I remember that shit like it was yesterday. In 1996 a ton of shit changed for me. In 1996 my life changed but I didn't know it yet.

In 1996 I was 21 years old. I was living a bachelor's existence with my roommate Darwin (who ever heard of a dreadlocks named Darwin? My roommate), in that year I was reading Dyanetics which I think had something to do with it but I only got halfway through the book. My Friends crashed my car and wrecked my apartment beyond repair. We were burglarized, all of my stuff stolen, I was fired from my job. It was a distinguishing year. When all of this bad stuff whet down, I reached a point of 'fuck it, what else can happen?'

That was to be a turning point. A time that would redefine my life but again, I didn't know it. What I did learn is that all of the losses I experienced brought me to something of a zen place. Everything had been taken from me. I was living in Atlanta, Georgia. I went home to Boston.

I remember in Boston, hanging out with my sister who works in the same field as me, helping me go through the want ads, trying to find some sort of suitable job. Going through the want ads and hating everything I saw. Going on interviews to jobs that paid what at that time looked like a lot of money and turning them down because they simply felt wrong in my soul. Finally asking for and receiving an unpaid apprenticeship with a friend and colleague of mine. My life was taking a turn but I didn't know it.

I remember everyone thinking that I was crazy to be working for free when I could be making "so much money." My life was changing and all I had to tell me that I was making the right moves was this thing inside of me that said "This feels right." So many more things happened in 1996. Things that are now cornerstones of my life. All I had to go on was my sense of right. But having listened to it, it catapulted my life in directions I could have never foreseen, fulling dreams once thought unfulfillable and making me know that so much more was possible.

For me the lesson of 1996 was "Believe in yourself, listen to yourself and fuck what 'they' say."

Give thanks to everyone that helped me to reach the point where I am today. Without you, I don't know where I would be.

With Love,

Raja Afrika