Get out and travel

Every place I’ve ever lived in, from San Diego to NYC, has had an impact on my life and direction, which is pretty typical. I’ve made lifelong friends and have learned what the new racism looks like, which I find valuable, duh. I invite you to read a brief synopsis of my time in some of these cities; a summary of the memories that are fresh on my mind. I was inspired to write this after last weekend in Atlanta someone asked, “What do I have to do to be an executive like you?” I answered very easily, “Get out and travel.”

San Diego:

You took this young kid and taught him how to use his raw talents and turn them into powers that would later be refined. You allowed me to grow and develop emotionally from a kid to a teenager, and even though I made messes, you gave me the luxury of cleaning them up. I did not always do so, but the opportunity was always there, and for that I am thankful. I fell in love for the first time with this Chicana named Gaby De La Concha who taught me the meaning of trust and frustration (among other things). She allowed me to use my creativity during our high school years and I did. I found it surprising that at 16 and 17 years of age I was so damn romantic (don’t get any wild ideas). Not too long ago she messaged me with pictures of a box full of my mementos (the Alberto box). I will share this one since it is still impressive to me. I created a make-believe restaurant named after her on some hill off Palomar St. in Chula Vista, CA. I hired my friend Juaquin to act as our waiter and he waited on us all night with Sade playing in the background. On the menu was amazing Mexican food (from Roberto’s) and Boones Farm from the plug who would allow us to buy liquor underage.

It took awhile, but I was developing. I was learning. I started to understand my presence in the universe. I was like a wild bull that didn’t understand much about life but thought I did like most of us at 17. I knew I was different. I was listening to composers like Yanni at 16 sitting on the J Street pier (still a fav). I recuperated. I was an asshole and talented so I guess that made me a talented ass. I don’t really visit you that much anymore, which I find strange given that you are America’s finest conservative city.

New York:

Moving from always sunny and 75 degrees, boring San Diego to the concrete jungle was certainly a dramatic shift, and in typical Alberto fashion, I jumped in headfirst without worrying about having a lifeguard to save me. I arrived in the fall of 199something with the most wonderful naiveness you can image. I didn’t know much about the city, I just knew I fell in love with it instantly because New York City does not grow on you, you just grow out of it. You either love it or hate it right away. No soft landing, no forgiveness.

The best apt I've ever lived in. NYC circa 1999 after eating many cheesburgers. 

I learned how to shop for suits, tie a Windsor knot, and shop at sample sales. You showed me the magic of Ralph’s Purple Label and how to perfectly time the subway doors before closing. Pushing bankers boxes on a dolly down Fifth Avenue in August wearing a $200.00 pinstripe suit that looked like a $2,000 one was an art form. The real challenge was making sure I was pushing that dolly on the shaded side of the street to avoid the summer meltdown before arriving at my client’s office. Picture this, me and a dolly with up to 26 bankers boxes of copy paper going down the sidewalk in NYC in the middle of the workday.

You didn’t necessarily teach me how to hustle, but you did refine the ever-so-hungry me. One night walking down Broadway after working late, someone came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy a little smoke. “Sure,” I said since it didn’t seem like a bad idea. I handed him 40 bucks. He asked me to wait for him to come back and when he didn’t, I was pissed at myself for being stupid and naive. Or that other time when Kari Russell (Felicity) ended up on the floor after I accidentally ran her little cute ass over coming out of the corner market (I promise I did not see her and after the take-down, I didn’t even know who she was until someone told me). Then I realized we were next door neighbors, which was a little embarrassing. We had some great parties in the building, but NYC, you are a place where I think every millennial needs to live for at least 2.5 years (just trust me on this one). There or Haiti. You taught me a lot. I met Ted Turner, who flew me to his Dude Ranch in New Mexico in my first G5 flight and started my first foundation titled Counsel to Combat Teen Cruelty after the Columbine incident with a Harvard Sex Therapist and Philologist, Dr. Deborah Levin and her brother who lived in Tiverton, RI. I had never been to Rhode Island but I was born there, if you can make sense of that. By the time I left, I had semi-matured into a businessman who could motivate, encourage, and sell, sell, sell.

Miami:

You gave me life when I needed it. Yes, you lack true innovation and experience, but you make up for it in beauty, romance, and consistency. You were and always are there when the hard parts of life show up to provide places like this to go recuperate at, to go rebuild. You always amaze me with your perseverance and determination and how you, after all these years of lackluster performance, still show up. You birthed Grand Art, which was an amazing project that still to this day is not replicated (you can see what I mean here). You allowed me to get close to my loud and crazy family. You provided shelter, comfort, and security when I needed it most and like a thief in the night, it disappeared.

Santa Monica:

Get on the Bird and go!

Fuck, that was a mess but life is a beautiful mess, and when you can live on the beautiful side, it makes it worth every penny. I always said that I could not see myself in LA and yet I find myself calling it home today. You provide a level of comfort and sophistication that Miami did not. You’re innovative; you’re freedom, and yet I am still being pulled in different directions.

Minneapolis, MN

You are the smartest city/state I’ve ever lived in. You provide a level of comfort, security, and opportunity that others do not have. The land of over 10,000 lakes (don’t let them fool you), the Minnesota state fair, and Walleye (it’s a shitty fish), you are by far the most racist state I have ever lived in. Your racism is the smartest of them all. You are sly when you say “Minnesota nice”, when in reality it is “we will be nice to your face but don’t turn around.” You provide a level of old world Scandinavian inclusion, but what you fail to mention is that in order for me to partake in that, my last name needs to be Peterson, Olson, or Carlson. This is why you have topped the charts as one of the worst places for people of color to live in the entire country, only behind your close neighbor, Wisconsin, which is nothing to brag about. Don't believe me, check HERE. Not even the dirty and deep south holds a candle to you. Your institutional and societal segregation is delivered like a work of art since most people are blind to it because you work so hard to seem inclusive. You brag about having inclusion partnerships with other countries around the world like Lao or Ethiopia, but the reality is that you get money from the federal government for those immigrants you let in. They work jobs you don’t want to hold, then you keep them segregated from the top schools in the state.

It is called “The New Racism” which, according to IGI Global, means: In the absence of a formal system of segregation and other blatant forms of racism, new racism describes the system of persistent inequality, injustice, and racial differentiation. Likewise, new racism refers to the codes, logics, and ideologies that facilitate, rationalize, and naturalize power imbalances in the absence of formalized segregation or apartheid within 21st century America (come catch some educational vibes if you will).

When in town, I intentionally walk around with a hoodie on just because of the joy I get from seeing the fear on people’s faces when they glance over at me or when they walk on the other side of the road because I am walking behind them. I had a judge once tell me that I would have a hard time beating the legal system only because I could not win with a jury of my peers because they did not look like me. I was too refined, too smooth, too unlike them. Karma's a bitch and for that you get to have 8 months of winter. Below is a video of fun in the sun in Minneapolis. Not really. 

London:

Is completely blank but I look forward to calling you home.

Onward!