Breaking the ICE
By Henry Guion
Greetings, everyone! My name is Henry. I am 23 years old from Charleston, South Carolina. In December, I graduated from South Carolina State University with a degree in Communications and Broadcasting. Now that I have graduated, I plan to attend Coker College to major in my first love, dance, specifically performance and choreography. Some of my favorite things to do are dancing, reading, writing, hanging with my friends, listening to music, cheerleading and most importantly SHOPPING!!!
On January 31, 1990, I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, and have been living with it ever since. When I was born, the doctors told my parents that there would be a 50/50 chance that I would be dysfunctional and that I wouldn’t make it past the 5th grade. If I did, I wouldn’t graduate from high school. Well, I’m here today to tell you that not only have I completed both, but, more than that, I’m here, alive and well!
School was not easy for me. During grade school, math was always my hardest subject. I never understood why I had to learn it, and I wanted to kill the person who created it! My teachers wanted to put me in resource classes because they thought I had a learning disability. In my case, I didn’t, though I know many of us in our community do need assistance in school, and it’s so great we can get it when we DO need it. I have also been bullied and teased in school. With a strong mother standing behind me, she fought for what I needed and encouraged me to work hard. I made it through.
As long as I can remember I’ve been dancing. My mother would tell me stories about me dancing around the house when I was a child and that is when she decided to enroll me in dance classes at Trudy’s School of Dance. I started taking ballet and tap. After I graduate from Coker College, I plan to audition for different Broadway shows and hopefully dance back-up for some of my favorite artists. I also want to create an organization that will reach out to inner city kids and bring the art of dance into their lives.
This is my mini ice breaker for you guys and I hope that you enjoyed it! As I continue to write I will open up more about my life with hydrocephalus as I write about topics that were and are important to me as I was growing up. Do you have a topic that we need to bring out into the open? TELL ME! And, when you read my blog, let’s start a conversation on Twitter. Use #TalkTTC and let’s start talking about these things.
Until my next blog post, remember to smile!