Martin and Coretta

Martin Luther King Jr. met a number of girls in Boston as a student at Boston University, but he never met a girl that he was particularly fond of. On the point of cynicism, Martin called a friend and asked, “Do you know any nice, attractive young ladies?” He received Coretta’s number from his friend and left the following message for Coretta: “This is M. L. King, Jr. A mutual friend of ours told me about you and gave me your telephone number. She said some very wonderful things about you, and I’d like very much to meet you and talk to you.”

They met and talked for awhile. Then Martin said: “You know, every Napoleon has his Waterloo. I’m like Napoleon. I’m at my Waterloo, and I’m on my knees. I’d like to meet you and talk some more. Perhaps we could have lunch tomorrow or something like that.” Coretta agreed, and Martin said: “I’ll come over and pick you up. I have a green Chevy that usually takes ten minutes to make the trip from B.U., but tomorrow I’ll do it in seven.”

At lunch, they conversed in depth about things other than music, Coretta’s field of study at the New England Conservatory of Music. Then Martin said, “So you can do something else besides sing? You’ve got a good mind also. You have everything I ever wanted in a woman. We ought to get married someday.”

This is a cute love story. It’s especially sweet since it demands a democracy of King that we rarely allow. I like that he was so bold. I’m not saying we get to choose our spouses, but King knew what he wanted in a spouse because he knew what he wanted to accomplish in life. Coretta couldn’t be the sort of wife to hide behind a man (not that any wife should). She had to be doubly as strong and doubly as determined as Martin. Alongside every historical man is a strong woman. King said that he and Coretta went down their path in life together — he didn’t lead her.

If I am blessed with the institution of marriage, I cannot wait for my Coretta. Otherwise, I will continue to be blessed and to be a blessing as a single man.

(originally written for my tumblr)

For the Kids

Something that has bothered me for quite some time is my web presence and how I present myself in general. I want to have a clean image, but I also want my image to be authentic and reflective of my thoughts and beliefs. I like to think I embody some provocative ideas, and I wonder how readily apparent those ideas should be in my presentation.

For this reason, I refrain from profanity and alcohol in my blogs and tweets. I refrain from sharing certain videos that I think people would take out of context. My measure for whether I associate something with my web presence is whether I would feel comfortable having my little siblings and cousins see it. It’s sobering sometimes…

which makes me wonder if my measure is too harsh. Shouldn’t I account for the fact that I am 22 years old? I’ve grown to understand certain things with maturity, and I believe I have intelligent contributions. Should I guard myself from such things because kids are too young to understand or properly process?

I think of the web icons that I admire and how crushed I would have been as a kid to see them talking about “adult” things. I was very disappointed when Clara Chung, in one of her tour vlogs, decided to say at the beginning of her live show, “We sold out the motherf*cking Roxy!” Perhaps in that context, it would have benefited Clara to use my measure. But what about in other instances?