The Elephant Man

My name is Michael Chu-A-Kong.

How I got here, I have no idea. Where I’m going, I have no idea.

It’s a bittersweet thing – this thing called life.

When we’re alive, we think life pays so much attention to us. We spend all of our time with people we enjoy being around. We invest our ‘years’ of life into an education and career path that we believe grants us a better lifestyle.

Then we die. And the time we thought we were spending…we realize that time was buying the future at the cost of our lives. And generations will replace us as future generations will replace them. And the people that were so amazing and impactful on our lives wither away to dust, forever forgotten, lost in time.

And so I must ask myself, “What is my life’s real purpose? Why does my existence even matter?”

In my first and last media class I took at Hunter, Media 180, I had a very peculiar professor by the name of Stuart Ewen. Towards the end of the semester I had a private talk with him regarding the same questions above.

And I think he really solidified what we humans do here on earth. He left me with, “You have to give your life purpose, Michael.” I learned not to give up living just because I’m going to die. Just because I won’t get to see the end, doesn’t mean I can’t start something somewhere.

And now here I am. J

First off, I really despise labels. Labels limit people psychologically as well as the environments that we place ourselves in.

Just because I’m a college student doesn’t mean a seldom wisdom can’t exist.

Just because I work for $9/hr in retail at Aeropostale in Herald Square doesn’t make me a fool or a poor person.

Just because I work construction 25hrs/week doesn’t make me a birdbrain who’s only capable of manual labor.

Just because I model and act doesn’t make me a pretty boy who thinks he deserves an easier life based on physical features.

Just because I’m a guy doesn’t mean I don’t know how women feel and think.

Just because I perform poetry doesn’t mean that I shit cupcakes and rainbows.

Just because I hit the gym six days a week, doesn’t make me a gym head.

With these examples, I comfortably call myself a Renaissance man. I’m at a point in my life where balance seems to be essential.

I was born in Richmond, Virginia. I moved to New York City ten years ago and I couldn’t be happier. I come from a family of a mother and two sisters, similar in age; my father, a distant figure. I grew up in Catholic School, not by choice, but by privilege. I had a full academic scholarship to Holy Cross High School. Again, I found a balance between going to an all-boys testosterone-pumped catholic school and coming home to an estrogen-enraged home.

I’ve created a life for myself. I’m continuously constructing a frame of mind independent of all of my surroundings. I have given everything I do sincere meaning. From the things I say to the clothes I wear, I'm a self-promoter by existing. Brand name clothing is parallel to mainstream tv and news - a croc of shit that I don't spend much time on. I create my on media through several mediums in which I try to explain my complex little mind. I'm an advocate of positive energy, good vibes, and thinking very little of negative things. "I think, therefore I am" -Descartes. I don't want to be molding myself as a negative person.

I’m a nerd. I’m a jock. I’m serious. I’m a clown. And now…I’m rambling.

To ask someone to write about themselves is almost pointless. We’re no different. Sure there are some variations along the way, but we’re all in a system called society. We’re in the same boat.

But the one label I do love the most is that of an artist. Being an artist I constantly hunger to create, to manifest. I don’t question it. I embrace it.

And my best quality is appreciation. I guess it comes with being a poet. I appreciate the little things. I’m the weird guy that stands in the middle of the busy sidewalk to admire bums helping bums. I’m the annoying guy in the train early in the morning singing his heart out. I’m the guy that sits back and smiles at life beautifully unraveling. I aspire to change the world. If we all leave the world a better place than we found it, then we all win!

Now for show and tell!

This is an example of my livelihood:

https://www.cia.gov/careers/student-opportunities

(The CIA gig I did last September)

This is one of my first performances almost 4 years ago when I was a very angry person aha:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNFN5fsgNj0

And lastly, a sketch from my pad titled “Life is not a race. It’s a journey.”