Free Land For Sale!

By Lydia Y. Pope Burden

When was the last time someone discussed Billie Holiday or Dorothy Dandridge in a classroom?

Christian and his eight students embark on various controversial topics, such as political views and social views. These topics are often considered taboo, but that's exactly why Christian wanted to tackle these subjects in his adult continuing education class.

Are we openly ready to discuss and agree to disagree? There is always more than one way to see a situation. Tempers will rise, and personalities will show truth. Life is not just about your perspective; open your minds to other possibilities and experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662487101

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Free Land For Sale!

Lydia Y. Pope Burden

Copyright © 2022 Lydia Y. Pope Burden

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-8709-5 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-8710-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Serenity Prayer

Characters

Journey of Horror

Why Would You Want to Control Me?

I Am My Sister's Keeper

Healing Old Wounds

About the Author

To all the amazing people who support me daily. My loving husband, Eric T. Burden; my parents, Leon and Rosalie Pope; Carmen (Terry) Brown; Barbara Brown; Sharon Sims; all my aunties, cousins, and God brothers. You know who you are.

There are so many people whom I would like to call by name, but I'm afraid I would forget someone. Thanks for all you do.

We weed our garden as needed, fertilize our soil daily, prune the roses often, and water the grounds of our love with God's patience, kindness, and perfect peace. Our love remains the most precious flower in the garden of life. May we continue to grow in Christ's love.

C. Brown

Introduction

Christian Barns, a newly married, thirty-year-old college professor, just acquired his first teaching job at the local university. He dreams of being a famous instructor, not simply because of his ability to teach but because of his stylistic approach to teaching. He has always had dreams of becoming a prominent college professor at an Ivy League school, but for now, he is satisfied with the adult continuing education course he was given.

He was told during his interview that the students would primarily consist of low-income young adults due to the location of the school and the department he was assigned to. However, he was assured that the school standards would remain stringent and of high quality, even for the continuing education division. He later discovered that a few of the students received court orders to further their education or face contempt charges from the judge. Others didn't have the average grade to take regular college-level courses and had to take a remedial-level history course in order to move forward. These young adults could only take one or two classes per semester while holding down full-time jobs. Christian's class was the first scheduled course of the day.

Although Christian is enthusiastic about the amount he is being paid, he was more excited about the opportunity to finally utilize his teaching abilities. Christian is a biracial, open-minded man, who had just about every race scenario right in his very own family. This was one of the reasons he was deeply drawn to American history and why he felt it necessary to challenge his students to think outside the box. Sometimes uncomfortable scenarios should be presented in order to honestly admit to feelings through spur-of-the-moment reactions. Christian never thought his decision to make changes with the standard curriculum would be such an eye-opening experience; not just for his students but for himself as well.

There will be a compilation of musicians, scriptures, short stories, and/or articles that will make up his class discussions. Although he did value the importance of discussing well-known historians, such as Thomas Edison—the inventor of the light bulb, Christopher Columbus—a European navigator, whom history has placed great significance on his first voyage of 1492. Christopher Columbus did not actually reach the American mainland until his third voyage in 1498, and Benjamin Franklin did invent the lightning rod and bifocals; he thought it more significant to discuss other people and occurrences closer to the lives of his students. He was more concerned with the evolution of their minds—how history has proven to change people's ways of thinking and the ability to stay hopeful in spite of adversity. He felt it was more important to think of ways we could make or change history one person, one mind, and one heart at a time. Through vision and selflessness, Christian feels we all are a destiny away from making history if we could just unlock our inner greatness and stop being afraid to be who we truly are.

The topics he outlined for discussions were meant to be controversial, not just because of the sensitive subject matter but because of people's initial reactions to things without considering any other points of view. His literature not only put a strain on the individual relationships of his students but their personal relationships as well. These topics are sensitive to race, religion, health, and sexuality. They even contradict everything society has been conditioned to accept. How would one deal with realizing that there is a possibility that something deeply imbedded in your mind's eye might just have a different meaning or valid point of view from the very source you have been taught to mistrust? This sometimes leads into a deep, heated conversation.

As the class progresses, the young men and women quickly deviate from the openness of a dialogue and push closer to individual monologues. Hearts are changed forever, feelings are hurt, revelations are made, and perceptions are changed. With the openness of Mr. Barns, the young professor, they finally reach a safe middle ground. Often it's not easy to agree to disagree, so what do you do then? How can you move forward? How do you find peace in pain?

In the end, the students and teacher uncover the real challenge. The undeniable challenge is that we all must pick our battles, open our hearts and minds, and move forward in love no matter what.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can,

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace,

Taking, as he did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that he will make all things right

if I surrender to his will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with him

Forever in the next.

Amen.

* * *

Justice is what love looks like in public. (Dr. Cornel West 2008)

We built the wonders of the world, we are the wonders of the world'. (Alicia Keys 2008)

If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with others. (Richard Parsons 2008)

Characters

Christian Barns: A thirty-year-old biracial teacher who is strong-minded, fearless, and eager to educate. Christian's focus is to open himself up to learn from his students while teaching them to accept other points of view. He believes that life knowledge is just as important as book knowledge.

