CLASS OF 2000: Tafari Smith

Risky BusinessRisky Business"I feel like I'm doing something wrong because I'm having fun." X-Men, Thor, Wolverine, Spiderman -- for Tafari Smith, these names conjure up a childhood passion he hopes to someday parlay into a career. Tafari has collected his more than 1,000 comic books, now neatly packed into seven boxes of nearly 200 books each, for the past eight years. "I was a little parasite," he explains with a laugh that shows off his braces (he's worn every color rubber bands -- red, blue, orange; this time they're green). "I'd collect from [my older relatives and friends] when they were done collecting." His comics range in price from $2 to $700 with X-Men #12 at the top of that span. The bottom line didn't escape Tafari's keen Wharton sensibility. So he has his heart set on working in the comic book field -- in a management position, of course. "I'd like to be running the company [he cites Marvel and DC Comics], making decisions about what characters to bring to TV," he says excitedly. "Only one in a thousand make a lot of money in that business, and I have no clue how to get into the field, but it's what I want to do. "I read everything, even though I'm sort of out of my collector phase. I had the perfect plot when I was 14, but you just lose the magic." Tafari's cozy Van Pelt College House room is only a 20-minute drive from his Overbrook neighborhood. Though he was born in Jamaica and retains his island citizenship (his father still lives there, though Tafari moved to the States with his mother and two older brothers when he was 12), Tafari considers Philadelphia home. "Philadelphia's in such a state, it really gets me down," he opines. "The neighborhoods are being devastated and they're not coming back. "Mayor [Ed] Rendell is one of my heroes. He's got a lot of common sense. For me, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat as long as you vote with your heart." Tafari says that once he makes his first million dollars, he plans to fund different academic programs in the Philadelphia schools especially at the William W. Bodin High School of International Affairs, his alma mater. "There are better uses than collecting interest on my money." For high school, Tafari had to travel an hour and a half from his 63rd and Jefferson home first on the 46 bus, then the El and finally the 15 bus. "You get to learn a lot of excuses about being late," he explains. "Sixty percent were valid." During senior year, he applied to Columbia ("because of New York"), Harvard ("because it was Harvard"), the University of Rochester ("because I had a scholarship from Xerox that would have paid for a full ride") and Penn ("because of Wharton"). "I really wanted to be at Columbia, but then I thought, 'You're not really talking about Columbia, you're talking about New York'," he says. "They really focus on stuff that I hate, you know, like Plato and stuff. So I chose Penn and I just don't go home often." He did admit to an occasional home-cooked Sunday night dinner, though, for when he's feeling "just a little homesick." Even though coming to Penn wasn't a big geographic move for Tafari, the academic adjustment was still tough. "I came here thinking this is high school. You didn't have to study in high school. I got here and you had nothing? and then a midterm. "During Econ last semester, I had the lowest grade on the first midterm. I looked at the list and thought, 'Maybe you have a different Tafari'." But Tafari still plans to pursue a double Wharton concentration in Marketing and Management, and a College minor in French. Penn has lived up to Tafari's expectations for the most part, though he suspects "when we're juniors, maybe we'll start killing each other for jobs -- we'll start stabbing each other in the back." For now, though, he's found Penn students relatively level-headed, except when it comes to conversations about race. "In high school, it didn't matter what race you were. Here, it's so important," he says. "You can't touch the topic of race at all without people getting all defensive. It's not a violent tension -- everyone's putting out feelers and seeing what's sacred ground. In the classroom, there are tensions, too. You might have one intention when you're saying something, but someone takes it another way. "When two cultures come together, you have to understand where everyone comes from. My roommate, he's white and he's from the South. And we get along great. Once I explained my jokes, we can laugh together." For fun, Tafari enjoys traveling to visit friends in New York and checking out Olde City downtown. He also has plans to take swimming lessons soon. "I could walk to the beach in five minutes from my house in Jamaica, but I never learned how to swim," he admits. "I just bought the goggles and the Speedos, so now I'm all set." But Tafari doesn't draw a stark line between his social life and academics. "Most people in Wharton want to be stock brokers and stuff and I wanna work in comics. I feel like I'm doing something wrong because I'm having fun." n

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