Day 5

Blessings by Chance the Rapper

I was fortunate enough to have an academic advisor during my college days that eventually turned into my lifelong mentor, Dr. Bryan (he’s going to hate that I don’t call him Mark – I haven’t been able to make the switch just yet).

At my college, if you go in with a major undecided they randomly pair you with your advisor. I got partnered with Dr. Bryan in the theatre department. I knew I wasn’t going to be Leonardo DiCaprio anytime soon, so I figured I would meet him and then switch once the meeting was over.

I walked into his office and was instantly drawn to a Jordan 3 shoe on his shelf. He explained how his favorite Jordan design back in the day was the 3, but has moved over to SB’s in recent times and showed off his customs.

As a sneaker head myself, I felt like I was in a fever dream.

We spent a majority of our meeting discussing his Cubs hat. He grew up in Indiana but spent a fair amount of time in his 20’s right off Addison Ave. We reminisced about where we were during the 2016 game 7 world series – I went into great length about how one of my buddies proceeded to punch a wall in his own house out of excitement when Rizzo caught the final out.

From that meeting on, I never looked back about getting another advisor. I’m happy to share that we became great friends, and someone who I still reach out to to this day. He’s someone who has lived a thousand lives, taken a few trips around the sun, yet will make time even for the happy-go-lucky me’s of the world to share his two cents. A wise man beyond his years to say the least and still makes time to hit his 4:30 am runs.

Just a great mentor and friend – I’ll always be appreciative of you, Mark (there I said it).

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ANYWAYS, he recommended a beam of light book during a time of despair in COVID of 2020 by Hanif Abdurraqib, who is now my favorite author, called They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us.

The first chapter centers around Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book Era. To me, this album sounds like he’s standing from his balcony on a Sunday afternoon looking out at Navy Pier. He sees the tabs of ACID in his peripherals, or whatever he’d use in his previous life to fill the void, and instead let the moment in itself fill the gap being his new source of inspiration. A truly authentic, rich album.

Hanif focus’s on his song Blessings. He goes on to explain how blessings are essentially a blip in time that lifts you above from what holds you underneath.

I couldn’t think of a better song for a better day. As we start to turn the page on the week, I think about all the blessings I’ve had just today. I was able to eat a bacon egg and cheese with one of my best friends at the park, find a new walk path, go to the produce section at the grocery store, and currently making dinner with the lads.

Whether it was adding another hour of sunlight to the day (shoutout CST) or taking a moment for yourself, I hope you all enjoy some blips of time that lift you above on this fine Sunday.