The Top Comments So Far

Hello everyone! I want to take this time to honestly thank the people who have contributed to the conversations that happen on this blog. It means so much to me that anyone would ever listen to my thoughts, and to follow my journey from college student to whatever I’m going to be. I love when somebody feels that they want to participate, and it means a lot.

I absolutely love, especially, when people leave comments on my actual blog! This post is dedicated to three of the people who I have made it a point to let me know how they feel about what I wrote. What I want to do is recognize these people, and their roles in my life. Again, it means so much to me when people comment on this website, so thank you to everyone who has done that.

Here we go…

1. Shimina Harris

I first met Shimina when I started my job as an RA at SF State. I was an RA for 3 years, and she was there for all of them. Probably like most people, my first impression of Shimina was that she was flat out hilarious. I have always admired her because of her ability to respectfully tell someone her opinion, even if she disagrees. Shimina and I would always/ will always joke around, because we both joke and we love humor. In our training sessions for residential life, if Shimina was leading a session, I would always choose that session.

One session I remember was about vulnerability. We had a huge discussion about what it meant to be vulnerable. It’s such an interesting topic for me because I am “such a confident person,” but Shimina brought out a new definition for me. I was speaking about how there are a few things that I am not necessarily confident about, and instead of leaving it there, Shimina challenged me and asked me what those things were.

I told the group that the one thing that I wasn’t confident about was anything that was seriously romantic/sexual. I remember feeling like that was the first time that I ever embraced that about myself. From then on, instead of just simply being nervous about that fact, I was open about it. And I think it was cool of Shimina to do that for me.

I’m not an RA anymore, and I recently have been communicating with Shimina on Facebook, and I have realized that she is literally* an amazingly meaningful person. She left this comment on my article My Friend Is Going To Ferguson.

“Thanks for posting this Ben. I appreciate your willingness to use your platform to bring awareness to the injustices that continue to occur in Ferguson, MO, and those that will undoubtedly occur after this situation unfortunately gets pushed to the wayside. All voices who are bringing this issue to the forefront are important and I am glad you decided to be vulnerable with how you really feel.”

2. Alayna Moody

Alayna is one of my best friends from high school. We had spanish class together, which is a great place for laughing and jokes. My very first memory of Alayna is great. When I met her, I was going through a HUGE Champs phase. Champs is a store for athletes and up-and-coming rappers. They sold tall tees, amazingly flashy shoes, and they also had polo shirts that were CHEAP. I think they were like 5 shirts for 25 dollars. And polo shirts and low prices were my thing back then. One day, I noticed that this kid Alfonso (lol) had the same shirt as me. Alayna and another friend Zoe thought that was just the* funniest thing that could happen. They went and bought the same shirt, and then we all wore it on the same day and took a myspace pic. It was so priceless, and it was a lot funnier than I can make it sound.

Alayna has been there for a long time. She always has been. She is one of the people that was there before I came out, and is even more there now. She’s important to me. She’s very important to me. I don’t see her very often, but when I do it’s amazing! I’m seeing her tomorrow night, and I’m so excited. She has just always been there for me. And that’s all I need!

This is the comment that Alayna left on my article called The Best 5 Ways to Live Your Dream Life and Accomplish Your Goals.

“This was so inspirational, I really enjoyed it! My favorite way you mentioned was #5. My favorite quote: Move on to something you care about. Something more. Why are you pretending you have time for this? Do what makes you happy, not what makes you feel like you didn’t give up.

Bravo!

P.S. I created my own wordpress!

3. Kelly Moran

Kelly knows she’s up there. I met her in like 7th grade, and we have been friends ever since. Becoming friends with kelly honestly probably changed the direction in life. In no way was I cool in junior high, and maybe I wasn’t even cool in high school or college. I think the difference is that Kelly, and people like her, just let me be me. Junior high is NOT the place where that is the norm. I was having a huge identity issue in junior high until I had my solid group of friends. By people like Kelly simply “accepting” who I was, and hanging out with me anyways, I gained confidence. Because I was able to be confident about whatever I was, I was able to literally flourish.

Kelly was one of my first friends that I could hang out with ALL day. We used to hang out SO much. We do now, but in high school, we really hung out so much. I was at the cheesecake factory with her a couple of days ago, and I just realized that we grew up to be so similar. I think it says something that we have been friends for literally 10 years and it’s just better. To the point where we both want to move to NY. That’s kind of outrageous.

She still allows me to be me. She’s one of my first people I go to with ideas and creations. She’s my usual proofreader who tells me if things are good or bad. She’s perfect. It’s great.

Kelly left this comment on my post called Why Men Respect Me: A Story of my Masculinity.

“This is how a REAL MAN writes. Love it! I think it’s interesting that when people ask males when they first “felt like a man” the answers they expect are what you listed, like getting your first job or moving out, but when they ask a female when she first “felt like a woman” there’s the connotation that it depends on something physical like your period or your sexual experiences.

Side note: that walmart guitar was surprisingly high quality…”

That’s all for this time! Thanks to everyone who comments on my posts! I love it so much, and I hope to see more and more comments as time goes on! I hope everyone has an amazing day!