This degree is the culmination of a pivot to my highest self. When I was in junior high school, my mother insisted that I catch a bus clear across Oakland to go to a school an hour away. She would always say, “Den-Den, I just want you to go to a good school.” After she passed away unexpectedly when I was 18, I began to prodigally squander her hopes for me away. But there is a proverb which says, “No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back.” I’m at a good school now, Mom. Please rest in a proud peace.

I had to come to prison to finally be free! Long before the state took over, I was locked up in a mental prison—the bars made out of arrogance, entitlement, pain, porous boundaries, self-doubt—all forged by my own mind. I couldn’t get out of my own way. 

College has served as an intervention, a cycle-breaker, a call to action to live more authentically and stop bulldozing through accountability. I saw something through and it wasn’t tainted by negativity—at a good school.

The most significant challenge was breaking up with shame. Then finding quiet places to study or just be. I would remind myself to not limit my visions for myself to my current conditions. But there were never any “bad” days where I would fall apart when I returned to my cell, just opportunities to learn a little bit more about myself.

An exceptional memory remains my coming to the ghost town study hall the evening of the Super Bowl in 2023. I sat down with Professor Roeder, initially to discuss my upcoming speech on Othello and the cycle of abuse. But we spun off into broader themes. While the whole world watched a football game, I was mattering to a teacher who mentored me from the curriculum of the heart.

I’m humbled by, as well as grateful to, everyone who complements my season of course correction—both literally and figuratively. I’d like to thank the two Dr. Amys (MTC staff members Amy Jamgochian and Amy Shea) and Professors Smoot, Fisher, Laura, Chad, Tara, Kelly, Ian… there are too many to name. I remember contemplating dropping out of physics class, but it was in asking for help that I confirmed we contain multitudes. 

To paraphrase LeBron, I plan to take my talents to a BA degree! I will keep facilitating self-help groups, TAing, developing, giving more than I take. Congratulations to my fellow graduates. I see you. I see your realized and unrealized potential.

“As artists get better at their craft, their vision of what they are capable of dashes out even further ahead.” —David Brooks