Everything old becomes new again...

So this past Tuesday was part two of meeting with my "Cal Dad." I miss him and the program. I wish I could visit more often, but he knows that if he or the program needs anything, I'm there. We talked a bit more about the assessment project I am doing at my school (which is quite interesting), and what I plan on doing in the future. He told me that the program is still going well, and that all the students are great. I tell ya, if it weren't for programs like the Biology Scholar Program, I don't know where I would be. Honestly. The same for other folks that were in a similar situations as I was. First generation college student, from a single-parent household, a struggling high school, oh, and not to mention from a community with a socio-economic status of crap. Mix all that up, and you got a struggle on your hands like you won't believe. Anywho, BSP and my "Cal Parents" John and Caroline helped me find my focus. To let me know that I did deserve to be at Cal and that I was just as qualified as anyone else that was there. Many folks need that and I am glad there are programs in place that provide this type of stability, considering how Cal is a typical "Me, me, me!" environment. He was telling more about how much the gap is widening as it relates to diversity (or lack there of) at UCB. He said that of the incoming freshman, only 30 are African-American. Frickin' 30!!! And of that 30, 10 are athletes. Yay. I would like to venture a guess as to how many of that remaining 20 come from underserved and underrepresented communities. Maybe 1 or 2, if they're lucky. The rest are probably from more affluent communities like the OC. I swear this sickens me. I remember Ward Connerly saying something dumb (not like that's an occasional thing), about how college shouldn't be a mirror. That you shouldn't expect to see people just like you, as you must learn to interact with all kinds of people. That is true to an extent. It depends on who has the mirror and how much windex it needs. When I went to UCB, hardly anyone "looked" like me, but they looked like each other. Where is the balance in that? There were folks that may have been black, but they didn't come from a community like mine. Or from a household like mine. And Ward says that like when you arrive there, everyone is gonna hold hands and sing "Kumbayah" around the Sproul fountain. If he believes that, then the man is more delusional than I thought. Cal was such a shitty place to be at times, but I am thankful that I did have somewhere to go, where people understood and were willing to just listen. On Tuesday, My "Cal Dad" told me that he was proud of me as we parted ways. That almost made me cry. As children, we just want to do our best to make our parents proud (biological, or not). My grandma always used to say that she was investing in us. Not monetarily, but in terms of her time, wisdom, etc. I hope to one day to fully pay all my investors back, with interest.