T. Mychael Rambo
T. Mychael Rambo
Educator, actor, and performer. T Mychael is the recipient of an Emmy Award and Sallie Award for his work with young people in education.
If you think junior high school is kinda rough, it gets rougher, but it gets more enjoyable, too. You have to do even more stuff and you have to toe the line even more and become even more accountable. But there’s greater benefits and greater gains. Find your passion, find what inspires you. When you do - you start to see yourself as an independent, thinking, loving, worthy, deserving being. And that’s great!
T. Mychael Rambo
Educator, actor, and performer. T Mychael is the recipient of an Emmy Award and Sallie Award for his work with young people in education.
My name is T. Mychael Rambo. I come from people with big voices and loud shimmering laughter. I come from people who look like me. I come from a cemetery that bears my family’s name. I come from a people who are fair skinned in complexion, but deep and dark in terms of how they’re rooted in the earth. They’re very spiritual people.
I come from a place called Rambo. So I’m a Rambo from Rambo, Texas! Rambo was settled by freed slaves. It was named after my great-great-great grandmother, Lydia. She had four sons, who were all freed by the slave master. Lydia was the concubine or the mistress of the master of the plantation.
I was born in 1961 with a disorder that required me to wear braces on my legs. I didn’t walk until I was two. I managed to always be at the feet of my elders.
My father was in the military and we moved all over the place. By the time I was in sixth grade, I’d moved nine times. Went to some cities twice, most of them larger cities like Detroit or Chicago or Los Angeles.
I learned at an early age, how to be a chameleon. A chameleon is an animal that’s able to change its colors and adapt quickly and blend in. I wanted to be invisible. I didn’t want people to notice that I was new, that I was different. What I learned quickly was comedy. I figured the more I was silly, the less you would ask me about who I was.
My grandfather told me potential means you ain’t doing nothing right now. What that means is if you want to become something, don’t wait til later, do it right now. I became a boxer, a pugilist, which is someone who understands the art of fighting. Every action has a reaction.
When I got out of college, I made some bad choices and gotten in with a bad bunch of folks. My father chose to give me a one-way ticket to Minnesota to go to a treatment center called Hazelton, where there were people who gave me the guidance and support that I needed.
I went from living on the streets to owning my own home, to being on stage at the Penumbra Theatre and teaching acting with Jan Mendel and Mary McClinton. I’ve sung for President Obama, I’ve sung for President Carter, I’ve performed at Carnegie Hall and won an Emmy Award for my work as an actor and performer. Two years ago—2009—the Ordway Music Theater gave me one of the greatest honors, which is called the Sallie Award for my work with young people in education.
I Come
Honoring T. Mychael Rambo
I Come
(Honoring T. Mychael Rambo)
I come from people with big voices
and loud, shimmering laughter
I come from people who look like me
I come from a cemetery
that bears my family name.
I come, I come
I come from a people who are fair
skinned in complexion
But deep and dark in terms of how
They’re feet are rooted in the ground
with a spirit deep and wide
I come, I come, I come
I’m a part of community,
neighborhood, family
Aunts and uncles, the one next door
I’m all right, I don’t bite, let’s come together
and build rapport.
I come from a mother and grandmother
with strong beautiful hands
So vividly, I remember
Those long streaming fingers
of knowledge, wisdom, and joy
I come, I come
I come from a father in the military
we moved from place to place
So I learned at an early age
Like a chameleon, how to change
my colors to blend in
I come, I come, I come
To be nobody, but yourself,
in a world doing it’s best
To turn you into someone else
Night and day! Ago! Amay!
Just be you! Be yourself!
I come from a place called Rambo,
settled by freed slaves
My maternal ancestor
A concubine for the slave master
her name was Lydia
I come, I come
I come from the choices I have made,
some were good
and some were bad
A chrysalis, a cocoon
A butterfly, up north I flew,
to be who I am
I come, I come, I come
An actor, a singer, an elder am I
A boxer, a pugilist
To be you-till-full, beautiful,
empathic, compassionate
I come to you with my hands held out,
reaching up to the sky
I come to you with an open heart
No better time than now to start
your life over again
I come, I come, I come
Music by LARRY LONG. Words by LARRY LONG with Lisa Stuehringer 7th Grade Class of Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
© Larry Long 2011 / BMI