On Gaming, Leveling Up, and Black Fatherhood

While this may seem to many as your typical “father appreciation” post, I submit this now to remind everyone that great Black fathers are more common than some think. While all of us Black Nerds were birthed by strong moms, a lot of us had equally strong dads to help us become the people we are to this day. This piece is a tribute to my dad and the nerdy shit he passed on to me. This will come as a shock to most pundits on Fox News, but I grew up in a nuclear Black family. My mother and father met and wed long before I was conceived, and all I’ve known is a household with two loving parents. Like all child-parent relationships we had our ups and down, but we always managed to find our commonalities. While personality-wise, I always had more in common with my mother, me and my father always had one major thing in common: video games. I will never forget Christmas 1990. I had gone above and beyond what was necessary to attain my most desired item that year: a Nintendo Entertainment System. I awoke to few presents under the tree, but one of the boxes was larger than the others and I had a hunch. When I tore the wrapping off the largest gift, I saw the NES box in all its glory. I’ll never forget looking back at my dad and his face said it all: “We made it!”

From that point on, we were forever connected: system linked by a mutual love of gaming. Because of my dad, I never missed out on a generation of gaming. It’s important to remember that the jump from system to system was much…