WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A LOOK INTO THE BRAINS OF THE BRAINS | BY: JARED LOGGINS PICTURED: ( LEFT TO RIGHT) EVAN TURNAGE, NICK BACON, DARIEN POLLOCK, NATE NESBITT, CHRIS FORTSON-GAINES PHOTOGRAPHY BY: ERIC CASH
Being selected as one of the premier intellectuals on a campus filled with talented and gifted men is certainly not an easy burden to carry. It is a burden, however, that Darien Pollock, Christian Fortson-Gaines, Nate Nesbitt, Evan Turnage and Nick Bacon have all decided to take on. Many at Morehouse would agree that being an intellectual has extended far beyond the classroom. It encompasses a broader obligation to tell the truth about what it means to be black in more inclusive and participatory terms. “I think one of the biggest responsibilities of an intellectual and as black people
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HOMME | MAN OF THE YEAR 2013
is to involve ourselves in our world,” FortsonGaines said. “We have to encourage a dialogue where people have conversations with us and not about us.” Fortson-Gaines, a senior political science major who hopes to use his interests in international relations to run for elected office one day, saw his selection as a challenge. “For me, after four years of perspective, I see this experience as eye-opening,” Fortson-Gaines said. “This experience has been competitive in a way that has allowed me to cultivate my own capabilities. Being surrounded by talent, you tend to coast. So being an intellectual requires one to always be on
their game in order to stay on top.” Others, like Pollock, see a much broader narrative arising from their selection. Serving last summer with the Breakthrough Collaborative Project, which puts low-income middle schoolers on the path toward college, he says his eyes were opened to the realities of Black America. “I think my conscience was awakened in that I see my selection as an opportunity,” Pollock said. “But not an opportunity necessarily for me. I see this as a way to reaffirm what I’d like to continue to do for my people, which is open up opportunities for them.” Turnage, currently at the top of his