How a mentor of at-risk youth spends his Sundays
Before Toddrick Brockington got his job at the Henry Street Settlement, a non-profit organization that supports Lower East Side residents, he served 26 years in prison for murder. The irreversibility of that act still worries him. It also keeps him alert. “I appreciate life more, and when I say that I don’t specifically mean my life,” he said, “I mean other people’s lives.”
He brings that appreciation to work every day in Henry Street, where he started the Mentoring and Nurturing (“MAN”) program to help teenage boys get out of trouble and help them envision a future with fewer struggles. Mr. Brockington, 52, lives alone in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx.
QUIET START I wake up between 4 and 4:30 am. Sometimes I lie there; sometimes I stand at the window and look out and try to get my bearings for the day. One of my viewpoints, I think, is facing La Guardia Airport. I see the lights there, the trains passing by. It’s really beautiful when it’s dark. That’s a quiet time for me because it’s like I’m the only one awake and have the world to myself. I light some candles. I’m a big believer in setting the tone for my day.
FURTHER EDUCATION When it’s light, I read. I am now reading “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell for the third time. It’s almost like I’m studying it now. When I went to prison I didn’t have a GED so I got my GED and then a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science. Reading has helped me express myself better. One of the things I realized when I was raising myself was that I hadn’t been comfortable around educated people, and that fueled a belief in me that “OK, you’re better off here away from educated people .” There’s a book I like to give to the young brethren in Henry Street called “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen. We discuss how our thoughts determine our behavior, as well as the idea that we should be aware of the seeds or thoughts we plant in our minds and allow others to plant.
APPOINTMENT TV I don’t really start until after nine o’clock on Sunday, when my favorite program starts. It’s CBS Sunday morning. Jane Pauley now hosts it. It reminds me of Reader’s Digest on TV. The segments can be about anything: about the most beautiful places in the world, about people who change the world.
PINE-SOL AND A PLAYLIST On Sundays I do meal prep. If I’m cooking rice or anything that takes a long time, I’ll do that, and then I’ll start doing some light cleaning, like dusting. I play my R&B oldies: Curtis Mayfield; Willie Hutch; Earth, Wind. It’s nostalgia. The music and the Pine-Sol take me back to being a kid and having my parents clean. I grew up in Brownsville and left Brooklyn in 1981. It was in 1982 or ’83 that I started to swing to the bad side, when I moved north to Rochester.
MORNING SQUEEZE Breakfast has never been a big thing of mine, so now I have a juicer. I’m obsessed with it. I get my fruit, throw in my vegan protein—I’m vegan, so I have to watch out for certain things that I don’t get in my diet—and of course I take my vitamins, and that usually holds me down. Sometimes cooking, cleaning and washing could be my whole day. Cleaning has always been therapeutic. And when you throw in the candles and the music, it’s almost like I’m in a spa.
ENERGY ABSORPTION When I go out on a Sunday, one of my favorite pastimes is driving the West Side Highway. You see the Jersey side, and in my mind it’s like the South of France or something. Sometimes I park. They have a place, the 96th Street exit, where you can get out and sit by the water. You can sit there and just sleep late. I don’t even bring my headphones. I just absorb the energy. It helps me stay focused and grounded.
TRUCK YACHT I am a big foodie. One of my favorite vegan food trucks is Black Rican Vegan, so I often chase them around town when I’m out. Or I’m just looking for something new on Google Places. I became vegan before my 36th birthday. That was a big gift for me, because I had recently read that veganism extends your life. I was still in prison at the time, so I thought I could use a few extra years.
Refurbish I love sneakers. I am like a child with them. I probably have about 80 pairs, and I like to clean them. I call it redecorating. When the young brothers in Henry Street see me wearing these sneakers I quickly tell them this is a last purchase as I have to pay for so many other things like rent and car.
BEAUTIFUL IS DOPE Henry Street partners with New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program. Recently I was there trying to get kids to sign up, and a lot of them said, “No, I don’t want to work.” But they’re wearing $300 sneakers and $400 tracksuits. In many cases, that’s because of a parent who didn’t have much. The parent mindset is, “I’m going to give you what I didn’t have,” but it should be, “I’m going to teach you what I didn’t know.” I always share this story with the young brothers about values: when I was a kid, I saw kids with nicer things than I had, and I automatically equated that to them being a nice person. So I started acquiring nice things so that people would like me, instead of becoming a better person. It’s cool to have nice things, but it’s even doper to be a nice person.
WRITE BRAIN I take off my clothes for work and prepare my food, have it packed for the next day. Then I sit in my comfortable chair in my room. Sometimes I write curricula. I try to go to bed at midnight. I think when I lie down that’s when my brain works the most. Have you ever heard people say they write in their sleep? I think I am. I can’t really relax. I think that’s fear.
Sunday Routine readers can follow Toddrick Brockington on Instagram at @toddrickb7.