CLASS OF 2000: Tanesha Parker

Home away from homeHome away from home"Everybody chills here. It's like a family, a small community." Tanesha Parker thinks she was probably the only person in her freshman class to read "every single piece" of information she received from Penn last summer. The early decision applicant paid special attention to the information for freshman housing, finally narrowing the field down to the small community living options -- "I wanted to have my own bathroom and my own room, but still share it with roommates." In the end, the Wharton student and corporate lawyer-to-be chose the W.E.B. DuBois College House. "Everybody chills here. It's like a family. It's a small community, so everybody knows everybody's business. "All the girls on this wing -- we're a group. We call ourselves 'Divas'. Our freshman class is really close. Unless I can get a four-bedroom quad [in the high rises], I'll probably stay here all four years." Tanesha is quick to refute criticism that DuBois is exclusionary. "When I first came here and heard all about that, I was thinking that maybe we do exclude ourselves. And there are a lot of people living at DuBois who don't interact with people who aren't black. But that's not me. "I have friends from everywhere. I know a lot of people who don't live here but they spend all their time here. A lot of people who hang here aren't black." But she admits that "if you're an African American who doesn't live in DuBois, you're gonna feel isolated. If there's something goin' on in the black community, it's gonna happen here. DuBois is gonna know about it." Tanesha explains that while growing up in Upper Marlboro, Md., and attending high school in Delta, Pa. (where her now-remarried father lives), she hadn't gone to school with many black people. While Tanesha concedes that she feels racial tension at Penn, she adds that "nothing really upsets me, nothing really gets to me." "There's extremists on each side, and then there's the people -- like me -- in the middle who see it, but don't really feel it." Tanesha says that since her parents grew up in the South and neither attended college, their varied experiences have had a bearing on her life. "I don't remember ever feeling prejudice, but my mom tells me that when I was in 1st grade, I came home from school and said, 'They can't give it to the white kids without giving it to me'." Tanesha's mother, who owns a nursery school in Washington, D.C. (her parents separated when she was only five), taught her daughter about compassion and goodwill. As a young teacher, Mrs. Parker agreed to care for a young boy named Andre living in the projects behind her nursery school. "He would always come out and help her carry her things to her car," Tanesha explains. "His mother had a lot of kids and asked my mom if she would take him. She said she would." Andre, who is now 36 and married, went to live with Mrs. Parker and her daughter Zabrina before Tanesha was born. Tanesha's father, a retired policeman, now trains and owns thoroughbred horses in Pennsylvania, where Tanesha finished off her last two years of high school. In high school, Tanesha was "involved in everything," from the choir to mock trial to playing flute and piccolo in the concert band. She has extended her love for music into her college experience, as a member of The Inspiration -- "my favorite songs are my two solos, 'Silly' by Denise Williams and 'Endless Love'." Tanesha has also joined the Black Student League and Black Wharton, to supplement her "tough" classroom experience. "I don't think the work is more challenging now? it's just difficult to manipulate your grades," she says with a grin. "Since there are only a few tests, it's hard to make myself do my reading. "I'm really good at BS'ing. It's a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. I can write the paper without reading. But it doesn't help on the exam." She sheepishly admits to withdrawing from a Calculus class before the end of the semester in the fall -- "But I'm doing well now," she insists. In high school, Tanesha's work payed off in A's and B's. "I get? not so A's and B's now. But I know I don't work as much as I should." Instead, Tanesha heads to Philly's jazz clubs or to off-campus parties. She notes that "blacks and whites don't party the same." "There's more dancing and there's a music difference. The drinks are more evident at a white party than a black party. You'll never see beer at a black party, maybe punch or something. Less of the party drinks than doesn't [drink]." If she's not in the party mood, she spends time hanging out with friends, talking about everything from religion (she's Baptist) to political issues. Tanesha is looking forward to a summer reunion with her "sisters and brothers" from the DuBois freshman class, one of whom recently spent 10 hours braiding her hair into hundreds of "micro-mini" braids. Professionally done (which, she admits, looks a little better), the procedure could cost as much as $300. She's still negotiating a price with her friend. For Tanesha, the comraderie and culture of DuBois has made her first year at college "a great learning experience." "I don't think being black was ever an issue for me until I was with black people here," she says honestly. "I'm learning a lot about black people -- I go to seminars in DuBois -- and for the first time, I'm seeing how beautiful black people are." n

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.