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Carnage in my new quarters

I was sitting by the window enjoying the cool breeze after the rains in my beautiful new house, at my beautiful new site, while talking to my mom on the phone, when an army of flying insects invaded the windows and attacked my house. They don’t belong in my new picture perfect home away from home and my perfect work site. This only means that I have to get rid of them so I can get back to picture perfect as my center.

My mom told me to close the windows quickly because it is after the rains and all the insects are out and will gravitate to the light inside, plus she reminded me that I am allergic to insect bites. 

I jumped up to lock the windows and was mortified by the army of insects, that both crawl and fly, that were crawling all over my hands, as if to try to prevent me from denying them access. I was so frightened, I sprayed my entire can of bug spray and was running around with a broom bashing what was crawling and fanning after what was flying. Well, I must have singed every nose hair because now my nostrils are on fire. I suppose I need some fresh air, but the room air and fan will have to do tonight. 

Now, I think I have successfully killed them all and locked all the windows in the whole house. Only thing is, I am so worked up, I need a glass of wine or something to go to sleep and not have a nightmare of being attacked by insects. Well, I have consumed my inventory and I refuse to go outside because, if what Mommy said is true, they are out there too, in volumes and armies. Anyway, where would I get a glass of wine now anyway. But, perhaps I could get a rum punch; nah, that would require me going outside where the bugs are in the dark. I will just watch Netflix until tomorrow. Ho humm. 

I clearly have never lived in the country, or even worse, on my own in the country; who knew? I sure needed a heads up on this one. By the way, did you notice another one of those pesky little crabs in the pile? Well, this is a different one from this morning. Still a baby one that I can only kill and discard. Annoying already, although I would probably be scared out of my wits if confronted by one of the big ones in my house. 

On the flip side, I now have super clean floors as I swept and swept to ensure every last bug was dead and in the trash. Guess I will be up calming down for a while. Whew. 

#farinainamibirthland #mypcjourney #howiseepc

Published by: Local Lives, Global Voices

I, Chandra Young, ‘the moon that outshines the stars, was born in Kingston Jamaica to an Indian Father whose family migrated from India, and a mulatto mother, whose family, paternally and maternally, trace their history on the island to the 17th century sale of slaves, and slaves themselves. We migrated to the United States while I was a youngster. I later went on to graduate from The City College of New York, with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science; then Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, with a Jurisdoctor degree; and I am currently on hiatus from my doctoral studies in Law and Policy at Northeastern University. After graduating from law school, I successfully sat for both the Florida and New York Bars, and worked in both the Private and Public Sectors. Simultaneously, my role as mother and my passion for education pushed me into Academia, where I have lectured at colleges in the areas of Political Science, History, Business Law, Sociology, Pluralism and Diversity, Critical Thinking, Critical Academic Reading and English Composition. In these capacities, I have mentored inner city/urban college students, and have also served as Guardian Ad Litem to the Seminole County Courts, where I advocated on behalf of children of families in crisis. Being a scholar of Political Science in my collegiate years, I contributed my talents and passions towards championing of the rights of my fellow students, many of whom, like myself, were of Immigrant families. I was instrumental in a student movement that spearheaded a University-wide student boycott protesting tuition hikes in the City University system. The successful protest led to the shutdown of all the University’s colleges in every Borough, and got the attention of the media and politicians of the day. The result of the successful protest was a halt of any tuition increase for several fiscal terms. Today, the City University and State University systems are free to families earning less that $125,000.00, which include most urban, inner-city and immigrant students. While at City College, I was selected as a student ambassador contestant in the Ms. Jamaica-USA pageant, sponsored by the Jamaica Progressive League and the Honorable Una Clarke, the first Caribbean and Jamaican born woman to be elected to the legislature of the City of New York, and mother of United States Congresswoman Yvette Clark. A diligent advocate of affordable housing for New Yorkers, I was committed to the mission of realizing the American dream of home ownership for New Yorkers and I am the recipient of a Proclamation by the City Council of the City of New York, for my efforts in that regard. My dedication to the City of New York and immigrant communities, particularly those of Caribbean heritage, have been unwavering, and I was presented with the Marcus Garvey Award of Recognition by the New York based Jamaica National Movement, for service to Jamaicans and Caribbean people in the City of New York. I continued my passion of being a part of a mission to champion the rights of underprivileged and underrepresented persons in my recent milestone, the United States Peace Corps, where I dedicated 18 months of my life, away from home and family, to the people of Jamaica, as a Literacy Adviser and Community Developer. I am the mother of two children, a writer, blogger and poet. I always loved writing. As a child, I remember finding privacy and solace to write in my garage, where I could hide the written pages amongst the plethora of books our family stored there. I began blogging on my Facebook page and was encouraged by friends who enjoyed by posts, to start a blog. I officially started this blog during my Peace Corps Service, but it is certainly not limited to my service. In fact, it represents an amalgamation of thoughts expressed and lived through the direct and vicarious experiences that being a global citizen can provide. This blog is my way of building a bridge that connects our local lives experienced in our specific localities, with the global voices that unites us in the similar experiences, concerns, pains, passions, etc that joins us together as human beings in spite of geography. You there.......Me here. We....together in one world....one humanity.

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