What I've Done

My name is Kenneth Jason Sturgood. Friends call me KJ for short. I'm a student at Illyria College in the city of March Wood, Maine. Although a native of South Central, Los Angeles, I've grown quite fond of the city and the college which welcomed me. Illyria College is a fine school located in a fine town. I sometimes miss my friends and my folks back in Los Angeles but life is about change, the way I understand it. I needed to get away from Los Angeles and Illyria College provided the perfect escape. I think young black men my age should give the old college thing a try, don't you?

At first glance, Illyria College looked like a small and peaceful school. The school has only one campus, and hosts a ten-thousand-person student body. Since this is the state of Maine, it's lily-white but I don't mind. I don't miss the wonderful diversity of South Central High School, where male and female gangsters of all races competed for drugs and territory. I made the mistake lots of men make. I fell for the wrong woman. A cheerful, sexy sociopath by the name of Kira Almond. She was the gorgeous gal all the guys at my High School would do anything for. The one who made all the other females green with envy. When we first met, she seemed charming. Unfortunately, she was a deceiving snake. Hey, sorry for being harsh but she deserved it. She put two of my friends in the hospital and tried setting the school on fire after I broke up with her. I'm lucky I made it out alive. She's now serving fifteen years in prison for aggravated assault and attempted murde.r Do I miss South Central High School? Sure, and I also miss going to the proctologist and being hassled by campus security. Not! Illyria College was to be my new domain. And I was determined to have fun. I didn't count on having the time of my life.

Illyria College was going through a period of renovation and expansion when I came along. This small four-year college had beefed itself up both academically and athletically. I was particularly impressed with the sheer number of sports offered. Illyria College student-athletes competed in Men's Varsity Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Water Polo, Wrestling, Swimming, Volleyball, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Bowling, Rifle, Gymnastics, Fencing, Football and Rugby along with Women's Varsity Softball, Basketball, Cross Country, Wrestling, Swimming, Volleyball, Rifle, Ice Hockey, Water Polo, Lacrosse, Bowling, Gymnastics, Fencing, Rugby and Field Hockey. For club sports, they had Men's Sumo Wrestling, Men's Boxing, Women's Sumo Wrestling, Coed Badminton, Coed Ultimate Frisbee, Women's Equestrian and Men's Horsemanship. The Illyria College athletic teams were collectively known as the Black Rams and Lady Rams. They competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division One.

Man, this was a nice place. An equal number of men and women on the college campus. A good sports department. Yeah, I was in a nice place. I was fortunate enough to receive the James Stanford Thomas Scholarship Award. It basically covered room and board for four years, as long as I met the requirements. What were the requirements? I had to maintain a GPA of 3.80 or more. Considering the fact that I'm an exceptionally bright student, that posed no problem. Yeah, Illyria College was about to become my new playground. I liked the place, and I liked the locals.

My roommate is a young man named Jeffrey O'Braonain. He's a six-foot-four, lean and athletic, good-looking Irishman with short red hair and pale green eyes. We totally clicked. I didn't think we would, since we came from radically different backgrounds, but we did. Jeff was a really nice guy. Like me, he was Roman Catholic by birth. He came from the city of Boston, in Massachusetts. He used to play football for Boston College High School, an all-male private school. Now, he's a running back on the Illyria College Varsity Football team. I am a football fan, even though I stopped playing football after sophomore year at South Central High School. Why did I stop playing? Oh, there were many reasons. I decided to focus on academics rather than sports. As a six-foot-two, 240-pound, healthy young black man at a public high school, I was pretty much drafted into sports but I lost interest.

Why did I really lose interest? My teammates gave one hell of a beating to my pal Simon, a gay white student. That really ticked me off. It disturbed me so much because I didn't have the courage to stand up for him. I did nothing to stop them. It's something I will always feel guilty about. I watched prejudice and bigotry in action and did absolutely nothing to stop them. I've always prided myself on being the kind of man who does what needs to be done. That's the son my parents, Lucas and Marianne Sturgood raised. They would be filled with shame if they knew what I've done.

