Yep, I'm A Success, Too

My 30 year high school reunion is rapidly approaching.  As reunions tend to do, I get nostalgic for my JJ high school days and triggers thoughts about the good and bad times that occurred during that time in my life.

Inevitably, while thinking about those classmates, the  wild and crazy stuff we did and the fact our teachers and counselors considered us a special class, you start comparing yourself to those classmates. That has an even more heightened intensity in my case because I was in a gifted and talented magnet program at my high school alma mater.  

Sometimes when I compare my life with some of my HS classmates there are some days when I feel at times that compared to them, I'm a failure even though I graduated with honors back in 1980.

I have one classmate who is vice president of the Houston Urban League and had a Sunday morning talk show on Majic102 FM.  I have several lawyers in my class, one classmate who was a Harris County assistant DA, a minister, several teachers, two who have run for Houston City Council and unfortunately lost,  and one who currently sits on the Texas State Board of Education.

Many of them are parents, and a few are sadly are no longer on the planet with us.   Some look as good as they did when we walked off JJ's campus 30 years ago, while others of us have radically changed.

But when I start beating myself up because I haven't reached some of the goals I dreamed about in terms of one day sitting either in the Texas state legislature or the Houston City Council, the game plan I had for getting there took some detours or hit unexpected snags,  I start taking inventory of my blessings,

I'll bet that most of my classmates haven't lobbied their congressmembers or senators, city council members and state legislators.   I'll presume that many haven't had the opportunity to speak in front of college classes and be considered an authority on trans issues.  I'd be willing to bet when I walk into next Friday's reception that I'll be the only IFGE Trinity Award winner in the room and one of the few people there who are considered historical figures or a national leader in a civil rights movement.

Oh yeah, and I'll probably be one of the few people running around my reunion that founded and authors an award winning blog with an international readership. .

When you count your blessings and stop trying to compare yourselves to others, you'll discover that over time you're doing a lot better than you think you are and you're a little more successful than you thought you were.

So yeah, looking forward to seeing my classmates at our reunion.   I'm also going to enjoy it because as far as I'm aware of, I'm not in the running for the 'Most Changed Award'.

T-Minus 30 Days Until My JJ Class Reunion

Yesterday marked the one month to go point of the countdown to my 30th high school reunion with my Jesse H. Jones classmates. I've surpassed my weight loss goal and actually was stunned to discover when I stepped on the scale yesterday that I'm at 198 pounds.

I haven't been under 200 pounds since I started transition, so I'm happy about that.
What I'm not happy about is my status as a 99er and this economy. I've had to scrip and save to get the money together for this event, but it's worth it.

Despite my own personal drama, I'm still looking forward to seeing some of my classmates, and hope they feel the same way.

As my homegirl Joslyn posted in her FB profile note to me and the 'Class With Class'

Time is so precious especially now. We're not getting any younger. LOL I know there are many of us who are planning to attend our 30th Reunion and some who are on the fence as to whether to go or not. I have to say please jump off the fence and go. Only the Lord knows how much longer we have and it's been 10 or more years since many of us have seen each other. Many of us have changed since high school. Just like a fine wine our class has gotten better with time.

I know I've definitely changed since high school for the better. Looking forward to seeing who else has. I'm also hoping that I see some classmates in attendance that I haven't seen since I was a skinny kid walking JJ's halls in 1980.

And she's right in that time is not only precious and we don't know how much of it we have left at any given time, it moves at warp speed. I still remember how I felt the day school started in August 1977 and walked on JJ's campus as a sophomore.

30 years ago this month I was starting my freshman year in college. Now I'm contemplating going back.

It'll also be cool to note that I won't be in the running for the 'Most Changed Award' this time like I was in 2000.

Hail JJ! See y'all October 8-10

The 'Class With Class'

I have another reunion coming up the weekend of October 8-10 with the fellow members of my Jesse H. Jones High School Class of 1980, AKA 'The Class With Class'. We received that nickname from Annie Booker, one of our counselors, and it has stuck with us throughout the years and the turn of the century as well.

