A 9/11 Experience: My Connection to Flight 93 by D.O.C., OTD I have a personal connection to the September 11th attacks in 2001, particularly Flight 93 . I am one of the few Americans to encounter the terrorists, then participate in the conflict they started. I did not understand that until years later. It began August 2000. I had just graduated high school and was working a job at Publix Supermarket in Miramar. Towards the end of the year, I had left that job in search of a fitness job, which was my new passion. I applied to many local gyms including Club Fit (defunct) and L.A. Fitness in Pembroke Pines. I finally settled on a gym called US1 Fitness, which at the time was located in Dania Beach. Ziad Jarrah The terrorist I encountered as a teenager fresh out of high school was Ziad Jarrah , the lead hijacker who took the wheel of Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 9/11/01. Very polite person. I remember him asking me two questions. The first, how to use a particu
A Bully Story: What To Do Against Harassment by D.O.C., OTD/C If there is one unfortunate constant of life, it's bullying. For kids, play (at any capacity) is their #1 occupation. But when bullying come into play, it disrupts the natural progression on a child. Bullying is like a weed in a garden. It has the ability to alter a child's personality across the lifespan into adulthood. At it's most extreme consequence, a repercussion of bullying is a mass shooting inside a high school. For me, I received my own shock from bullying during my childhood when we moved from a quiet town in Illinois to a heavily populated Little Haiti community in Miami, and lived as a real life Karate Kid. At that time, I was forced to fight daily against "Zoe Pound" gang members in Middle School. Zoe Pound grew to be one of the most notorious gangs in the U.S. with prominent members such as the rapper Kodak Black . Having to face bullying from this gang changed who I was to the point to w