foto: VASHTIE AND FRIEND IN MUD (circa 1996)

it was TULIP FESTIVAL in ALBANY…

outdoor concert + rain + reckless youth = stupid kids covered in mud

*i can remember walking home that day, afraid of what my mother would say. when i arrived, i rang the doorbell. she opened it to find her youngest child drenched in mud. i was prepared for a bitch slap to the face. instead, she laughed for a good minute and told me to go to the backyard to hose me down. i know she was thinking “is this what happens when your child gets a scholarship to a school full of white folks?”

thanks for not giving me licks ma

(in case you might not know, “licks” is an ass whooping that your ass wouldn’t forget)