I get blown away about the sheer randomness of Howard University.  Take the other day for example, I was in D.C. for my meeting with the Howard University Presidential Search Committee.  We had meet and I moved on to nap portion of my day, but before I did that I remembered (thanks to facebook) that my good friend and fellow Bison, Kim Peart’s birthday was on Monday, so I sent the requisite Text and where’s the party message?

After nap time it was food time but I slept through Kim’s reply message informing me of location, time and the fact that she would pick me up…it was a good nap but I digress and I was hungry so off to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) I went, it was only across the street from my hotel and I love me some BBQ Chicken pizza, who doesn’t, but again I digress.

As I was munching on pizza the debate began on whether I should go to the celebration or go back to my hotel room to finish the nap that I had started.  But my friend, Kim, told me to come out and assured me that I would know people there so I punched up my Uber app (because I’m a Black man and they actually pick me up) and I headed to Marvin’s (14th and U Street, NW).

Here is where the randomness begins..

My boy Jamil (Howard University) was DJing, which I did not know til I got to the door and asked the guy checking IDs.. So naturally that was my first stop, pay my respects and keep movin.. Side bar he was playing A Tribe set when I walked in and some Afro House when I left.

Now I was on my mission to find Kim and her party and I start walking to the back… I see one Howard homie to the right… Hellos, hugs and kisses and move on… Then I see another Howard homie, who was leaving but was hanging with Kim so he directed me to the back patio, where she was, mind you I just texted her to find out but got no reply so off to the back patio I go.  I veer to the right back patio looking and looking but no Kim (and it’s dark)..so I retreat.  But on my retreat, I am attacked by my little sister’s little sister, who was randomly at the party cause she was sans her son and had some free time.  BTW, both my little sister (Natalie) and my little sister’s little sister (Nalo) are Bison and they are Washington’s (how random is that).

Nalo points out to me exactly where Kim is (and as I found out later), Nalo’ wasn’t even really there with Kim..she too missed the early text but decided to meet some other friends there then realized Kim was there too, again very random. More importantly than Nalo telling me where Kim was, was the fact that she mentioned to me that I was exactly who she was looking for because her soon to be boss at work had something that he wanted to present to Howard but was having a hard time finding a contact and since she was Howard, she decided to figure it out before he moved on to the next HBCU and boom there I was.  So we chatted and I told her that I would be in the Howard University Alumni Association (HUAA) office the next day and to make sure to follow up with me so I could see what I could do to assist.  At this point my brain was already turning with ideas because I knew exactly what to do and who to call but I still hadn’t seen the Birthday girl, which, of course was the reason I was there in the first place, so hugs and kisses and move on.

Finally, there is my girl Kim and her birthday celebration crew, hugs kisses and chat. Then Kim introduces me to her girl Allison, who is also a Bison but more importantly she is a dues paying member of the Alumni Association (yyyeeesssss) so we proceed to chat and talk about Howard and how she would like to get more involved with HUAA and giving back to our Alma Mater.  Needless to say that is what all Presidents love to hear coming from our alumni and I heard it twice.

So it’s amazing that on this Random MONDAY NIGHT night at the club in a city where I would not normally be, turned into alumni giving & participation and will present scholarships/job opportunities for our Bison students.  Come to think of it, it really doesn’t seem that random at all, that is just the way it is when you a member of the Howard University family, that’s LIVING THE BISON LIFE.

Random Bison Family L to R – Nalo, Kim, Allison, Legendary