FLY LIKE AN EAGLE

Every time that I hear the lyrics to 'Fly Like An Eagle',

'Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future,"

I feel elated because you see

I was in Seward Park Gym in the late 70's, one afternoon as the Jesse White

Tumbling Team marched in and the song became a suture.

The image stayed with me, you know, and became deeply ingrained just like a staple or a stitch.

Young brown bodies soaring gracefully into the air one by one then tucking and rolling without a glitch.

The crowd was transfixed as the Jesse White Tumblers transported and transcended space and time,

As they simultaneously embedded themselves into the stratosphere while The Steve Miller Band melodically rhymed:

"I want to fly like an eagle to the sea fly like an eagle let my spirit carry me I want to fly like an eagle 'till I'm free."

Those words and the whirls of the young virile men taking pride in their health, community and school curriculum,

Made me proud to be a resident of Cabrini Green because you see we were not all thugs or hoodlums.

Some former residents and nonresidents may look back and only see tragedy, hardships, struggles and things

that were illegal, But when I look back I see strength and triumphs and the Jesse White Tumblers as they

catapulted through the air to Fly like an Eagle.