Alexander Gibson: Using Words To Fight the Stereotypes

For 25 year old Starkville, MS native Alexander Gibson words are not just something he does to pass the time. They are a way of letting others into his world and sharing what can be possible for anyone, no matter where they are from or what they had done in their past.

It was during his Freshman year in college that he came to the realization that he wanted to write and share it. "I was at a point in my life when I was really soul-searching," Gibson says. Jaded by the progress he had been making in his life, he started to analyze a lot of what people had told him up until that point. "Everyone told me that I had to get an education in order to get a great job. I learned through personal experience that where I was education promised nothing. It was at that point that I started writing."

His feelings about his life and the possibilities for his future were the spark that led him to keep a journal. As it progressed, however, Gibson says that things took a turn. "As I was writing and reading what I had wrote, I began to think that maybe something else could come from this." From there he started to write a book, sharing his thoughts about life in general, not believing everything you were told and the importance of finding your own way. One day after finding himself frustrated and stalled in his own efforts to really make a difference, he threw his work away. "I now see doing that as one of the biggest mistakes of his life," he confesses.

That was in 2006.

For the next couple of years Alexander Gibson didn't write anything. That changed in 2008, though, when he  began to see the need for someone to speak up for those around him that he felt was getting a fair shake. He began putting pen back to paper and decided to start his own organization to fill the gap for those seen as less than. This was the basis for Help For The Helped which was founded in 2009. "I wanted to change the way certain types of people in society were seen," he says. "I know the playing field will never be completely level, but we can do our part to make sure that others are getting their chance. Help For The Helped's mission includes helping individuals find employment, offering scholarships and even aiding in the rehabilitation of convicted felons.

This is something that touches close to home for Gibson, who admits that he hasn't always made the best choices in life. In 2010 he was facing 43 years in prison for selling marijuana. A college student at the time, he spent six months in a county jail with nothing but his thoughts. He admits that it took a lot of faith to believe he could get out of that situation with a favorable response, but he did. "I'm worth more to society in the world making a difference than behind bars," he says. "There are some people that just made mistakes. Not everyone had the support system to do what I have done. Building up Help For The Helped and sharing my story is my way of giving back some of what has been afforded to me."

In 2011 Gibson saw another dream realized with the release of his first book of poetry FIGHTING THE STEREOTYPE (published by Publish America). Through the book he is using his voice to remind individuals young and old that they don't have to be a statistic or just another face in the crowd. "That is the sole basis of what I do," he says. "What has happened to me can happen to anyone. Everyone has been stereotyped at one point or another. The question becomes are you fighting the stereotype or living up to it? Never doubt your potential. You have no reason to hang your head. Make the best of the life in front of you."

Stay abreast of updates by Alexander Gibson on Facebook by visiting www.tinyurl.com/alexandergibson. He can also be reached by email at realpoet0315@gmail.com. You can find out more about his book FIGHTING THE STEREOTYPE on Amazon.com at www.tinyurl.com/alexandergibsonbook .

(Poem) Comfort Zone

by Alexander Gibson

The place where dreams die. The best friend to failure.
The only place where growth is a sin and progression is frowned upon.
Presided over by fear and governed by one owns insecurities.
Where temporary happiness and contentment are the order of everyday.
The place where room for advancement is considered profane
And to do something different exiles one from the other.
Where the normal train of thinking is not applied. A place where friendship ends and resentment begins.

A place that truly isn’t comfortable at all.
A place where you are your own worst enemy and the antagonist of your own story.
The place where mediocrity is standard and potential stays at rest.
The place where careers turn to jobs and love turns to lust. A place where habit is natural and conflict is nonexistent.
A place where possibility thrives, but never grows up. A place where could’ve, would’ve, should’ve originated.
Bad grammar? I think not! Real life. The prerequisite to mistake, the white flag of life.
The comfort zone is where the national anthem for defeat was written.
The beginning to nothing but the end to everything. The metaphorical box. The intangible danger.
The pot with no water. The arch nemesis to change. The comfort zone is a vacant place to live where no one should want to move. And if you so happen to find yourself there, get out now! Otherwise you have met the perfect catch twenty-two.

Alexander Gibson is the author of the book FIGHTING THE STEREOTYPE. You can find additional information about his book at www.tinyurl.com/alexandergibsonbook

"Surrounded" by Alexander Gibson

What makes me feel the way I do?  Is it the inward or outward?  My surroundings cause me to be surrounded.

Bars, fences, doors and wires.  Am I really surrounded?  Is my entrapment physical or mental?

My surroundings are of less than adequate conditions.

If I am to better myself then why am I not surrounded by the necessary materials to do so?

Surrounded on all sides, physically limited and mentally disturbed, I still try to strive!

Changing my surroundings doesn't change me being surrounded.

A direct contradiction to the normal train of thought.  Placing tangibility on the word itself allows me to be free.

My surroundings are me.  I take them everywhere I go.  I surround myself with thoughts and dreams.

A proactive approach to a reactive situation.  Why take what I can't give and give what shouldn't be taken.

Surroundings don't make a man or the opposite.  A small piece to an unfinished puzzle.

Ignorance, deceit, hatred and evil are all a part of this inhumane, manmade society.

Drifted so far from the original intention.  What can one to do cope?  Getting by or getting away... what's better?

Surroundings are situational and sometimes unavoidable, circumstantial and always present.

Nevertheless the choice is yours.  Surrounded is complete in and of itself but not an impossible feat.

A life-long fight won without on blow.  Beaten but not broken

I control my surroundings and what I'm surrounded by has no control over me.

 

Alexander Gibson can be reached at realpoet0315@gmail.com or on Facebook at www.tinyurl.com/realpoet0315.