Though life for me ain't been no crystal stair, I've had a number of successes. And often even when it looks like things will come crashing down, something falls through.
I'm moving to Baltimore for example. I am simultaneously juggling three major research projects, selling a house, and buying a house. And I've been trying to do almost all of it within a couple of months. For a number of reasons, getting a house in the Baltimore/DC area hasn't been easy at all. We've gotten turned down more times than we can count.
But I figured if we stayed still and were calm about it something would come through. For us, for ME, it usually does.
In this case what happened was simple. We sent out feelers to our folks. To my fraternity, and to members of Delta Sigma Theta (not quite a sister sorority but close). To my friends here at Wash. U.
Yesterday we got a call from a sister in Baltimore. Turns out that a church has a home that needs a family--their new pastor already has a home. Because we're good with the contact (through one of OUR contacts) things like a credit check, an interview, etc. don't appear to be needed. The house is only a few minutes away from where I'll be working, and we should be able to get our kids into one of the better schools in the area.
How does this relate to Jonathan? To equilibria? To knuckleheads?
What is the role of networks in African American life? What type of networks do we have access to, compared to the working poor...or the non-working poor?
I know somewhere I've written about my encounter with the law here in Missouri related to a couple of tickets I had. I made a call to one of my fraternity brothers who happens to be a partner in a prestigious law firm and next thing I know the record has been expunged. Though Jonathan indirectly had access to us, he'd cut himself off from us sometime ago. Networks serve as a buoy on the one hand, and as a weight on the other. They can either keep us afloat (serving as the Hand of God) or they can drag us down quicker than Uncle Pussy from the Sopranos.
This is the reason why Affirmative Action--a very very conservative policy--is important. THE reason.
Posted by at August 6, 2004 12:10 PM | TrackBackA research opportunity. I've been named a Kellogg Scholar in Health Disparities and I'll be working at a site in Baltimore (Morgan State). I won't be doing research IN baltimore as much as I will be studying FROM Baltimore. At least that's the game plan now...Baltimore is a lot like St. Louis, so I'm sure research opportunities will arise there. It is good to hear from you.
Posted by: Lester Spence at August 6, 2004 01:24 PMRemind me to hook you up with my cousin. He's in Randallstown and probably knows a thing or two about real estate in the area. I just assumed that you had the hookup already hooked up. My uncle still keeps a place up there too.
I think that the development of this upper middle class and rich network is destined one of the most important advances in our history here, and it's why I spend so much time talking about the Old School.
Posted by: Cobb at August 6, 2004 03:47 PM
Prof. Spence,
Posted by: Kim Garner at August 6, 2004 12:56 PMI read your column from time to time and, as always, I do enjoy reading your insight on politics. I usually don't comment but this time I am prompted to ask, what made you decide to come to Baltimore?