I grew up in a conservative Christian household. My father, Lucas Jackson Sturgood is a police officer in Los Angeles. He's a hard-working, strong black man who's devoted to his family. My mother, Marianne Sturgood is a firefighter. One of the strongest women I know. They raised me and my brothers to be fine gentlemen. My older brother Stuart is currently a junior at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He's studying mechanical engineering while an active member of the Georgia Tech Men's Wrestling Club. My younger brother Alexander is a student at the University of California at Los Angeles. Yes, he plays Football. Neither of my brothers would have stood by and watched an innocent person being hurt, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. Our parents instilled in us a strong sense of justice. That's part of the reason why I felt that I had to leave Los Angeles. I didn't feel like I was living up to the Sturgood family name. I wanted to go elsewhere and make my mark.

All these things, I shared with my roommate. Jeff listened attentively while I told him my life story. For some reason, I felt really comfortable speaking to him. I don't know why. When I finished my little spiel, Jeff clapped my shoulder. He didn't say anything, except he looked at me with eyes full of understanding and compassion. That's when I knew. I had met my new best friend. That's a really good thing. I didn't think I was going to make any friends at a school where only ten percent of the students were African-American. This proves that you can find decent people almost anywhere, regardless of race or any other factors. You just had to keep an open mind. Jeff offered to give me a tour of the campus. This was his second year there, so he knew everything.

We walked around the campus. Jeff showed me the various buildings. Engineering. Computer Science. Liberal Arts. Fine Arts. Mathematics. Science. We stood in front of the Athletic Complex, a massive steel-gray building which easily dwarfed all of the others. We went inside. I was amazed by what I saw. The huge Basketball Court, where the respective Men's and Women's Basketball teams practiced and held their home games. The Basketball Court also doubled up as a Wrestling Mat for the Men's and Women's respective Wrestling teams. The Men's and Women's Gymnastics teams also held their events in there. Down below was the Aquatics Complex, where the Men's and Women's Swimming teams and the Men's and Women's Water Polo teams did their thing.

Right outside the Athletic Complex was the massive Football Stadium, which could seat twenty five thousand occupants. The Football Stadium also served as a field for the Men's and Women's respective Soccer teams and the Men's and Women's Lacrosse teams. The nearby Outdoor Track Course served both the Men's and Women's Cross Country teams. I was really impressed. Illyria College had not spared a dime in beefing up its Athletics Department. The changes had been spearheaded by Jack Henry O'Braoanain, a former National Football League superstar who was the Head Football Coach of Illyria College for the past five years. He recently became the Director of Athletics.

Wow. An NFL great spearheading athletic operations at a college campus. How about that? Jeff laughed, and told me that the man in question was his dad. I was stunned. He offered to introduce me. We walked to the Athletic Director's Office. I felt a tingle in my spine as one of America's top former professional football players looked me up and down before shaking my hand. I looked at Mr. O'Braonain. He was a tall, muscular, red-haired man in his early fifties. I could see where Jeff got his good looks from. I was speechless. A tall, good-looking lady with golden hair and emerald eyes entered the office. She smiled at me, and kissed Jeff on the cheek. Man, she looked really familiar. Jeff smiled, and introduced me to his mother. Former WNBA pioneer and superstar Jessica Lancelot, now a Sports Information Coordinator with the Illyria College Department of Athletics. I looked at the O'Braonain family. Man, they really looked good. And they were the image of success and devotion. Jeff's parents seemed happy to meet their son's new roommate. I was honored to meet them. A few moments later, Jeff and I took our leave from them and walked back to the dormitory.

Man, I got to tell you, I felt happy. My new best friend was royalty on campus. Wow. I guess my father was right. If I wanted to change my life, I had to change my habits, my places and my peoples. When we got back to the dorm, Jeff went to his computer to play a game of Warcraft while I lay in bed, reading the Ram, Illyria College's Student Newspaper. The headline was a big welcome to all incoming freshmen. I smiled as I read it. I felt welcome indeed. For the first time in a long time, I felt optimistic about my future. The next four years looked promising. I'd go to school, get good grades, have tons of fun and then have a brilliant future as a civil servant. Life just couldn't be any better.