From Hoopin 2 Hustlin
Travis Embrey
The ConTextos Authors Circle was developed in collaboration with young people at-risk of, victims of, or perpetrators of violence in El Salvador. In 2017 this innovative program expanded into Chicago to create tangible, high quality opportunities that nourish the minds,,expand the voices and share the personal truths of individuals who have long been underserved and underestimated. Through the process of drafting, revising and publishing memoirs, participants develop self-reflection, critical thinking, camaraderie and positive selfprojection to author new life narratives.
Since January 2017 ConTextos has partnered with Cook County Sheriff's Office to implement Authors Circle in Cook County Department of Corrections as part of a vision for reform that recognizes the value of mental health, rehabilitation and reflection. These powerful memoirs complicate the narratives of violence and peace building, and help author a hopeful future for human beings behind walls, their families and our collective communities.
While each author’s text is solely the work of the Author, the image used to create this book’s illustrations have been sourced by various print publications. Authors curate these images and then, using only their hands, manipulate the images through tearing, folding, layering and careful positioning. By applying these collage techniques, Authors transform their written memoirs into illustrated books.
This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number ALN 21.027 awarded to Cook County by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
From Hoopin 2 Hustlin
Travis Embrey
For a young kid in Chi-raq, sports would’ve been the first way I had thought I could make it out the hood. I’d always loved basketball ever since I was able to throw a piece of balled up trash in a garbage can.
I just knew that one day I was going to the NBA. That had been my first dream coming up in my neighborhood in a ghetto environment full of violence and poverty. I’d always been in the hood since birth, but I never really knew what being in the hood was until I started walking to school by myself.
I attended Joseph Medill Elementary School, and by second grade I had convinced my mother (Katrina Embrey) into letting me walk to school with the guys, my classmates. Reluctantly she gave in, but didn’t really want to because she wasn’t oblivious to the facts of what the hood was. Even though I wasn’t either, I didn’t want her to know that.
We stayed in a 15 story building where the lobby was confined with drug dealers and killers. The stairwells were full of clucks and jays (crackheads and dope fiends).
Knowing this, I always hated when the elevators didn’t work because the stairwells smelled like straight piss, shit and high, dirty sleeping ass people who had nowhere to go.
However, once I got to the lobby, the older guys would see me and say “get yo lil bad ass out of here and get to school, it ain’t no basketballs in this hallway Lil T-Mac”. (This was my childhood nickname because T-Mac Tracy McGrady was my favorite player). I would laugh and say “yeah ain’t no rims out here either” and run out the building from them.
They all knew me from stacking 4 milk crates on top of each other on each side of the hallway making a full court to play ball on. In school, the gym was my favorite place to be. I mean I wasn’t really a bad kid, more like a class clown who was actually smarter than most. I just fell in with the wrong crowd.
I transferred from Medill to Thomas Jefferson in 4th grade, which was my first time getting on the basketball team. I’d gotten on the 5th and 6th grade basketball team being that I was good enough to play with the upperclassmen.
When I got to 6th grade I’d transferred again due to our school getting closed down because of the area it was in. I went from Jefferson to John M. Smith Magnet School. I played ball there too, for the remainder of my school time. By 8th grade I’d made it to the semifinals of the state. I remember playing at Westinghouse High-school. I scored 20 points, 4 steals and gotten the game winning block on the best player on the other team.
By graduation, that’s when things about me started to change. I started hanging out with older guys who smoked and sold drugs. I thought because they had money and women around that they were cool, and honestly I wanted to be cool like them. They had fashion of the latest trends and fly shoes and I wanted those things also.
Knowing my mom had 4 children and didn’t care much for materialistics as much as my generation did, was a game changer for me. Now we weren’t broke and starving like the homeless but we weren’t wealthy enough to not have roaches and a front and back yard.
I felt we could have more and better, so I jumped in head first to sell packs. The crazy part is that the same people that used to get on me to go to school was the ones who allowed me to work, but only after school was out.
I still had a love for basketball and was still on the team. I just wanted the fame and money at that time too.
For my 8th grade graduation, I went out with my classmates and friends to Six Flags. My friend/bro I was close to at the time was a grade ahead of me and we were both getting to it (hustling).
He was already getting high and had told me we should celebrate and roll up. “Come on bro. You should be proud of yourself, plus you got yo own money and own pak. Let’s just match one. You ain’t got to keep smoking, let’s just have fun and enjoy the day” my bro Chris said. I felt like “Fuck it. I ain’t got nothing to lose. Let’s blow one, shyd that’s $5 I got $400 on me to jag”.
