“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
i want to create wealth
through poetry, passion and performance
fulfill decades of unfilled entrepreneurial dreams of inner city tenants
build success for descendants of slaves, laborers, refugee immigrants
and overlooked underemployed peoples like my parents

i want to tell stories
too long untold from unseen communities
on stage, tv, in page and through the movies
build self esteem for next generation's babies
so tomorrow my kid can say he's proud of his beginnings
wondering why his daddy was ever nicknamed mr. miyagi

i want to change
the fundamental values in society's psyche
so folks stop seeing black, white, red and brown
as just colors but culture
and re-route the traditional hbs highway
that makes success for some of us most likely

i want to love with a purpose
and fall into it every day of my existence
but also make honest mistakes and experience
uncomfortable emotions in situations of resistance
never relying on
someone else to correct the injustice

but most of all
i just want to have an opportunity to do this

with all my effort,
an endless spark
and certainly
with all of my heart

— Gordon C. Liao

The Portrait Project

Each year we ask our classmates a straightforward, simple question taken from the lines of a poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Mary Oliver. We share with you intimate and candid responses to this question, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Concept and photography: Tony Deifell, MBA '02

More Portrait Project