Book of D: Who Dat Talkin 'Bout The Real World N'awlins Homecoming

The Real World: New Orleans is the ninth season of MTV's reality television series. In this TRW: Homecoming series, we once again had a battle of the races: Melissa Beck (née Howard) and Julie Stoffer; they were actually besties while the season was being filmed, but somewhere along the way — after the season was aired—Julie went rogue against castmates Melissa and Danny (Roberts). Melissa and Danny alleged that Julie stole their opportunities on the lucrative college speaker circuit, which they were all embarked on after the season ended. Vox magazine says that Melissa’s and Danny’s allegations against Julie claim that Julie would offer to speak at the colleges for a smaller fee than her castmates, and the colleges — looking to save money — would book Julie instead.

Page Six magazine says that Danny is still processing the pain of an alleged letter written by Julie that painted him as a “dangerous homosexual.” Danny told Vox that Julie’s letter against him was not only damaging, but it undermined his trust in people in general. Danny went on to say, “To be chosen to do that by an international organization, back then, as a gay man was a big deal. It was super hurtful then to find out that somebody I trusted was actually undermining me, especially in that time.”

During the TRW Homecoming: New Orleans premiere episode, Melissa and Danny ask Julie to admit to the truth about her badmouthing them. Julie attempts to say that she’s sorry, but Melissa and Danny say it is too soon and that it will take time for them to figure this out, especially because Julie does not appear genuine in her apology and keeps throwing around the phrase, "I apologize if it happened." Wow! Anyway, Melissa stresses to Julie to acknowledge that Julie’s actions were done against marginalized people: a gay person and a person of color. Melissa further adds to Julie that what was f**ked up about it is that it took opportunities away from herself and Danny while also attacking their character. David “Tokyo” Broom tells Julie later in the episode that she needs to take accountability for what happened regardless if she or someone from her team wrote the letter. Julie tells Tokyo he is so right and that the buck stops with her (Julie). Julie realizes that she has to do better with apologizing to Melissa and Danny. Tokyo urges Julie to take responsibility for everything. Later in the episode, Julie is shown repeating (almost verbatim) Tokyo’s words to Danny about taking accountability and responsibility for everything. But is it sincere or is Julie just reciting things to make things less awkward for herself at the New Orleans’ house? Who dat talking ‘bout marginalized people: Julie.

New Orleans Cast: Jamie Murray, Matt Smith, Melissa Howard, Kelley Limp, Danny Roberts, David Broom, and Julie Stoffer.

Book of D: Can We Really Go Home Again? The Real World, New York Can—and Did

Okay, I'm doing this, I am going to write about the MTV series of my generation that started a craze within the reality tv genre. The 1992 inaugural season of The Real World, New York, which will forever be my favorite season, not only made reality tv popular, but it defined a generation. According to historians and social science pundits, The Real World “reimagined the long-form documentary format for television.” There are many reasons why I fell in love with the docuseries. One reason was that during the early 90s, we had not seen anything like it before. It was compelling and organic. At least I think it was. It was supposedly “unscripted,” but we will never really know if it was or not. We were reality-tv virgins, per se, so it did not matter if it was scripted or not. The characters were all interesting nonetheless; each person different with so much to contribute, whether we viewers liked them or not. Regardless of what each person brought to the reality series or what their personalities were, we viewers were enthralled.

So, in watching TRW Homecoming series, I have been taken back into time sans an Einstein-Rosen Bridge or time machine. I have been allowed to remember what I was doing during the times the respective season(s) of TRW aired. I have also been forced to ponder that back in the 90s, my own world was hindered with attributes of prejudice and malformed worldviews. There was no synesthesia, nothing was black or white; everything was muddled. Those were the times: everything and everyone was somewhat corrupted, and seldom did anyone take time to be an upstander, including yours truly. I like to think of myself as an upstander these days. I facilitate bystander intervention at the local university for goodness’ sake, and I am an LPC-I trained to be self-aware of biases, but am I truly “woke”? Hardly. I have a lot of growing and learning to do. I have revisited the Real World, New York scenes that were extremely controversial in 1992 and should still be provocative in 2022. 

Most of the scenes included Kevin Powell, Becky Blasband, and Julie Gentry. I won’t include their bios; Google them if you aren’t familiar with them. I remember being scared when Becky and Julie were in arguments with Kevin; mostly, I was scared of Kevin, and I wanted the castmates to vote to kick him out of the house. Not being “woke” to racism back then, I just viewed Kevin, apparently like most of racist America did, too, as an “angry black man.” Looking at episodes now, I see from where Kevin was coming, and how he was fighting for equality and equity in a world that was demeaning toward and killing black people. Moreover, I see how privileged Becky and Julie were back then (and still are to this day) as white females; plus, both women came from well-off families, so add that to their entitled lives. My views were marred back then because I was not educated in the area of racism and bigotry. It is now 2022, and as a female, person-of-color (P.O.C.) in the twenty-first century, I am versed in how racism is tearing our country apart at the very fabric of the freedoms it was originally created to provide (freedoms but for whom?). I’d like to think that my fear of angry men like Kevin was because of the fear my ex-husband embedded in me by his verbal, physical, and emotional abuse, but that would be a much-too-easy way out for my ignorant behavior back then. I will forever regret looking at Kevin in such a terrible manner in the 90s. I have been a victim of racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism for the last three decades. I am sure I have victimized others along the way via some sort of "ism." For all the crap I put out into this often vulgar and pungent world, I am remorseful, and I will continue learning and teaching about biases, prejudices, and inequalities; finally able to accept culpability for my own shortcomings. Everyone should have a homecoming, if anything, to examine their own "wokeness."