I rolled up my first blunt ever and it was so loose, the weed was going all in my mouth when I hit it. I was over coughing and choking but afterwards, I felt good asl. I was hungry and happy asl no lie. I’m like “I like how this make me feel” and it made everything so much more fun. That made me start smoking but still I never gave up basketball. At the time, I thought that was enough.
Later that same summer before I started high-school, I got in trouble with the law. Nothing too major just possession of cannabis. I had been hurt because my mom had found out what I had been up to in her absence.
Mostly she thought I was always somewhere working out in a gym or actually at a game. I was still in tournaments, and that’s how I picked my high-school at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy. Here I learned that telling her the truth was better for the both of us.
My freshman year I made the far South (sophomore) team in 3 play. I’d gotten one steal, one assist and one layup in the first 3 plays to show my quick talent and was picked 1st in tryouts. Sadly I felt like because I was a freshman, I didn’t get enough playtime so I stopped going and started hanging on the block and hustlin more. I was frustrated that I was looked over and I had the talent, which is why I chose the streets.
By my sophomore year I’d had a son and was chasing money full time. I had dropped out of school to provide for my kid and myself more. I started hanging out with a crowd of guys who only wanted to chase money on the block and no influence of good at the time.
We stayed there day and night because the money came non-stop as long as we were out there. Soon after, I had a daughter too. I felt like I had to be an adult at age 16, so that caused me to forget about hustlin on a court and becoming a superstar basketball player. Me being young didn’t stop me from chasing money but it did stop me from owning a house and providing certain things for my family. I didn’t stay with my kids mom because of her unwillingness and no ambition to grow up and do better because of our children.
Soon after I met the love of my life and wife (Deana Embrey). She was everything and more for me in the time of need. Within 2 weeks of us dating she told me that I’m a smarter person than I portray and that I should get back in school.
I did and she worked full time to support us and become better parents for our children. 2 months after she was pregnant with my daughter I was back in alternative school with enough credits to graduate that same year.
While attending Jane Addams High, I was back playing basketball and on track with becoming a better father, but I still felt the need to survive and provide for my family. This had me to get a job. I started working as a dishwasher downtown at corner bakery cafe and was making a decent amount but not enough to fulfill my needs and wants and also my wife and kids as well. So I picked up a second job but I had no time for myself or family to enjoy my money. This led me to quit my second job and start back hustling parttime. I was happy because I was doing what I enjoyed and making money and my family was happy with my money and my time.
Good things don’t last forever because after a while I’d got arrested for manufacturing and delivery charges. By then my last baby girl was born and I’d been placed on adult probation for 2 years. My wife felt like it was time to get back out of the streets and find a new hustle and strive for more.
I didn’t agree at first because the life I lived was fast and fun but I knew she was right. So I invested all of my money in a sprinter van to start my new hustle. I’d gotten an LLC to start doing freight and cargo transportation. This elevated me to new levels of money and paper chasing. I loved the money but the time away from my family got to me a lot.
There were times I’d go 4 days sleeping in my van without work because of the areas I was in. I’d have to park in McDonald’s parking lots and use Wi-Fi on my iPad to watch tv to avoid wasting gas and money until I was back transporting my next full load. It became overbearing so I would start to take a week off each month to spend time home with my family. Still the hustle in me never stopped cause on these days I’d find myself doing Uber eats or instacart to keep the money rolling in. This was my way of turning my grind and will into my hustle.
With that being said, I learned that a hustle is more than a hand to hand transaction. It’s a motivation not just a word from the ghetto but more so out of what you put in life to get a great outcome out of life. I went from hustling on the court to hustling for my family and in the end the word hustle now defines me.
Travis Embrey
I Am From
I am from Alba Homes otherwise known as The Village
From UIC College campus and near downtown
I am from the trenches and dangerous but also a loving place
I am from 13th and Troop or Hastings
Otherwise known as 1300 or Club Hastings
I am from Katrina Embrey and Cornell Miller (28)
From basketball on the crate in the dirt built to a tree playing tip out with 28
And from cook meals or spam and crackers or fried salami
From “sit your ass down and watch your mouth”
And from “ you think you grown till I put your ass out”
I'm from Christianity in church every first Sunday
I'm from Chicago, Chi-Town, Chiraq
From Uncle Remus and mild sauce while watching reruns of Martin
From J Money and Worm my hustling family
I am from the hurt and pain that turns to joy over time
Until the lion learns to write their own story, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter - African Proverb