We were the kids that entered kindergarten in 1967 as the pace of integration of HISD schools was taken out of the 'with all deliberate speed' setting.

We muddled through pairing plans, busing, and the adoption and formation of magnet schools by HISD as we grew up during the 70's. At the same time Houston was annexing territory, well on its way to becoming the fourth largest city in the United States and was in the news on a regular basis thanks to NASA and the space program. Houston's Black community was continuing to make progress economically, politically and socially as the city also became a magnet for people from various nations and ethnic groups as well.

By the time we members of the Jones Falcon Class of 1980 began arriving on campus from our various junior high schools we were this interesting multicultural blend of kids who not only were sophisticated beyond their years, we carried ourselves from the first day on campus as if we owned the school. Whether it was in sports, academics, student government or other extracurricular activities we quickly established ourselves as leaders despite the short time we'd been walking JJ's halls.

Some of my classmates were already driving cars and were fashion plates wearing skirted suits and three piece suits to class. But we also combined that sense of sophistication and single minded purpose with a cocky, fun loving attitude and wicked sense of humor.

During the three years we were there (HISD was on a 6-3-3 system at the time) we'd build on that reputation. The 'Class with Class' would cheer our school's victories, mourn our losses, watch romances blossom and break up and form lasting friendships in the process. I was in the Vanguard gifted and talented magnet program housed on the campus at the time, but as far as I was concerned I was a Falcon and member of the Jones Family first, and King Arthur (our nickname for Mr. Arthur Pace, our principal at the time) was the head of it.

Through all the wild and crazy stuff we did with a late 70's music soundtrack blaring in the background as we matriculated through our high school years, the thing we were most proud of was not only that nickname that had been bestowed upon us that we wore with pride, it was our teachers constantly telling us that we were a special class.

But all good things unfortunately must come to an end. We entered the decade of the 80's for the last five months of our high school days with the dizzying backdrop of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Lake Placid Olympic 'Miracle on Ice', the upcoming Carter-Reagan presidential election and the Iran hostage crisis in the background as we excitedly exchanged senior cards, signed memory books, attended the Astroworld All Night Senior Party, and counted down the days to Senior Week, our graduation and our prom.

On that May 20 night in the Astroarena we noted our diploma covers had 'The Class With Class' printed on them, tossed our caps in the air, took endless pictures and waved goodbye to each other as we counted down to the last day of the school year and prepared to begin the next chapter in our lives.

As we 'Accepted the Challenge of the 80's' (our class motto) we've taken time out of our lives to get together for our 1985, 1990 and 2000 reunions and relive that almost magical time.

With the 2010 reunion rapidly approaching, our teachers and counselors were right about us. We have turned out to be a special class. One of my classmates sits on the Texas State Board of Education and ran for city council. Our class president also ran for city council in the mid 80's. Another classmate was VP of the Houston Urban League and had a radio talk show on Majic 102. One was a Harris County DA while others are excelling in various fields.

As for me? I'm just some award winning activist, Kentucky Colonel and trans blogger.

But I am looking forward to once again seeing my classmates later this year.

Thinking About My Ex-Classmates

My 30 year high school reunion is coming up next year, and as that date approaches I find myself reminiscing more about my school days and the classmates I'm not in contact with.

There's a core group that I'm in regular contact with thanks to Facebook, Twitter or the other social networking sites such as Classmates.com but there are others who I haven't seen or spoken to since we left high school.

I find myself musing at times about those classmates I haven't seen since we stepped off JJ's campus for that final time as students in June 1980.

I wonder how they're doing in their lives, if they found love or had hard luck with it. I follow the news about my successful classmates and wonder if the ones I haven't seen since 1980 are doing likewise, if it has eluded them, or if they were just coming into their own now. I ponder about whether they are dealing with trying circumstances.

I even wonder about how they look now vis a vis our school days.

