2Pac – Starin’ Through My Rear view
Welcome To The Desert Y’all
“Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.” Master
The Roots Regarding Today’s Post Do Not Run Real Deep.
Fact Of This Matter Is That Today’s Written Word Is On The Galactic Far Side Of What I Had Planned To Write.
In The Sense Of We Strictly On The Fly.
Walking Up The Block From My Home To Catch The Bus Over Here To The University.
As I Began To Pass By This Casita On My Left, Four Young Men Of Mexican Heritage Were Standing Outside Smoking.
Now I’m Sun-glassed Up, As Always Eyes Forward In A Mild, Laid Back, Thousand Mile Stare.
As I Was Directly In Front Of These Young Men, They Call Out;
“Yo. Whad Up O.G.”?
I Of Course Acknowledge Back To The Young Men.
“It’s All Good Young Men. How Bout You”?
“We Good O.G. Now You Let Us Know If You Anything Awaight. We Here. You Be Safe O.G.”.
“Appreciate That Young Man”.
As I Continue Walking I Break Out Into A Laugh Smile All The Way To The Bus Stop. More Or Less Reminiscing Back 13 Years Ago When I Entered The Sphere Of O.G.
So There I Was.
Walking To The Bus Stop While Simultaneously Being 5th Dimensional Slammed Into An Alternate Realty Taking Me Back To 2006 Tucson Barrio Viejo.
There I Was Tracking up South 6th Avenue.
The Significance Of The Above Pictures And Map Is That I Walked By Them Every Day For Just About Two Years On My Way To Work In Downtown Tucson. Close To An Hour Walk From My Crib Located In Barrio Viejo.
I’ll Interject At This Point That I Love To Walk. Been A Lifelong.
But The Major Draw Regarding This Particular Walk Was The Allure And Straight Up Cool History Represented Throughout The Four Different Barrios I Would Pass Through On My Walk To Work.
For You See In That Part Of Town In Tucson.
Neighborhoods Leaning All The Way Back To The 18th Century. Even Before Tucson Was Incorporated In 1775.
Basically One Actually Finds Themselves For All Practical Purposes In Mexico, For This City Was Part Of The Mexican Territory.
So As Well, The Old Charm Is Still Very Much Alive.
For Myself.
The Major Attraction.
The Allure If You Will.
Were The 1930s, 1940s And On Up Through The 1960 Car’s Parked In Front Of The Yards In These Historic Desert Neighborhoods.
Standing Tall Loud And Proud, Basically In Original Condition For The Fact That Here In The Quaint Desert Mayberry Of Tucson, Cars Do Not Rust.
I Love Cars.
Back In The Middle 80s I Owned A Vintage Sports And Race Car Dealership For Just Under Four Years Right Outside Of Century City, On the Corner Of Santa Monica And Comstock. In 1989 I Sold The Business To Chequered Flag International.
So Cool.
Three Mornings A Week Jay Leno Would Drop By With Some Coffee And We Would Yak Cars For A Few.
Fact Of The Matter Is, That Is How I Met And Became Homies With 2Pac.
For Myself, Cars Have Been An Integral Part Of My Life Since Childhood.
Driving Around South Central, L.A. With My Mom During My Childhood.
On The Constant.
Pointing And Calling Out Of The Window Of The ’53’ Blue And White Four Door Chevy Belair To My Mom As She Drove Here And There Sucking Down On Her Chesterfield King Cigarettes.
‘Mom Mom A Pontiac. Look Mom An Oldsmobile, Wow Mom Look At That Cadillac Coupe Deville”. On And On And On.
Back to The Barrio Walk.
So. Whad Up O.G.?
So The First Day Walking On Through The First Of Four Various Barrios On My Way to Work.
I Do Realize That I Am In A Place And An Environment That Let’s Just Say, I Wasn’t Any Where Close To A Regular.
So Of Course, As Always, I’m Walking With Respect.
Keeping My Head And Eyes Forward.
Not At All Looking Up On The Desert Floor Front Yards Or Any People Hanging Out Here And There.
In The Vain Of Don’t Speak Unless Spoken To.
No Worries.
Everything Chill.
Right?
Then On The Third Day It Happens.
As I Approach A Corner, Standing On The Opposite Corner, Checking Me Out And Slowly Approaching.
The Gate Keepers If You Will.
Tucson South Side Bloods.
So.
With Respect.
I Lower My Head In A Bowing Respectful Type Nature And Simultaneously Flash The Peace Sign Followed Up With The Love Sign.
Then The Crew Chief To Me, If You Will.
“Como Este Jiefe”.
“Muy Bien”.
Then Another Young Man With His Shout Out.
“Whad Up O.G.”
“I’m Good Young Man. How Bout You”?
“Hanging Tight O.G. Hanging Tight”.
Everything Everything.
Right?
Me And My New Pose Kept On With The Walk And Talk.
This Scenario Played Out Daily Over The Next Two Years With A Twist Towards A Therapeutic Angle.
In The Way That These Young Men Would Openly Relate Their Life Stories To Me On These Daily Jaunts Through The The Various Barrio Hoods.
In The Fashion Of.
