why DALLAS? [part I]

I guess this will serve as my official press release and answer many questions about my move to Dallas, Texas!

In mid September a fellow social net-worker sent me a message about a job opening in Dallas. I had made it no secret that I was in love with Dallas, TX, and if ever awarded the proper opportunity for upward bound, I would relocate there.

2010 has been a extremely difficult year for me to say the least. I had health problems, the abrupt ending to a on & off eight year relationship, my private life being made very public. I dealt with image issues, identity issues, and severe depression. In the midst of all of those issues for the most part I hid behind my computer screen, if you didn't know me personally, you would think I was enjoying every bit of my life, when I had to be one of the most miserable people walking.

Thinking back most of my problems that made 2010 extremely difficult were direct results of things that had happened in only the last few months of 2009. I allowed many others into parts of my life that were typically reserved for myself only.

When I found out about the job opening, I immediately turned to God, I started praying for him to show me, and guide me. I prayed profusely every chance I got, and through it all in a very short time he turned around my entire way of thinking. If I had ever questioned my faith in him, he showed me in a quick time to NEVER doubt his abilities.

I arrived in Dallas, Texas during the late hours of September 27th, 2010 with a suitcase of clothes, a pillow, and my backpack. A associate from college told me I could crash at his place while I interviewed, and helped me through the process. I went to the interview on Tuesday September 28th, I was extremely nervous, I was interviewing for a community based job, where I made it know I had not lived in Dallas, I just had a lot of distant relatives, friends and associates there. Interviewing I dressed down, come kakhi pants, a brown cloth belt, some Steve Madden loafers, one of my signature vests, and a white dress shirt I found on sale at Old Navy about two years ago. When I entered the interview, the two individuals interviewing me were very relaxed, however you could tell they were carefully going to pay attention to my every word, move, and thought...

Once general questions were asked about the position, and my abilities were discussed, then the questions came about me and what would make me the idea candidate for this position. I was applying for a position in HIV-AIDS intervention in a city where the rates for young black men who have sex with men is high, so what would me, a boy from rural Texas do with people from the inner city? Honestly I didn't know. I had lived in Houston for seven years, at age 18 I moved to the suburbs so I never felt the need to interact with people in the city. I had no idea of the struggles of daily life people face. I just knew if awarded the opportunity to work for a program I had been following since it's inception, I would do my best to make a difference.

On Monday October 4th, I was sitting in the living room of my mother's home in Bryan, TX when the phone rang, it was the director from my program calling to officially offer me the position, I didn't know at 10:38am that phone call would change my life forever......