Dooper's Blog

Welcome to Dooper's Blog. 

My family name is Dooper, I am still unsure what a Dooper is outside of the context of me, but alas, here we are. This is my personal blog, that only folks nosey enough to visit my website will ever see. I only have the goal of blogging a few times a week to allow myself a space to let my feelings be free, because Trump is hell bent on ruining the country and no one is truly safe but at least my website that I pay for can be a safe space. Also, social media sucks more and more each day and the algorithm is plain garbage. 

So, if you are interested in what a 39 year old proud auntie, former revolutionary, current educator and novice volleyball coach has to say... pull up and take a seat! I may also, post clips from a hilarous podcast that will never be released to general public called 2 and a Possible with my bestie!

10/4/25

5 years ago I created a documentary called Black Men Unfiltered. With the help of my bestie I came up with about 20 questions that broke down the Black male psyche and their relationship to masculinity in the current day. I worked with my boyfriend at the time to gather the confidence to use my iPhone, a tripod and pure audacity to reocord and edit the entire thing. I pooled all of my resources; friends, associates, coworkers, community memebers, etc. to fill out the cast. I gave a lot of credit for my work because I wasn't sure about myself and the work that I did because, c'mon, an iPhone and audacity is a HUGE swing! But, here we are 5 years later and the lives of the men in the documentary has changed in ways I could have never expected.

About 3 years ago, I looked back at some of the men in the documentary and felt a twinge of guilt. I felt like I had captured these men in a moment and cursed them. Out of 29 men in the documentary, 1 passed away from a heart attack, another died under suspicious circumstances, 1 is currently incarcerated, 1 has suffered multiple overdoses due to addiction, 1 lost his mother, 1 is currently facing time in federal prison, and 1 has gotten divorced. 

24% of the men that were featured in my documentary have been affected in ways I could have never imagined (and that doen't include the other 80% who I don't have intimate contact with). That was never the intent, and even though I know that I am not responsible for what happened in their lives I still feel somehow responsible for keeping them protected from the circumstances of being alive. They were so vulnerable and I loved them all in their own special way and you never want anything bad, negative or embarrassing to happen to people you love. 

But as time moved on more things started to happen, one of the men ran for political office, one released an album and now plans events for the city, one continues to make art and poetry, one is still working hard to shine a light on the success of the black community, and another moved away and built his family up even bigger and better.

So, after 5 years, navigating my own personal feelings and subsequently realizing all of this is much bigger than me, I am ready to shine a light again on this time capsule of 29 men from the Midwest. 

It is with pride and joy, the excitement of 34 year old me, and armed with nothing but an iPhone and audacity, I present:

Black Men Unfiltered:

10/3/25

My favorite class to teach is African American Studies. I have a handful of eighth graders who make my week better every time I teach. them! They are curious and keep me on my toes when it comes to explaining really difficult and complex concepts like... what happened if you were on a slave ship and you had your period... why didn't Claudette Colvin have an abortion so she could be a better role model for bus boycotts... what did Trayvon Martin do that upset George Zimmerman... why did that lady lie on Emmitt Till...  when my sister says I'm too dark, is that her being color racists... why didn't slaves just leave the plantation... why is it offensive to say you talk white... 

When I tell you I have spent the last 4 weeks digging through all of my black history archives to be able to explain how the world works, it is absolutely thrilling! We discuss music, and afrofuturism, slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Lives Matter Movement and just about whatever other question they can think of. It feels really good to know that these kids want to know about their history and they feel comfortable enough to ask questions and I am informed enough to know the answers.

My favorite moments both happened this week. The first moment was after an especially inquisitive class. One of my students asked me if I had studied over the summer to prepare for this class. I almsot laughed in his face but he was being sincere. I explained that my love of Black History was actually the result of Mr. Reed in 10th grade History class ans was further emphasized by Dr. Miller in undergrad and another professor whose name I can't remember for the life of me in Ohio, then I made sure to read books that furthered my interests and made sure to have conversations with people who knew more about the topic than I did. My second favorite moment was today, I had just given a pop quiz on the Civil Rights Movement and explained that they were going to study more, prepare for a second study guide based on the Black Lives Matter movement in preparation for a comparative analysis research paper and told them we had roughly 15 more days left together (becasue of our schedule) there was a collective sigh and they asked why they couldn't stay in my class! 

Their curiosity truly makes every day better. I love teaching English, I have been doing it for 16 years, but baby that AFRAM class is like the cream in my coffee!!!