Well, where to start? I guess first you have to know where we lived and what kind of school it was. High Point High School is located in Beltsville, MD. A residential area of Prince George's County. I happened to live a couple of blocks away in the Maryland Farms Condominiums. The majority of the students were bussed in from other areas of the county. Mostly Hyattsville. some came from Adelphi, Langley Park, even some from Takoma Park. It was a diverse bunch. The main demographic was White, African American, and Hispanic. There were also kids from all over Asia, and the Caribbean. A good number of the families that sent their kids to High Point were in the lower middle class or from the immigrant community. Another inevitable occurrence was the organization of "gangs". For the most part it wasn't like the gangs in American Me. Mostly it was just clicks depending on who you identified with. Most of the Caribbean kids looked out for each other. For the Hispanic kids, it was mostly about nationality. The Dominicans and the Salvadoreans were the two biggest crews. Then you had, like I imagine at other schools, the popular kids, the jocks, and the misfits.
Then there was us. We were from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. We came from different countries and neighborhoods. I'm not sure how we all found each other, but we were always together. We were all different but similar at the same time.
There was a Filipino kid named Mario P. a.k.a. Spooky or Spook. A skinny scrawny dark skinned kid with glasses. He was big on wide legged jeans especially the Jnco. Other then that, he was all about house music, tagging, drinking and smoking. Then there was Marco who adopted the graffiti name Speedy. He's of Brazilian and Nicaragua Heritage. He's was one of the tallest kids in school. Over 6 feet tall, and still the shortest of his three brothers. He was always laid back and friendly. I remember him always having the fresh gear. There was Nelson who tagged under Cruz. I first knew him from the neighborhood. He lived on the other side of the condos where we lived. He always was a pretty boy. Always well dressed. He was born in El Salvador. He lived with his father in a sick bachelor pad. Then me, I was every ones big brother. First because of size, and second because I looked after everyone. I wore alot of black. I kept to myself for the most part, except for them, you didn't see me around alot of people. My graffiti name was Phantom and sometimes Nemo.
Spook 1996
Me, Nelson, and Marco 1996
We also ran with Mario M. known as Flaco. He was the skinny kid with the big hair, and the over sized coat. He could drink with the best of them, until he got an ulcer. Another Salvadoran kid from around the way, that wasn't your average. Alex was Marco's older and taller brother. Alex was one the coolest dudes I knew. Had all the chicks in the palm of his hand. He drove a dope grey Z. A.J. was a year or so older then us. We weren't sure if he was ever going to graduate. He' s half Nicaragua and half Peruvian. His name is actually Juvenal. We used to hang at his house alot. His moms and and family were cool. He was the shortest in the crew. Tali or Neftali was another one of us from El Salvador. He was the funny man of the crew. Always cracking jokes and and laughing. When I think of him, I can only think of his yellow Celica. It was the quintessential hooptie. The stereo was worth more then the car. He couldn't crank the radio without it running or else the battery would die. The windows would shake, he got a few disturbing the peace tickets for noise. Mario H. and Giovanni were brothers from El Salvador. They were also Flaco's cousins. There was another Salvadorean dude called Lil' Louis. These dudes used to do a lot of clubbing. There was a Puerto Rican kid named Mike. He played baseball for the school team. He lived near me and was my friend for a while before high school. Cesar was a Nicaraguan mixed with Dominican. I remember he lost his dad when we were in school together. Last but not least was a Colombian kid named Jon. I met him in middle school when he first came to the states. He didn't speak a bit of English so they paired him with me. We used to call him Cypress because he loved Cypress Hill. Unfortunately I heard later that he was killed.
(L-R) Mike, Marco, Spook, Flaco, Cypress, Cesar, Luis, Giovanni, Alex, Tali, Mario, and A.J.
I was behind the camera
Alright, now that I'm done with the intros, I can get to the heart of the situation. There are so many stories to tell. Most of them involving drinking, girls, partying and weed. I'll start with the one I don't even remember. I've gotten corroboration from several people on this one. It goes that me and a couple of people were in, I think Mike's car. We were smoking. A car pulls up down the street. Apparently I thought it belonged to someone we knew. They say I jumped out of the car and started running down the street full speed. Like I said before I have no recollection of this. There's been more than one account of the incident.
We used to skip school a lot. What to do? For the most part we would end up at someones house. Most of the time it was Nelson's. Mainly because he was within walking distance of the school. He also had a big screen TV with a cable scrambler. I'm not sure how we got so much beer and weed, but it always readily available. We used to drink mostly 40 ounces. One day the guys were over there by The Golden Bull. For those that don't know, it a restaurant with a liquor store on the side. The way I heard it, was that the beer delivery was in the parking lot. They noticed that the beer man was lining up the cases on the floor outside the truck. He started taking some of the cases in, and left the rest outside. The boys pulled up and grabbed a case and rolled back to the crib. When they get back they take a good look at the case. They had stolen a case of O'doul's non-alcoholic beer.