But the cool thing about next year's reunion is I already won the 'Most Changed Award' at the 2000 one. I can just focus on having a good time and getting reconnected with my classmates.

And I'm looking forward to going back home to do so.

Harsh Realities For Transgender Students

My school days weren't as bad as some GLBT kids since I wasn't totally out yet, and my intellect got me placed in gifted an talented classes that allowed me to focus on my academics rather than how I was going to get through the day.

That usually can after I left the cocoon of gifted and talented classes and had to interact with the rest of the school's huddled masses in gym, recess, art and health classes or on my three mile walk home.

Even though I was matriculating through school in the 70's, J. Escobar's recent drama at North Cobb High School resonated with me and was a reminder of just how tough open trans kids have it trying to navigate the shoal filled school environment.

It's not that we don't have some brilliant people in the trans community. I've had the pleasure of meeting many of them. I discovered during my 20 year HS reunion that I wasn't the only transperson in my class. There is a transman in my Vanguard class that I'm aware of but haven't seen since we graduated and were on opposite sides of the gender fence.

I graduated with honors and a 3.0 GPA, but in hindsight I believe it could have been much higher if Monica was around in the late 70's and dealt with whatever gender issues I had then, even in a 70's era environment.

But it's hard to concentrate on academics to improve your life and set the table for a better future when you have concerns about other non-academic issues impacting it at that moment in time.


GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network recently published a report called Harsh Realities- The Experiences of Transgender Youth In Our Nation's Schools.

Autumn Sandeen wrote about it at Pam's House Blend back in March, and in light of what just happened to J. Escobar in Cobb County, GA, what happened a few months ago on Guam to Jeremy, and the federal civil rights lawsuit currently pending in court over what happened to KK Logan in Gary, IN, it's time to revisit this report.

Some of the findings of the report brought back some painful memories.

• Two-thirds of transgender students felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation (69%) and how they expressed their gender (65%).
• Almost all transgender students had been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened) in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (87%).
• More than half of all transgender students had been physically harassed (e.g., pushed or shoved) in school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (55%) and gender expression (53%).
• More than a quarter of transgender students had been physically assaulted (e.g., punched, kicked or injured with a weapon) in school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (28%) and gender expression (26%).
• Most transgender students (54%) who were victimized in school did not report the events to school authorities. Among those who did report incidents to school personnel, few students (33%) believed that staff addressed the situation effectively.

• 90% of transgender students heard derogatory remarks, such as "dyke" or "faggot," sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.
• 90% of transgender students heard negative remarks about someone's gender expression sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.
• Less than a fifth of transgender students said that school staff intervened most of the time or always when hearing homophobic remarks (16%) or negative remarks about someone's gender expression (11%).
• School staff also contributed to the harassment. A third of transgender students heard school staff make homophobic remarks (32%), sexist remarks (39%) and negative comments about someone's gender expression (39%) sometimes, often or frequently in the past year.

I know all too well that outside influences can have a powerful impact on educational success. It's why I support whatever efforts are underway and ongoing to make schools a safe space for transgender students.

School should be a pleasant part of your childhood memories, not a bitter chapter of your life.

But for too many trans kids matriculating through school right now, that is the harsh reality of their school years.

You're Going Back To School

TransGriot Note: Here's another one of my song rewrites. It's dedicated to my Canadian homegirl and all the parents of kids who think this is the most wonderful time of the year and not Christmas.





Sung to the tune of 'Going To See The King' by Andrae Crouch

Soon and very soon
You are going back to school

Soon and very soon
You are going back to school

Soon and very soon
You are going back to school

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
You're going back to school

No more cryin there,
You are going back to school

No more cryin there,
You are going back to school

No more cryin there,
You are going back to school

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
You're going back to school

[Bridge:]
Another day off the calendar we can cross
Another day closer to peace of mind
Shopping for the school clothes that you'll need
Give us strength till that blessed day arrives.