“Damn O.G. I’m 21. Been Locked Up Two Times. Next Time It Will Be For Life. Out Here Looking For A Job. Over Twos Month. Can’t Find One. Baby Mama At Home With My One Year Old. Old Gang Starting To Come Around Wanting Me To Do This And That For A Dollar”.
“Damn Young Man. Your P.O. (Parole Officer) Hasn’t Told You About The Of Companies In Tucson That Hire Felons”?
“Say What O.G.. What List”?
“Damn”.
It Was At That Point That I Pulled My Pen Out Off Of My T.Shirt Collar, Then Extracted The Flip Note Book From My Right Rear Jean Pocket.
Then, Seemingly Right Out Of The Wild Blue I Stated To The Young Man.
“Young Man. What Was Your Dream That You Had When You Were A Shorty”.
“I Love Numbers O.G. Always Wanted To Work With Numbers. You Know Like Physics. You Know, Drafting Space Flights. Shit Like Dat.”
Tehhhhhhhhhhhh.
Talk About Profound.
“Oh. Ok. School Background Young Man”?
“Graduated High School 17th In My Class”.
“Cool’.
I Wrote Down Information For Him. Gave Him The Pages Then Explained To Him What Was Up.
“First, This Is The Name Of What You Need To Google For The List, Actually Quite Extensive, Of All The Companies In Tucson That Hire Felons. Now This Is The Name Of My Friend Mike Lopez. He Is The Director Of Admissions Over At Downtown PCC Campus. Just Tell Him Ryan Sent You”.
“Damn O.G. Thank You So Much”.
“Don’t Thank Me Young Man. Thank Yourself When You Accomplish The Dreams You Had When You Were A Shorty. Cuz Your The Only One That Can Make Those Dreams A Realty. As Well, Dis Gonna Be Da Hardest Muthu Fuckin Thang You Ever Did”.
“Straight Up Cool On The 100 O.G.”.
Now These Types Of Interaction Had Been Taking Place On A Pretty Regular Basis.
We Shook Hands.
I Began To Continue On My Way To Work. Then Something Hit Me. O.G.?
For Myself At That Point Regarding Space And Time.
I Always Connected O.G. To Old Geezer, Old Guy. Like That. Right?
Then It Happened.
“Yo. Young Man. Let Me Ask You Something”.
Young Man Turns Around, Heads Back Towards Me.
“What Cha Need O.G.”?
“Que es O.G.”.
With That.
Young Man Puts His Arms Up, Chest High.
Running His Hands By Each Other In A Lateral Direction.
Looks Up At Me Matter Of Factually And Represents.
“Dats Original Gangster O.G.”.
Slow Shaking His head In That GThug Kinda Way.
Yep. O.G.
Thing Of It Is Regarding My Daily Walks To Work Through The Barrio Over That Two Year Time Frame.
Five Former Gang Members Are Now Living To The Fullest Extent Of Their Dreams They Had When They Were Shorties.
For Over The Course Of many Years Now. I Will Bump Into One Of These Courageous Young Men And They Tell Me All About.
Regarding The Young Blood GThug Representing In Today’s Story.
Four years Ago Crossing Speedway Blvd. At Stone, Walking In The Opposite Direction, I Hear, Yo. Whad Up O.G.?
I Look Up, It’s The Young Man From Today’s Story.
He Relates To Me That The Very Next Day After Our Conversation He Printed Out The List Of Companies Here In Town Hiring Felons.
He Proudly Relates To Me That He Began Calling Around And Within Two Days A C.P.A. Firm Here In Town Hired Him On The Spot.
They Told Him That If He Nails His Associate Degree In Accounting, That They, The C.P.A. Firm, Will Pay His full Tuition To University of Arizona Enabling Him To Receive His Bachelor Of C.P.A. Degree.
That He In Fact Was Now Two Months Out Of Relieving His Associates In Accounting And Looking Forward To Starting Classes Next Semester At the U of A.
Go Cats
For Myself.
Three Bachelor Degrees. Year of Law School. United States Marine Reconnaissance 03.
Don’t Mean A Damn Ass Thang.
Tehhhhhhhhh.
I Mean Really.
Come On Now.
Dis O.G.
There Ya Have It.
Yeah.
I’m Done.
That’s All I Got.
For Today.
Desert Love Ya All
Ryan. Out.
That’s What I’m Talking About
I Know Dat’s Right
Please Feel Free To Communicate With Me.
It Would Transcend An Honor
As Well
You May Feel Free To Post Comments To This Site
Or
Hit Me Up At:
Ryanindaswamp@Hotmail.com
Following Are Some Of My Favorites From Down In Da Swamp
Da Ghetto – ryanindaswamp – WordPress.com
https://ryanindaswamp.wordpress.com › 2018/02/24 › da-ghetto-2
Street Story – ryanindaswamp – WordPress.com
https://ryanindaswamp.wordpress.com › 2017/05/30
A Russian Story – ryanindaswamp – WordPress.com
https://ryanindaswamp.wordpress.com › 2017/05/30 › a-russian-story
The SouthSide – ryanindaswamp – WordPress.com
ryanindaswamp 