Where Are They Now? An AP Report!

[Torethamaliyah]

Basically, I wanna know all your personal business. Talking with folks on the old boards really helped me sort out some personal questions. If you have a story about AP fam getting you to where you are now, please share!

Some of you might remember I was having relationship woes. I'm happy to say I'm engaged (to a former APer) and excited as hell, now. Alright, alright. So I don't owe my engagement to AP alone, but I tip my hat off for the expert advice.

[El Machetero]

First off, congrats on the engagement!! ( : Best of luck on that.....i hope all works out.

Gawd......there is so much i would love to share, but out of respect for the privacy of all involved (self included), i will keep most of it to myself. i will say this......i seriously lived a huge chunk of my life feeling like a horribly socially maladjusted misfit with a severe ugly duckling complex, til i got on here and learned that i'm actually somebody who many folks would actually care to get to know, and that the thoughts i have and the words i speak/write actually have a real impact.

i too was engaged for a time to a woman i met on here, and there have been several others i have either hooked up with or had very interesting dialogues and relationships with, including the one i currently share time with. i have also built real friendships with many folks on here who i am quite certain i will be tight with for many, many, many, many years and decades to come (in some cases, it's already been quite a while, now that i think about it.)

i would also say that being on here has boosted my self-confidence to just be who i am in general, it's done wonders for my ability to stop giving a fuck about what anybody thinks of me or if they approve or don't approve of who i am and what i'm into, and it's basically for all of these reasons why i'm still here.

[Torethamaliyah]

Thanks for the well wishes! The part you mentioned about AP building your confidence to know how worthwhile you are regardless of the negative ones is on point to me. I remember feeling so good anytime someone I thought was cool on AP gives me feedback. Peace and love to you and your Lady. The legend continues!!!

[J9]

AP is a good place to find people that you may share common interests with....But remember to live in the real world. Its easy to get caught up in "computer relationships" because this thing kind of feeds on peoples feelings of insecurity and being and outsider. I'm sure you already get all of this, but this is just for everyone, this board doesnt replace real life experiences or real people

[Torethamaliyah]

True, J9. Gotta remember to live in the "real world". Good to see your post! How goes the life and times?

J9 said:

AP is a good place to find people that you may share common interests with....But remember to live in the real world. Its easy to get caught up in "computer relationships" because this thing kind of feeds on peoples feelings of insecurity and being and outsider. I'm sure you already get all of this, but this is just for everyone, this board doesnt replace real life experiences or real people

[J9]

Tore,
Life is good, I'm really glad to be back in the States. Madagascar was a crazy experience not really good not really bad, I'm just trying to pull the lessons out of it all. But the economy is kickin my ass so I need to move back to DC. Hopefully I can find a place by april. Are you still in DC? What have you been up to since graduation?

[Rhinos Have More Fun]

I can't remember if Sista was just lurking or if she had another screen name, but a while back (2007, I guess), there was someone who actually wrote her undergraduate thesis on AP: Imagining Black Community: Race and the Politics of Subculture @afropunk.com. She posted a trial draft--I definitely give her props for an accurate and well-written piece.

[Torethamaliyah]

I hear you on the economy. I'm in Chicago, now, just moved a week ago. I'm engaged to a former APer. Writing a business plan for a green grocery chain in low-income neighborhoods. I would love to hear about Madagascar and life as you know it!

J9 said:

Tore,
Life is good, I'm really glad to be back in the States. Madagascar was a crazy experience not really good not really bad, I'm just trying to pull the lessons out of it all. But the economy is kickin my ass so I need to move back to DC. Hopefully I can find a place by april. Are you still in DC? What have you been up to since graduation?

[Rosenda]

Well said all of you. This too because of all you AP people that I met and have not met and have spoken with either on the phone or in person or online deeply has totally made my world. I found all you like lifed and like minded blood who I never knew were out there and I'd convinced myself somehow I was okay going it alone in a lot of things.

J9 right on that is true, for me AP was a big huge starting point, for myself and for the connections I've made with people who I feel close to and head to head with and I'm eternally happy for that. Real world now is very challenging for me but that's part of life.

Temba I remember that paper I think I saved it. And you know the first time I saw the AfroPunk documentary was at the Echo Park Film Center, and the homegirl sitting next to me contacted me later on AP and said she too was studying something similar about black youth culture today. And I also remember this Latina girl on the other side of me who was from UCLA'S Ethnomusicology dept studies too.

I feel sad sometimes because I feel discovered y'all just way too late in my life. I'd have been happier maybe in my youth being around you folks but I cannot back up to the past. I am who I am because of all the good things and all of the painful things.

And perhaps THAT is why I TOTALLY appreciate this AfroPunk connection on here and most of it's people.

[Rhinos Have More Fun]

I definitely share the sentiment of those last two paragraphs, R.

[Torethamaliyah]

Hurray!

[Mochali]

I was excited finding AP because for the most part I felt like an outsider because of the interest I had be it music or my way of thinking. Meeting a few local APers was something I looked forward too and I am glad to have been a part of. AP helped me to see that there were other blacks folks out there with similar stories and I'm just happy that James created this doc and this community for us all to communicate.

[J9]

wow I never knew temba wrote a thesis on afropunk. Thats really cool, I wish I could read it. does he ever come back to the site nowdays?
RoRo, I guess I feel like you sometimes when I think about AP. When it was a major part of my life I guess I felt like I had finally found people that I could connect with. But in the real world I didnt really find those connections to translate off of the computer, the people who I have met and some had relationships with I didnt find them to be really real. when I met and spent time with people off the site, some people were cool but some people just want to use you. Its too much of a fantasy, theres something about online communities maybe they just have to stay online, they can never be real