(Speaking)
Time to get that education...Time to learn how to sign your name...So get washed up kids and go to bed...Because tomorrow is your first school day...So you'll have a better life than we did, we scrimp save and sacrifice...It's back to school time..sweet dreams..soon and very soon.

[Chorus]
Soon and very soon
You are going back to school

Soon and very soon
You are going back to school

Soon and very soon
You are going back to school

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
You're going back to school

No more cryin there,
You are going back to school

No more cryin there,
You are going back to school

No more cryin there,
You are going back to school

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
You're going back to school

Another day off the calendar we can cross
Another day closer to peace of mind
Shopping for the school stuff that you'll need
Give us strength till that blessed day arrives.

[Ending:]
Hallelujah
Halleljuah
You're going back to school!

First Day Of School

Thursday marked the first day of the 2009-2010 school year for JCPS students.

I was aware of it because I have a middle school two miles up the road from the house. There's constant bus traffic up and down the street in the morning starting around 6 AM and later in the afternoon when school lets out.

I also realized that with the start of the new school year, for the next two weeks the Louisville Po-Po's will be patrolling that school zone. They will be passing out expensive reminders to peeps who fail to remember that the school zone speed limits are back in full effect.

It also means that one of the things that induces homesickess for me will be cranking up as well: high school football season.

Texas high school football is the bomb and a major part of Texas culture. It's so awesome that a book and a movie was written about one of the legendary programs in the Lone Star State, the Odessa Permian Panthers.

Attending a predominately Black high school means you not only get the quality football, but you get a slamming halftime show as the bands try to outdo one another in a high energy, high stepping, soulful musical performance guaranteed to get you dancing in the stadium bleachers. Oh yeah, can't forget about the majorettes shaking what their mamas gave them as the drum majors high step all over the field.

It's also cool going to one of the various stadium complexes around the state and knowing that just a few short years from now, some of the kids you're watching today may be playing on an NFL team tomorrow or being inducted in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Here in Kentucky high school football is about as predictable as something stupid coming out of Sarah Palin's mouth. It's either Catholic private schools Louisville Trinity, Louisville St. Xavier or occasionally Lexington Catholic that win the Class 5A title with nauseating regularity. Sometimes Louisville Male, a Lexington area public school or one from another part of the state will crash the party to face off against either Trinity or St. X.

The first day of school makes me wax nostalgic sometimes for my own long gone school days. I remember when it was me walking to school with my brother and our friends carrying my shiny new lunch kit in elementary school, ready and eager to tackle the challenges of a new school year.

I remember my days in junior high meeting the challenge of heightened academic expectations and counting the days until I started high school.

In addition to reminiscing about my disco-era sojourn through those angst and anxiety filled high school years in which I was wrestling with my gender issues, sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to matriculate throughout my school days on the other side of the gender fence.

To my transpeeps matriculating through the various levels of school right now, keep your head and grades up and get that paper. It'll make your life much easier later.

The first day of school also served as a reminder that my 30 year high school reunion is rapidly approaching and it's one I'm looking forward to. I've already won the 'Most Changed' Award at the 20 year one back in 2000. The only one I'm looking forward to competing for next year is the farthest distance traveled to attend the reunion.

To those kids matriculating through school now, may you have a wonderful, challenging and exciting school year. For those of you who are in your senior year of high school, may it be a memorable one as well.

Another Year, Another Student Booted From Their Prom

Ah graduation. Is it me or does it seem as though every year we have a story that blows up in the news about a student being booted from their prom for clothing issues?

Last year it was my teenage Houston homegirl Marche Taylor, who wasn't allowed to enter Madison High's prom at the Sugar Land Marriott hotel by school officials because of her skimpy dress. The heated argument that ensued with school officials ended with Ms. Taylor getting busted and taken away in handcuffs by the Houston po-po's.



I posted two years ago about KK Logan of Gary, IN who was banned from attending the 2006 West High School senior prom by Principal Diane Rouse despite wearing women's apparel during his junior and senior year.

