First off, I have to wish a Happy Fathers’ Day to all the incredible fathers out there that have dedicated their lives to providing for their families! Each of you are deeply appreciated and serve as outstanding role models to not only your children, but to the greater society as a whole. I know that for me, my own father played (and continues to play) a HUGE factor in making me the man I am today…and I don’t think I can ever thank him enough for that. He continues to inspire me and to push me to become greater than I could ever imagine myself to be. I hope that some of his great qualities have trickled on down to me and that I can be at least half the man he is for my future kid(s). However, I definitely don’t plan on having any little Christels running circles around me anytime soon, so I still have a good amount of time to get up to his level.

And whaddya know, it also happens to be Juneteenth! For those of you unfamiliar with Juneteenth, lemme break it down for you real quick. It’s the day that commemorates the actual end of slavery in the United States. On June 19th, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston, Texas and informed the locals there that: 1) the Civil War had officially ended and 2) all enslaved peoples were now free. The Emancipation Proclamation had legally freed all slaves in the country a couple of years prior, but Texas didn’t really give a Massachusetts (sound it out a couple of times, it’ll come to ya 😏). So they continued to enforce slavery until this day came about in 1865. So to put it simply, Juneteenth is a day of freedom and celebration in the African-American community. If you’re just dying to learn more about it, click here! (If you couldn’t tell, I’ve recently learned how to hyperlink and I’m lowkey addicted now 😅)

How nice it is to have Fathers’ Day and Juneteenth fall on the same day. Special shoutout to all the Black fathers out there! Pour two up for fatherhood and freedom!

As for me, I’m currently cruising comfortably thru Summer ’16. It’s already been two weeks since the Motivation program started, and I’m all ready to continue striding into the third week. The students have been very receptive to the program so far and are a pretty tight-knit group of people. They’re definitely starting to feel the pressures of the classes they’re taking, but it seems like they’ve been taking it well overall. They also had their first round of clinical rotations last Friday and just about everyone I’ve talked to said that it was a fantastic experience. Hopefully they can carry their happy spirits into the weeks ahead! Aside from working in the program, I’ve been relaxing for the most part and spending quality time with friends down here. I’ve also been dabbling a bit into next year’s subject material, because why not? I’m not hardcore studying or anything, because I’ll have time to do that in less than a couple of months…plus ain’t no one got time for all that. But I’ve been peeking into what I’ll be facing in my second year in order to get a feel of what to expect and just simply out of curiosity. It’s funny because whenever someone sees me looking at med school stuff, they always exclaim, “WOW! You’re studying?? During your summer break?!?” Lol, as if I can’t open a review book and enjoy my summer at the same time. Plus, I need something to do while I’m in class with the students, so why not preview the organ systems? It’s actually some interesting stuff. In addition, if I hated learning about how the body worked, I wouldn’t be in the medical field. So, yeah. Apart from all that, it’s been great to finally catch up on movies that I’ve been meaning to watch. There’s so many out there man. Watching old episodes of the Bernie Mac show has been fun too. And you can’t really beat kicking back to do some summer reading while watching the palm trees sway. (Yeah, yeah, I read for fun. You gonna try and stop me?) 

So that’s that. I’m going to continue enjoying my summer, and you should do the same! Make your week a spectacular one!

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

– Nelson Mandela

– Black Man, M.D.

P.S. – I really hate the rainy season down here.