MY FIRST PERCEPTION OF A MAN

EPISODE 1

Rochelle Washington

Room 210 Grade 4th

Mary C.TerrellSchool February 1969

“Dear Mom and Dad,

I’ve thought of running away and getting away from it all, but there is nowhere to go. Besides, I love you too much to run away from you. I hate my life. I wish I was never born.” (An actual excerpt from a letter written to my Mom and Dad.)

I was born the middle child of five children. My Mom and Dad were not educators, but I learned a lot from both. I was a Daddy’s girl. He was everything to me. My Dad taught me how to survive on the streets, while my Mom taught me how to cook and make ends meet… Boy, she could make ends meet no matter how tough times were. We were never hungry. She could stretch a dollar and still have change left.

I remember at the tender age of seven, my family moved into the Robert Taylor Homes Housing Projects in Chicago. We moved around a lot. We even stayed with a few people, so I was happy to finally have a home of my own. My Dad was a handyman. He didn’t have a steady job; in fact, he never worked on a job. He was a hustler, a carpenter, painter, street gambler, and boxer. We even thought he would play professional baseball at one time; he was that good. In other words, he didn’t have a job and we were poor. So, we looked for affordable housing and moved into the projects.

Now this was the late sixty’s, early seventy’s, and the buildings were

brand new. There was green grass, tall trees, a playground with swings and slides … and I can’t forget about the famous monkey bars and the merry-go-round. We had programs to participate in like tap dancing, girl scouts, drama, and karate. Each building had a captain who would oversee representing their building. Each month, inspections would be held (yes, we had inspections) and the cleanest building would get to place a beautiful blue and gold eagle on their building so everyone could see.

Every Saturday we would clean the brick walls with Comet cleanser. The janitors would clean and rinse the halls and elevators with some type of pine solution. It would keep the stairways smelling clean and fresh. We all worked hard and loved every minute of it. My building would win all the time. Can you believe it? The Projects were a positive place to live.

I remember we lived on the seventh floor. Everyone was like family. After the building inspection, my friends and I would celebrate. Often, we’d perform dances and skits for other children. We would go behind the grocery store across the street and get the used milk crates that they would throw out. Then we would carry them back home and sit t