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Birth
I was born in the hospital that my parents met in. Father black, mother white. My whole life I have had to deal with problems in diversity and how I identify. On one hand with some people I am black and with others I am white. But really I am not black or white or even black and white, I am mixed. I think that this allows me to have a great world view of inclusion and respect. I truly think that its a blessing. Plus everybody is going to have darker skin in a couple generations anyway -
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Julius Paul-Michael Clark
Timeline of how I became me -
Parents divorce
When I was younger I buried most of these memories deep deep down but over the years they have started to come back with reflection. Certainly most of the memories are not good so sometimes they can come over me out of nowhere, but because this happens to me I am able to learn how to get through things that are emotionally difficult easier due to experience. When it first happened I was super confused with the world but was able to find my place in the world and what I can contribute. -
My best friend moves to Florida
There was this older kid named Alvin that lived across the street from be since I was born. He was my older brother. I did everything with him. I was and still am super close with him but when he left I was forced to face things on my own I had made all of my friends through him and now I had to learn how to be social on my own. Because I did learn everything I knew from I was a little more mature than everybody around me I still remember in great detail when we met in the street to say goodbye -
Baptized
This was a huge event for me. I had been atheists since my parents had split but then I started to find my way back to Christ. when I was baptized I thought that my life would be easier and everything would make sense but in reality it gets harder you just have somebody do go through life with. Today I would not say that my religion is defined as Christian but a mix of agnostic as well. Through my journey with christ I have been able to make my thoughts more pure and understand the world -
Huge Concussion
This concussion was not other concussions. This concussion lasted for 6 months. I completely forgot how to speak Spanish for school and my problem solving was completely rewired. Mentally this was probably the biggest event in my life. Who I was as a personally completely changed forever.I had this neurologist that I had previously for migraines that I had as a kid A whole year later from when I got the concussion he was saying that the symptoms that I was still having were from my concussion. -
Pituitary tumor
But in reality when I switched doctors I found out that I had a pituitary tumor that really created challenges for me. It caused my body to change without my permission both physically and mentally. This really gave me an opportunity to approbate life, because even though it sucked and I wasn't living the life that I wanted to live, with previous expense in bad spots I was able to understand that it could be worse and to be grateful. -
I got my first camera
I had always wanted a camera and I asked for one for Christmas almost every year and then I finally got one. I am really still trying to figure out how to use it but I know that I want this thing to be a huge part of my life moving forward. -
Mission trip to Haiti
This was probably the best time of my life. I was able to find out so many things out about myself. It gave me a passion like I had never had before. It's really had to put into words but I just knew that I wasn't going to be able to think of things the same way when I got back. When I was there I found that my passion is to help people. There is not sense of joy I can feel greater than truly helping somebody. It was also suck an amazing opportunity to be exposed to a completely different people -
Quit football
I decided that I did not want to be identified as a football player any more and needed to start to focus on who I am so I can start working for my career. Plus not being hurt 24/7 is a bonus. This happened very recently so I haven't been able to analyze it too much but I think that not being a student athlete will open up some doors and allow me to be more intentional with my relationships. I have. more time to focus on who I really am as a person.