KK with the help of Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit which is now percolating in the federal Northern District Court of Indiana.

Well, it seems as though the peeps of Guam's George Washington High School weren't paying attention to the Logan case because they just banned a student who calls himself 'Jeremy' from attending his senior high school prom in feminine attire. The guidelines created by the school's Prom Committee didn't contain any prohibitions against wearing opposite gender clothing.



"Going to prom is supposed to be like a Cinderella story. And this is no Cinderella story. I said, 'Naw-aw - I don't think so.' I'm not letting this go," promised "Jeremy". Unlike Cinderella, the local senior got booted from the ball...because he showed up in a dress.

"They didn't like the fact that I was in a dress. I was dressed appropriately following the girls code, and I looked on the list of the rules and it didn't say 'no cross-dressing, no transgenders or opposite dressing'. All it said was 'males and females'," he said.

Jeremy added that one teacher questioned whether it was appropriate for him to dress that way, saying, "When I walked in, one of the teachers put me to the side and had the audacity to ask me, 'Are you a male or a female?', and I said, 'What does that matter?' and he said, 'It matters!'"

We have yet to determine whether Jeremy had been dressing in femme attire the entire school year like KK Logan. What we do know according to the KUAM-TV story is that Jeremy hasn't received a refund for his prom ticket and spent $400 for that once in a lifetime night he can never get back.

It's also interesting to note that while Jeremy was being given the third degree by school officials, girls who wore tuxedos were allowed in.

Jeremy's classmates, who were cited as the reason for his denial of entrance to the prom because it would make them 'uncomfortable' made a mockery of that statement in subsequent interviews about the incident.

So stay tuned. Jeremy's case could get ugly before it's resolved.

What Goes Around, Comes Around Longhorn Fans

As a UH Cougars fan I despise the University of Texas Longhorns and some of their fans almost as much as the Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners fans do.

I'll never forget a Southwest Conference football game versus Texas I attended in the Dome back during my freshman year in 1981. I had the misfortune of sitting next to a group of Orangebloods who not only were shouting the derisive 'Cougar High' sobriquet for most of the game, as they became more inebriated and infuriated that the game was headed to a 14-14 tie started uttering racial slurs at me and my homies dressed in Cougar red and white as well.

Those fans more than lived up to their reputation that many peeps across the Lone Star State and on the other side of the Red River that don't revere Forty Acres share about UT Longhorn football fans.

I discovered over the years I wasn't alone in telling my Horns Fans Gone Wild story. The boorish behavior exhibited inside and outside of Austin fuels much of the distaste many of us feel toward the Longhorns.

While some Longhorn fans conduct themselves with class and dignity and show the legendary hospitality we Texans are known for, others are pompous, arrogant, and nekulturny in addition to sometimes being straight up racist. Some of them are so spoiled they feel that if UT isn't in the Big 12 or BCS title game, then it was a lousy football season. That season becomes intolerable if they lose to the Sooners, on Thanksgiving Day to the Aggies or both teams in the same year.

The rumors persist despite heated denials from the UT camp, they were the ringleaders in keeping us out of the Southwest Conference until the 1970's because UH was actively recruiting African-American athletes in the late 60's. The perception that they worked diligently to keep the University of Houston out of the Big 12 when it formed in 1995 has not been forgotten or forgiven by Cougar fans either.

The Longhorns never forgot the 1976 season. Not only was it Darrell Royal's last year coaching the Horns, it was the first year UH was eligible to compete for the Southwest Conference football title.

The Coogs administered a 30-0 butt kicking in front of a then record Memorial Stadium crowd that jumpstarted a streak of four SWC football championships and four Cotton Bowl trips for my Cotton Pickin' Cougars in five years.

The Coogs also had a streak starting from 1987-1991 during the Run and Shoot era in which we beat down the Horns four out five times by lopsided scores. To add insult to injury during that streak we beat them in 1988 by a 66-15 score in DKR-Memorial Stadium.