One day we were at Nelson's as usual. Mike had come to get my house key. He wanted to go use my bed with his girl. After about thirty minutes he shows back up at Nelson's. He was out of breath and limping. I thought, that was quick. He tells me that he was just getting in, when my mom came home. This was before everybody had a cell phone. I had a phone in my room, but it only took incoming calls. He had no way of getting in touch of me. We lived on the third floor. The only way out was a 20 foot drop. Luckily Mike was athletic. He told his girl to hide in my closet. He hung out of window by his hands and dropped down. He came to get me. So we go back to my place. I was going to distract my mom while he got her out. I walk in my room. All I hear is giggling coming from my closet. Then I go to my moms room and start talking while mike got her out. I tried to use my printer the next day, and it would jam up. I opened the lid and there was a condom wrapper stuck in there. At least he used protection.
My favorite party story was when Mario and Marco turned 15. They threw a party Saint Camillus Church. They had food, a DJ, and alot of drinks. We drank malt liquor and fruity drinks. I was twisted. I remember trying to get on the turntables. My co-ordination was gone. To leave the building you had to walk down a flight of stairs. I could barely walk. All I remember was Spook holding me by the waist trying to walk me down the steps. We all went out to the parking lot. I sat on the edge of my boys van, with the sliding door open. I was dizzy and sick. Mike, Spook, and someone else were standing in front of me. Then I hear someone say my brother was there looking for me to make sure I was OK. Of course I panicked because I didn't want him to see I was drinking. I started to cry like a bitch. After that I started throwing up, and so did everyone else. My brother didn't see so I was good. On the way home they took me to 7-eleven for coffee. I guzzled a large coffee. I got home. My mom had a party too, so she was still up. I tried not to stumble in front of her. I went to my room, locked the door and collapsed right on the floor, fully dressed and soaking wet (it was raining hard). The next day I woke up with a sore liver and burnt tongue.
I only had one skipping party I my place. The reason was that we spent the whole day drinking and smoking cigarettes in the house. Of all days my dad comes home early that day from work. Everyone was in the house. I was in my room. They call me out and I see him. I tried to play it cool in front of my people. He asked why I was home. I told him because there was no school. He told me to stop lying. Then he swept my legs from under me with his right foot. Before I hit the ground my crew was gone.
In the day we partied at night we would tag (graffiti write). We named our graffiti crew J.S.B. (Juvenile Street Bombers). We even had business cards. One night we were Nelson's, again. We decided to go hit up the school. My dad had spray paint in his tool room. We went and got all the cans we could. We walked to the high school. It was so cold that night. Little did we know that was the first night of the blizzard of 96'. We started on one side of the school, and walked around the back spraying our tag everywhere we could. It was so cold, the tip froze to my finger. We then walked to McDonald's and home. We had a few days off due to the snow. Then I missed a day because I was sick, When I went back to school. I heard that they made an announcement about the graffiti. If your paying attention, you should know my tag was Phantom. The school misunderstood and announced that they wanted to catch the "Phantoms". I think they thought the crew was called that. Somebody tried to rat me out. About a month later I was taken into the security office. I said nothing. They let me go.
About week after hitting up our school we found ourselves on a bus in Silver Spring. I had on a parka and a back pack full of spray paint. We got off on Georgia Avenue and Randolph Rd. We headed to the high school over there. We started on the front of the school, and made our way towards the back. For some reason no one noticed all the cars in the parking lot. I was tagging next to some steel double doors, Next thing we know, the doors swing open as a basketball game is letting out. We all book it into the woods behind the school. There was still snow on the ground from the storm. The woods were on an incline. I'm following behind everyone else. All of a sudden I slip and land on my back. I was also tangled on some vines so I couldn't get up, plus I had that heavy bag on. I can't hear anyone, and can't call out, scared the wrong person would hear me. Next I see Marco standing over me, helping me up. We end up in a residential neighborhood. We don't know which way to go. Then we see a McDonald's. We go there. Looking hot with paint on our hands and mud on my pants. I called my dad he picked us up. He never asked what we were doing out there, so I never told him.
These were only a couple of examples of the stuff we used to get into. I'm sure there are hundreds of other stories that happened when I wasn't there. Overall we had great times. Lucky for us we all grew up. Spook and Nelson are top IT professionals. Marco works at a prestigious accounting firm. Mike went on to graduate from Harvard University. As for me, I became a working man, with a great family. One day I hope to write the story of my rise to the top. Thanks for your time.
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