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ARRvol34 master reduced - Flipbook - Page 19

My first day at ARC was something out of a YouTube skit. I arrived
on campus with a Himilayan sized knot in my stomach. That morning I had made the questionable decision of wearing the Malcolm
X t-shirt my white dad had ordered for me online. In my head it
was the perfect way to appeal to all the Black people on campus,
although in hindsight, a “See? I’m one of you!” sign taped across
my chest would probably have been more subtle. My knowledge of
Black culture was so dated that I thought bonding over long dead
civil rights heroes was what all contemporary Black teenagers did
between classes.
When I turned the first corner to Davies Hall I was met with an
enthusiastic greeting from a man I was very sure I had never seen
before. He had dark skin and a green backpack, and was very sure
he knew me. He extended his hand for what I had foolishly assumed
would be your average handshake, commonly exchanged throughout higher education and all of the Midwest. Instead, however, he
launched into the most complex greeting I had ever borne witness
to. It was the Gettysburg Address-- no, it was the fucking Matrix
code of handshakes. There was a snap and a clenching of his fingers
around mine, bookended by an attempted fistbump. I say attempted because as his hand gracefully maneuvered the choreography,
mine just laid there like one of those dead cats they find under the
couch of some Vietnam vet on one of those hoarding shows. You
know, those shows that you tell people you watch because you’re
“fascinated with the human psyche and its ability to attach meaning
to meaningless objects” but in reality witnessing ancient, morbidly
obese women break down into tears over an empty toothpaste tube
and pile of expired coupons injects some sick, self-esteem booster
serum into your bloodstream that try as you might you can’t bring
yourself to resist? Wait, how did I get here? Oh right, the handshake.
It was the longest ten seconds of my entire life, rivaled only by that
Winter afternoon behind the gym with Jesi.
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