Jonathan Scott Fuqua

City’s are about diversity. Diversity exists across many different spectrums, whether it is racial diversity, cultural diversity, or even health diversity. Jonathan Scott Fuqua, an author from Baltimore came to speak to us about how he contributes to the diversity of the city, giving us a look into his life, and his struggles. His latest book, King of the Pygmies, which centers on a boy from Maryland that suffered from schizophrenia. Jonathan too suffered from mental disorder. During his talk he spoke to us about the development of his Bi-Polar disorder and also the course of action it took throughout his life and how it affected everything he did.
It was interesting to see how diversity could be seen in so many different ways, how struggle can be seen across a spectrum. When most people think of cities and their diversity they think of races: whether there are more black people, more Asian people, more white people. They think of struggle with poverty, with homelessness. But what about the people that seem to be functioning well, seem to be normal when in fact they are suffering, it is just not as apparent to us. These people that seem to be normal because they have enough money, have a home to live in may suffer from mental disorder, something that can be just as debilitating as a physical disorder.
Jonathan presented us with an interesting perspective on life in the city. All of his books focus on different people living in the city, all of whom have mental disorder in their life.
I think this really presentation emphasized the year of the city’s goal of bringing a range of different people into the college community so that we are exposed to them. It is rare to hear someone come and share their most intimate problem with a large group of people and bring you through their childhood to share their problems with you. What was also interesting was the fact that he was sharing the deepest feelings he had, something that he doesn’t like to make public, but was willing to come share those feelings with us, to let us in, to share with us, his personal life in Baltimore.
Although this was a more private look into someone’s life, a more intimate feeling, it was fascinating to see that, instead of just a look at a group of people or a broad aspect of the city. His books do the same thing by looking at a specific scene, a specific person and therefore getting an overall picture of the city and mental health within the city.
It is hard to imagine that someone that seems normal, seems happy, seems well off could be suffering such internal problems. Just because the suffering is not seen and may not be apparent does not mean it’s there. For example, we don’t see the poverty in Baltimore City everyday, we don’t experience the struggles that some experience everyday, but we know it’s there, and we know it exists. And whether we want to look deeper into that fact or just ignore it is our choice. But it is the goal of the Year of the City program to make us think about those problems, to not just ignore it, but to embrace it and to reach out to those in need. So although we may not see the suffering that does not mean that it is not there, it does not mean that people aren’t out there that may need help.