Humans of NSU
Preview
Interviewee Name
T. Brandon Hall
Date of Interview
Spring 3-29-2023
Location
NSU Tampa Bay Regional Campus
Brief Bio / Description of Interviewee
I went to boarding school in New England. My mother is Jamaican. We moved to Florida just to be near her family, and I was raised in that culture. I was painfully shy to the point where my sister would go places with me. She would talk to the adult and say, “I want that and I need two of them” and they would ask “why do you need two?” “Oh, I need one for my brother” I would look up from my book and I would kind of acknowledge and then go back to my book. So people in my family would joke that they weren’t sure if I spoke because I was really quiet. I had never been away from my family. On my fourteenth birthday, I am dropped off in Maine. I was also a city kid. I grew up in South Florida, in New York. So, at orientation when I get to Maine, I’ve got these brand-new hiking boots because I didn’t know you break in hiking boots - I’ve never broken in shoes before. They give me this pack that is as big as I am. I’m fourteen, I just hit my growth spurt, but I don’t weigh 100 pounds soaking wet. They throw me on a bus with all these strangers and they just drive for an hour into the mountains. I’m like cool… what’s happening now? They are like “ok, we get out now” I’m like “ok when can we get back to the bus?” They’re like “we’re gonna hike to this other location, for the next 3 to 4 days and when we get there, the bus will be waiting, and they’ll pick us up and take us away”. It’s mid fall in Maine and I’m hiking with these kids. I am the slowest person, by far. The rest of the group starts to get so far ahead of me that the two chaperons split. I have a chaperon for me and a chaperon for the rest of the group. I’m getting blisters, I’m tripping over things, I’m so slow. Then finally ahead of us, one of the kids sprains his ankle so he gets added to my group, so he doesn’t have to push too hard with the rest of the group, he’s STILL faster than me. I’m struggling, trying to keep up and again with my Caribbean upbringing, I’m not saying anything, I’m just trudging along, I’m not talking to any of these kids.
Camera Equipment
Nikon Z6
Audio Equipment
iPhone 11 Pro Max
Keywords
exhibit, photographs, life stories