An excerpt from Yoli Tamu’s book, “Back to Me: A Devotional Walk for College Freshman Woman”

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

One weekend, a few of my friends in the dorm came to my room to invite me to a fraternity party they heard about near campus. I was tired and bored that evening, so I agreed to go. The fraternity house was walking distance from our dorm. I was excited to get off campus

with my friends, and I felt safe enough to go because the party wasn’t too far away from our dorm.

When we got there, the house was full of college students having a great time. I remember the lights being low and plenty of folks dancing with each other, while holding their red plastic cups of Ever Clear punch. I had never heard of Ever Clear punch before, but I was told it was an alcohol that you could hardly taste in the punch. So, my friends and I went over to the refreshment table

where the punch bowl was and filled up our cups! After about 30 minutes, I started to really feel drowsy. I was sillier than usual. For some reason, everything was funny to me. Guys were starting to notice me and my friends now. A few of them came over to find out who we were

and what was so funny. We told them we were new to Howard. I recognized one of the guys from the Fine Arts Dept. and we struck up a conversation, while the other guys started talking to my friends. These guys were cute, but my head was starting to hurt and I was starting to feel sick. One of my friends yelled out, “Light weight!

I quietly excused myself and slowly made my way back to the refreshment table, while holding onto to the wall to get some water to wake myself up. When I got to the table this time, there was another guy there in a big black jacket. It was pretty hot in the house from all the body heat and I thought it was strange that he was still wearing his jacket. He didn’t really seem happy to be there, but he did acknowledge me with a nod of his head when I walked over. He actually looked sad and I asked him if he was having a good time. He said, “I’m alright.” I told him, “I’m not. That punch was too much for me.” He said, “Yeah. You gotta take your time with that stuff. Drink some water. You’ll be alright.” I thought to myself, for a guy who seemed to be bored with the whole night, he was pretty cool. So, I stayed at the punch table for awhile and just began to watch the crowd with him. No words were spoken. We were just watching the crowd.

‘So Beautiful’! Looks can certainly be deceiving. Get your copy HERE and find out what was revealed beyond the smoke and mirrors.