New York Cast: Norman Korpi, Julie Gentry, Becky Blasband, Kevin Powell, Andre Comeau, Heather Gardner and Eric Nies.

Book of Pain: My NP Appointment and The Other Party's Insurance Lies

 I saw the nurse practioner this morning about my pain. She says I probably need an x-ray taken to figure out what is really wrong. When she asked me to bend over to try touching my toes, I couldn't. I couldn't even bend side to side. My back was in bad shape. I had to pay out-of-pocket despite the other driver's insurance saying they would cover the costs. The agent texted me and emailed me today and told me to provide my doctor's office with the claim # and his name and phone number, so he could accept all the costs, but when I went to the receptionist's desk, the lady told me that they do not file that way and that I would have to pay upfront and figure out the expenses with the insurance provider. I was livid. More so at the other driver's insurance rep because he apparently lied. I don't dare go get the x-ray now because I do not want to incur more expenses. I have health insurance but that is not the damn point. I will wait for Monday to reach the other insurance rep and see what my options are. In the meantime, my back pain is an 8. Probably due to the added stress of having to figure out my options. My mental health and the feels are through the damn roof. I have no idea what to do. I just want to rest. My NP prescribed two meds today; one for pain (meloxican, 15 mg) the other is a muscle relaxer (methocarbamol, 750 mg). I can't think straight. I am starting to not be able to sleep at night. 

Book of Pain - The Day AFter the Wreck

 My back has been giving me grief. Using a rating scale technique, I would put my back pain at a 7 out of 10 with 1 being doesn't hurt to 10 hurts a lot. My neck started giving me grief, too, as did my left elbow. I guess getting hit so awkardly from the driver's side by a huge ole double cab (Chevy Silverado Z-71) would certainly do some major damage. I am still contemplating getting an attorney. My insurance has been doing well by me. Let's see if the other driver's insurance, does the same (does right by me, that is). I have a doctor's appointment this week. Fingers crossed. 🤞

Book of D: Graduate Counseling Evaluation & Freaking Car Wreck, part 2

Unfortunately, I was in a car wreck (in Midland) about an hour before I had my meeting with Dr. Anderson on campus (UTPB), but it did not detract from what I had to do for the eval. Disappointedly, upon calling 9-1-1, the dispatcher told me that Midland PD doesn't respond to minor vehicle accidents. In other words, MPD will only show up if a person has been seriously hurt (i.e., in need of an ambulance), killed, and/or if one of the vehicles is not drivable (i.e., a vehicle needs to be towed away). The driver of the other vehicle, let's just call him “Bobby” (B for bad driver), was at fault, but because MPD did not respond, I am uncertain if "Bobby" will ever receive a citation for his mistake. I was somewhat livid because “Bobby” was obviously not paying attention to the traffic signs and ran into my SUV (Chewy II). However, I was glad no one was seriously injured. “Bobby” kept apologizing for his mistake. I never apologized or recognized who was at fault. I kept things formal. I think my adrenaline was pumping too hard for me to notice any injuries to my body—and/or my amygdala was full-force in “fight or flight” mode, which helped me do what needed to be done at the scene of the accident and such. I did what MPD told me to do over the phone; e.g., exchanged pertinent, respective data with "Bobby" and shared the accident report number. "Bobby's" insurance and my insurance have been working diligently and have concluded that "Bobby" was at fault. I had an appointment with the nurse practitioner at my doctor’s office earlier today. She ordered x-rays, which I will have done as soon as I make sure “Bobby’s” insurance will cover it up front; I won't accept reimbursements. "Bobby" admitted his truck was in the left lane and my SUV was in the right lane, which I stated as well to my insurance. Our respective accounts place "Bobby" in the "left turn only" lane while I was in the "left turn OR go straight" lane. "Bobby" should have turned regardless of what I was doing. I had my left-turn signal to turn left, so when "Bobby" decided to ignore the street signs, he made the mistake of plowing into my vehicle.

  

Book of D: Graduate Counseling Evaluation Après a Freaking Car Wreck, part 1

Well, my evaluation went really well.  Dr. Anderson, my grad school prof, gave me an overall rating of "exemplary" for my performance during Internship I. It included case studies, case conceptualizations, chapter presentations, research presentations, counseling sessions with clients, etc. ... Dr. A. says I exceled at writing my case conceptualizations and that she loves how I write: she said "you write beautifully and well." I must admit that I was somewhat perplexed thinking about today's evaluation with thoughts of what occurred during my first practicum semester. But. I was actually extremely pumped and ready for this evaluation; Dr. A. has been really nice to study under, and her guidance has been sublime.

Unfortunately, I was in a car wreck (Midland) about an hour before I had my meeting with Dr. Anderson at the UTPB campus, but it did not detract from what I had to do for the eval. I wrote about the awful wreck in the next post, Graduate Counseling Evaluation & Freaking Car Wreck, pt. 2.

I will have almost 400 hours for Internship I although I am only required to have 300. Fortunately, I get to carry over 100 of those hours into Internship II, which will aid me greatly since a full summer session is only 10 weeks.

Imagine trying to get 300 hours in a 10-week span. OUCH! I feel sorry for grad students who don't have a cushion of extra hours, per se. Summer session is quick and furious unlike the full 16 week sessions offered in the fall and spring. 

In the meantime, I will celebrate my advancement into Internship II this Summer 2022. I gladly and proudly move forward with style and grace.😎😄😏Graduation and hooding in August 2022. Knock on wood. 

Be there - or be square! Cheesy line, I know. But, I don't care. I earned the right to be cheesy and to use bad grammar if I feel like it. It's all part of mastering the master's program, y'all.