Carla Barns: Christian's new wife. She is White, a writer, and a homebody. Carla is a Southern girl with a great disposition. She completely depends on Christian because her family disowned her for marrying an African American.

Tamika Towler: A brainy African American who has traveled extensively because her parents were in the military. She's soft-spoken and often underestimated.

Kyla Johnson: An attractive light-skinned African American female. She seems very intelligent until she opens her mouth. She speaks loudly, sounds foolish, and sometimes ridiculous. She has low self-respect, and tactfulness is not her best quality.

Amanda Phelps: A very opinionated, attractive White teenager who is an only child. She often speaks before she thinks and assumes everyone should immediately accept her opinion without considering another point of view.

Antonio Houston: A hip-hop-consumed Hispanic male. He has one point of view, and it often involves a street-based mentality for conflict resolution. Raised in a single-family home, he has dealt with many adversities and blames society for his pain and bad decisions.

Aheim Pearson: Intellectual, clean-cut African American male. Also introverted but quick tempered. He is a young father with a great deal of responsibility. Aheim is trying to walk the path of the straight and narrow, but responsibility is pushing him on a path of destruction.

Marc Boyd: A typical bookworm. Marc has dreadlocks but dresses pretty conservatively. He has very few friends, and he prefers it that way. He tends to stay out of trouble and speaks mainly when spoken to and thinks before he speaks.

Jeff Barns: A self-proclaimed know-it-all. Jeff is a middle-aged White male who considers this as his second chance at life. He made some costly decisions as a youth and now, wants to get the degree he has always wanted.

Alyssa Clark: A very attractive, introverted person. Although she has low self-confidence, she still possesses a powerful presence without effort.

Thomas Pitts: Department head of Dean's Hall, the continuing education building on campus. He was a well-respected man and teacher in the community. Accepting of change and encouraging of all teachers with bold and innovating teaching techniques.

Journey of Horror

The bright sunshine peeks through the curtain and warms his face as he fights to not wake up. Right when he decides to turn so his back will face the light, the alarm clock starts to blast the song of the hour from his favorite radio station. He has heard this song many times, but 6:00 a.m. was not the time he preferred to hear Kirk Franklin's Declaration, This Is It!

With today being his first day to report to his new job, this really was it. With no time to waste, he certainly didn't want to be late. Christian turned the volume down a bit and slowly sat up in bed and focused his eyes on the sunlight he initially tried to run from and prepared to get up and get dressed.

Carla: No need to fight it. (Coming out of the bathroom, putting on her earrings.)

Mr. Barns: I know. I'm up now.

Carla: Do you want anything for breakfast?

Mr. Barns: I guess so. Who knows what kind of schedule I'll have today, so I had better eat something just in case I'm unable to have a decent lunch.

Carla: Okay. I'll make you a big breakfast and pack a light lunch for you to take just in case you don't want to eat in the cafeteria on your first day. (Heads to the bathroom.)

Mr. Barns: That sounds great, honey!

Carla: Yeah?

Mr. Barns: Turn the shower on please.

Carla: Okay.

Christian finally gets dressed, eats his breakfast, and starts to prepare for the day. He is a bit nervous because he has heard rumors that the students in this school tend to be a little problematic. Although the students should be focused on reaching the college level of behavior, there are many low-income students who never matured past high school. American history 101 just happens to be Christian's area of focus. Although he specifically requested freshman-level history, he was a little apprehensive considering this was his first day. He felt like a student himself. His intentions were to refresh and renew the student's minds. He felt that his touch would not only prepare them for college but for life situations as well. Christian wanted to be a trendsetter with his approach and not just the typical college curriculum, robot-styled teacher. He really cared and wanted to make a difference.

Carla: Are you nervous?

Mr. Barns: Yeah, a little.

Carla: Well, don't be. Just relax, follow your instincts, and stay focused. You'll do just fine. Every time you make that first step, it tends to be the hardest.

Mr. Barns: I know, but I still have butterflies dancing in my stomach.

Carla: I figured it was something because you never leave this much food on your plate (scraping his plate to prepare for the dishwasher). I have your lunch ready. There was some leftover cubed steak, so I made you a sandwich and a small salad.

Mr. Barns: That sounds great. I'm sure by lunch, I will be ready for that and then some.

Carla: I hope it's enough. Anyway…I'm going to the market today, so I'll prepare a big dinner just in case you're pretty hungry tonight. Honey, you better get out of here (looking at her watch) or you're going to be late on your first day.

Mr. Barns: You're right. (He gets up from the table, finishes his juice, grabs his briefcase, and kisses his wife goodbye.)

On his way to work, Christian's mind wonders a little. He visualizes a large class of eager, bright-eyed intelligent young minds. He could see students wanting to succeed and open to new things. The excitement was a little overwhelming. He hopes he meets their expectations. He wants them to like him and welcome his style of teaching. Maybe his youth could be used as a plus. Maybe they'd feel as if he was a peer or big brother of sorts. Oh, the possibilities if that could be. What an easy job he'd have to mold the minds of willing participants. Christian couldn't help but smile, visualizing all the possibilities his mind could conjure up. Soon he'd face reality. He pulls into the parking lot facing Tyler Hall. This was the building that would house his office as well as his classroom. Tyler Hall just happens to be adjacent to the campus library as well. Christian saw this as a plus