That's probably why they made sure we didn't get invited to the Big 12 and came up with BS reasons to exclude us.


Hey, even as a card carrying member of the 'I Hate The Longhorns Club' I have to get real for a minute.

There's no doubt that UT got screwed in terms of the Big 12 South Division tiebreaker and even Stevie Wonder can see that. I'd be pissed too as a football fan if I had to suffer the indignity of watching two teams my school beat get into a championship game and play for the title.

But I see it as karma for the crap that was pulled on us and the rest of your Left Behind SWC brethren. How do you think we Cougar fans feel watching you peeps play in a conference we should have been a part of at its formation?

We also get the indignity of watching you recruit Houston area high school football talent to stock your Longhorn squads with that you'd have a much harder time hooking (pardon the pun) with the University of Houston as a Big 12 member.

It ain't Miami and the BCS Title game, but at least you're going to a BCS bowl. Most schools would kill to go to the Fiesta Bowl, much less ANY bowl and you're whining about it.

But while you're sitting in the air conditioned comfort of Glendale's University of Phoenix Stadium, you may wish to contemplate the possibility that the arc of the college football universe is starting to bend towards justice.

Way To Go Falcons!

When I was walking the halls of Jesse H. Jones High School in the late 70's, we were competitive in every sport we played.

Future NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green patrolled our secondary. Former Bronco Alfred Williams is an alum. One of the guys taking it to the hoop for the Falcons was 6'10" center and future 1983 NCAA high jump champion Ricky Thompson. Our basketball team in 1979 was ranked as high as No. 2 in the state on the boys side and our girls teams in all sports were competitive as well. The TransGriot even did her part as a member of the 1980 Falcon tennis team.

Jones even won state championships, just not while I was matriculating there as a Vanguard student.

They took Class 4A state basketball titles in 1965 and in 2003-04 with major help from now Cleveland Cavalier Daniel Gibson. There was a memorable 1985 run to the Class 5A football championship which ended on the Astrodome's turf in the Region III-5A finals courtesy of guess who 21-15.

Yates then went on to clobber San Antonio Holmes 34-0 and beat down legendary Texas football powerhouse Odessa Permian 37-0 in Texas Stadium to become the first inner city school in decades to win a Class 5A football title.

But in a UIL competitive era in which only the district champs got to go to the playoffs and playing in a brutally competitive District 20-4A (now 5A), we were always the bridesmaids finishing second to our rivals at Jack Yates in football and Phillis Wheatley in basketball while they made runs at state championships.

Even if we did survive the district wars, we would also have to survive the most challenging region in the state (Region III) just to get to any championship game or take that two hour bus ride to Austin for it.

In my sophomore year (1977) we beat Yates but lost a heartbreaker to Wheatley the next week on a Hail Mary pass. It forced a four way tie for the district title that after all the tie breakers were consulted resulted in Yates still going to the Dome for the playoffs to our chagrin. In 1979 we were nursing a narrow lead over Wheatley and two minutes from winning district outright in a sold out b-ball game at Barnett Fieldhouse only to lose it on a play I would eerily see replicated in the 1983 NCAA championship game as a UH student.

So I was happy and pleased to see that my high school alma mater took the District 22-4A title this year with a perfect 7-0 record and beat Houston Ross Sterling and Houston Worthing in the process. My sis, brother and two cousins graduated from Sterling, while my other sis, my uncle and my parents graduated from Worthing.

I was happy until I checked out the online Houston Chronicle and read the brackets for the 2008 Texas Class 4A playoffs. That's what produced the deja vu moment that inspired me to compose this post.

Even though I'm experiencing finite disappointment again, I still got bragging rights. I can't wait until the reunion next year to remind my relatives their teams got beat down by my mighty Falcons.

Once again Falcon state championship dreams are crushed by our Third Ward rivals. Their season was ended with a 27-6 loss to Jack Yates in the Bi-district round of the Class 4A Division II playoffs. It's even more galling to me that we lost to a JY team that squeaked in with a losing record as a third place qualifier.

