possibly advance it.
There are rumblings of a New Great Generation. We could invent our way into a new age. We have been given the best preparation possible for this moment, from our culture of innovation, and comfort with technology, to our access to higher learning institutions. Why can't we take that sexy approach Mac takes to all their products and make environmentally sound gadgets the things we are falling all over ourselves to own? Why can't we, the New Great Generation, take the bull by the horns, learn the numbers and the facts, and rework a system that is based on the values for the new age? It is time we shook off the malaise of consumer culture and took responsibility for ourselves. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Leviathan has stumbled. Are we ready to stand up and lead the future?
Get a higher education.
Vote.
I arrived to Wall Street on September 2, 2008, hardly aware of the economic crisis about to unfold before me. After living in a mud hut for two years, financial Armageddon was the last thing I expected to come home to. It is becoming more apparent to our generation, the ones who enjoyed our childhoods in the peaceful and prosperous 90’s, that we will need to reorder our society to maintain our quality of life, and possibly advance it.
There are rumblings of a New Great Generation. We could invent our way into a new age. We have been given the best preparation possible for this moment, from our culture of innovation, and comfort with technology, to our access to higher learning institutions. Why can't we take that sexy approach Mac takes to all their products and make environmentally sound gadgets the things we are falling all over ourselves to own? Why can't we, the New Great Generation, take the bull by the horns, learn the numbers and the facts, and rework a system that is based on the values for the new age? It is time we shook off the malaise of consumer culture and took responsibility for ourselves. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Leviathan has stumbled. Are we ready to stand up and lead the future?
Get a higher education.
Vote.
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