Giving Credit Where It’s Due // Being Human Again // Florida Classic Sneak Peek

Get a Sneak Peak at the Black Alumni Line Up in Orlando During Classic Weekend at www.joeydigital.me/orlando

Let me know what you think before I release it further. Because we’re bringing together so many great black alumni during this special weekend, we’ve had to organize two (2) events on both Friday and Saturday. All will be awesome.

[Spelman/Morehouse aka “SpelHouse” Homecoming Tailgate]

I’ll come right out and say it: the SpelHouse Homecoming Tailgate last Saturday was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Yes, my beloved Florida A&M University has nothing like it. Imagine Fat Tuesday combined with School Daze. Don’t think anyone even goes to the football game – they just party outside for hours.

Thanks to my tour guides: the “Best Homecoming Ever” crew, Sepia Soul, Alpha Rho Alphas, Prophecy Events, and many others.

[Being Human Again]

For the first time in over four years, I attended a series of events where I had absolutely no connection to the organization or marketing.

And it felt awesome and weird at the same time.

There was no stress. No sense of urgency. I worked my contacts feverishly for information on what events to attend, locations, directions, dress code, etc. – often asking the same questions repeatedly and late. But very few people at the events knew me. In fact, I often struggled to make conversation with new people.

Essentially, I felt human again.

Since 2008, I’ve hosted over 40 events where I’ll know over 60% of the people in attendance. Actually, I have the opposite problem (especially this year) where I’ll only get 15-30 seconds to spend with people before moving onto the next group or putting out the next fire. And, honestly, this sucks. Trading quality time for a larger quantity of people is tough. The point was driven home during Atlanta Classic Weekend when we had 3,000 people on both Friday and Saturday nights. By the time I got to the end of FAMU’s Homecoming, I abandoned all hope of seeing friends.

The best way to describe how it felt is a scene in a scary movie where the character is banging on a short-circuited computer or TV to work: there are intermitent periods of clarity followed by patches of snow. Oftentimes, I couldn’t remember simple details like, um, names.

But if you want to sit in the Captaiin’s seat, you have to be prepared what all it entails.

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