But as a proud Falcon alum, had to give the Falcon footballers a shout out for the wonderful 7-3 season. Hope 2009 is a repeat of the same and you have a more extended stay in the playoffs next year.

Beat 'Em Up, Beat 'Em Up, Rah-Rah-Rah!

There hasn't been much for me to cheer about this football season. My Texans are jockeying for advantageous NFL draft positioning in a season in which for the first time since their inaugural season in 2002 they were projected to finally make the playoffs. To add insult to injury, the Tennessee Traitors (yuck) are still unbeaten.

And no, I'm never gonna let it go about the Oilers being moved by Kenneth Stanley Adams for greed is good reasons.

But as a proud Cougar alum I have to give a shout out to first year coach Kevin Sumlin and the now 6-4 Coogs. They beat down No. 24 ranked Tulsa 70-30 last Saturday at Robertson Stadium to avenge last season's 56-7 blowout loss that knocked UH out of contention for the West Division title and a return trip to the C-USA championship game.


It was also the Cougars second win this season against a Top 25 ranked club (the other was East Carolina). The last time the Coogs beat two ranked teams in a season, I was matriculating on the UH campus back in 1984. That year we knocked off No. 6 SMU and beat the hell out of No. 3 Texas.

The best part about last Saturday's game is that my Coogs are now bowl eligible.

The Cougars at 5-1 in the C-USA West Division are tied with Rice and Tulsa for the West Division lead. If they knock off UTEP this weekend at the Rob and win the annual blood feud at Rice Stadium on November 29 with our little brothers the Owls, the Cougars are the West Division champs for the second time in three years and play in the C-USA Championship game.

Three more wins (the C-USA title game) and I get to gleefully make the five hour drive to Memphis to watch the C-USA champions play in the Liberty Bowl. I'll just make sure when I get to the Shelby county line and the Memphis city limits I'm not driving over the speed limit and steer clear of the Memphis PD headquarters.

Coach Sumlin did say when he took the job that the ingredients were there for the Coogs to be a consistent winner and a BCS bowl team.

Shoot, I could've told you that. UH is sitting smack dab in the middle of the largest city in a football crazy state. Texas arguably has the best high school programs in the nation with much of that high school football talent playing on fields and stadiums within a 70-100 mile radius of the UH campus.

Texas knew it, too. That's why they fought so hard to keep us out of the Big 12 when it was formed in 1996.

But that's another topic for another day. I can hate on the Longhorns later. In the meantime I'm raising my right arm and doing the Cougar Paw hand salute.

If things go well for the Cougar footballers over the next couple of weeks, I'll be in Memphis singing the school song and hollering "Eat 'em up."

Reunited!

One of the great things about the Net and blogs is not only the new friends you make as a result of your writing, sometimes it can reunite you with people that were once part of your life but for various reasons slipped out of it.

Back in October 2007 I wrote a post entitled Domino! in which I talked about my love for the game. I also pointed out how much of a cultural phenomenon it is for not only African-Americans but our Latino friends as well.

I talked about a college friend of mine named Raymond Jolivette whose antics during those games (and any other time on campus) when he was around kept our cadre of friends in stitches and made going to UH during that time a lot of fun. Well, yesterday morning when I checked my e-mail, I received one from Air Force Master Sergeant Raymond Jolivette.

Yep, the same Raymond Jolivette I wrote about in the post.

It was a wonderful surprise. He updated me on how his life has been going, but I can't call him 'Smurf' anymore. Brotherman not only had a late growth spurt, he put on some serious muscle as well. He's been in the Air Force serving our country for the last 23 years, and I definitely have much love and respect for that.

Unfortunately, he's lost touch with much of our crew as well. Hopefully we'll be able together to find out what happened to all our old college domino playing buddies and how their lives turned out.

But the thing I'm happiest about is that one of my old friends is back in my life.