I Gave Up Puffy for DuBois

I Gave Up Puffy for DuBois

By Sean Mosley
Black College Wire

Sean Mosley
As a bright-eyed 18-year-old from Connecticut, I arrived at Howard University intending to take the music industry by storm.

That changed.

I went from majoring in music business to music education to English.

Many professors widened my horizons. I also owe a lot of my redirection to a friend who, over many conversations, has inspired me to be more than a lounge pianist.

Now when I walk across the stage in May, I will do so not only for myself. but for the ancestors who envisioned that my generation would have the chance to achieve something theirs did not.

Whether with a closed fist, a pen, a book or a degree, I know that I will be adequately equipped to navigate a world that still does not hold the same standards for liberty and freedom for everyone who inhabits it.

It might have taken me five years to get there, but honestly, these five have been truly the best five. I will miss sitting in the café, having heated debates on religion, politics and sports. I will miss spending long nights cramming for tests or spending long days on the Yard. I went from reading the Source and Vibe to reading the newspaper. Instead of watching "Rap City," I watch "Meet the Press." Instead of listening to Biggie Smalls, I listen to Tavis Smiley.

I love my Howard education. Though there are some loose ends, it's worth more to me than any record deal ever could be.

To underclassmen, I say your Howard experience is more than just a period in your life; it's a real journey. That person you are will change drastically by the time you walk down that aisle. If it doesn't, you should ask for your money back.

If anybody asked me in 2002 who my heroes were, the answers would have been Puffy or Quincy Jones. Now I will quickly say Frederick Douglass or W.E.B. DuBois. Isn't this what Howard is all about? It is supposed to take a young, black uncultivated mind and provide it with the environment to grow and become a tool for black progression.

Yes, we all are capable of being leaders on stage or on the basketball court or the football field. However, coming to Howard showed me that we can also be leaders in the boardroom, the classroom, the emergency room and the editorial room.

I may not be a hip-hop icon, but I realize that my intellectual colleagues and I have the ability to change the world.

Sean Mosley, a student at Howard University, writes for the Hilltop. Have a comment? Send to bcwire@hotmail.com

Posted Nov. 17, 2006