Lazy Afternoon

I wrapped things up at the hospital a little earlier than usual on Thursday, so on my way home I gave Jamal a call to see how he was doing. We’ve been unable to meet for a few weeks due to conflicting schedules. I wasn’t really planning to drop by, but when I asked him what he was up to he told me that he was playing SUPER SMASH BROTHERS, one of my favorite games of all times. I was deeply impressed when he mentioned that he had repaired his broken controller by disassembling it and a reconnecting a damaged wire. That controller had been the only thing standing between us and a Smash Brothers showdown, so I decided that it would only be right to drop by his apartment for a few matches.
Twenty minutes after I arrived I had already lost 4 straight games, and I was actually starting to get a little irritated. I’m pretty good at that game, and I couldn’t believe this dude was breaking me off like that. Not only was he kicking my Pikachu all over the screen, but he was telling me how bad I sucked every time he blew my character off the screen. I hadn’t suffered that much verbal abuse from a 12-year-old since I was in the 6th grade. As I started getting frustrated, I considered that perhaps this would just have to be one of those tender moments where Jamal would grow more confident after dealing his big brother a thrashing. Just as I was about to tell him that he was the better player and congratulate him on his victories, I realized that there was no way I could leave with that many losses on the board.
I ended up battling back and tied the score before I left. All the while returning a lot of the same harrassment. It was really fun. After we turned the game off, Jamal told me that he’s starting the 6th Grade on Monday at a school across town. As a side note, he expressed his disapproval at the Baltimore School system’s recent lowering of the passing standard to 60%.

Passing Easier in City Schools

I found it a little amusing that even some children can see how bad of an idea that is. I challenged him to set a goal of getting all A’s this year and offered him an incentive of his choice (within reason). Jamal is a very intelligent kid who is more than capable of getting great grades, but he has been getting B’s and C’s and even failed a class last year. I just think he’s been a little short on motivation and has had some serious distractions to deal with. But I believe that he can do a lot better this year, and I hope that he will allow me to help him get there.

Ballin'

Saturday afternoon began like most of our conversations, with me trying to guess what it is that a twelve year-old actually wants to talk about. “Read any books this week?”. Nope. “When does school start?” I don’t know. “What did you do all week?” Nothing. Hmmm… “So, what’s the best mutant power on that X-men game anyway?” [Long soliloquy on Iceman and Nightcrawler]. I’m starting to realize that Jamal doesn’t really want to address his education, books, or career plans on a weekly basis. I saw a cheesy inspirational poster today that said “A lesson learned at the right time will last a lifetime”. If that is actually true, I would have to say that the middle of the summer is definitely not the time to have any deep conversations about Jamal’s future with him.
Our activities started at the University gym with two games of H-O-R-S-E followed by a game of 1-on-1 to 7 points. I’m not bragging or anything, but I pretty much dominated him from the get go. My Outside shot was on fire, I was driving to the hole, and there was nothing he could do about the post. I guess I should also mention that he is 4’11” and 65 lbs. But he told me not to go easy on him so I had no choice but to crush him. I did end up letting him score a few times without being too obvious about it.
After basketball, I attempted to teach Jamal the game of racquetball. But after about 5 minutes it was clear that he wasn’t that interested in learning the rules, so we just started randomly smacking the ball around until we got tired.
From the gym we headed back to do a little art work. This time Jamal wanted to draw Tweety bird (one of his specialties), so we listened to my old school R&B playlist while drawing a picture that I had downloaded. I was pleasantly surprised when he started singing along with Al Green and The Temptations. It turns out his Grandmother instilled a taste for good R&B in lieu of some of today’s music.

Jamal's Tweety
Thus far I’m really enjoying being a Big Brother, and it appears that Jamal enjoys our time as well. Making time for our get togethers is probably the biggest challenge. But I’m also learning that I have to be patient and teach him things as they come up instead of forcing conversations about topics that I think are important. I’m looking forward to taking Jamal to some museums in D.C. in the near future, and helping him tackle some of the challenges of the new school year once it gets underway. Until then, I guess we should both relax and enjoy what’s left of summer.

My Tweety