Rocky Otoo
Dear Mom,
There are many things I would love to say in this letter, but first and foremost, I would like to express to you my immense love and respect for all you have done for me.
College has opened my eyes so that I understand your story and the sacrifices you have made for me. Now I realize many of the things we argued over were simply miscommunication in the grandest form -- not only miscommunication through language, but cultural and generational miscommunication as well. I have now learned that I can meet you halfway. I need to see the world from your perspective to understand the reasons why you have opinions that seem strange to me.
I now just hope that I can do you the service of bringing you along on this journey, through college and my life beyond, so that you can understand my own perspective on the world in all its duality and you will be able to see what it's like to exist in two places and never really connect fully with either. I hope by the time I graduate college you will have a better understanding of my American life, both in the Bronx and here at college. I hope you've seen the radical changes that I have gone through in the short period of time since I left home, went to Ghana and then started college. I want to sit down and talk with you about all things I'm learning and reading. I want to tell you all the big words I've learned, like "postmodernism" and "poststructuralism," even if you don't understand everything I am saying.
I hope that you will see the appreciation in my eyes for the fact that you have given me the gift of opportunity -- the opportunity to pursue an education so rich and fulfilling that all I can do is share it with you. No words can describe how amazingly you have reared me. I only hope I can do as good a job with my own children.
Much love,
Rockyatu