“I am an optimist, but I am more of a hope barterer. That is more of what our world needs. There is so much negativity. I am from Mississippi and I know we are last at everything, but I love an underdog. You can’t give up and hate on an underdog because that just makes us stay in that place. No matter how much we lose, I am going to love on this team and love on these kids because that is the only way things change for us in the state.  It is wonderful to have an excitement and energy when we win and you can be beat down and dreams can come true but it has to be there when we lose too. That is why I love Dak Prescott so much, he had that heart and made a difference as an underdog. That is the energy that is good in our world, not just in football, but everywhere.  I am a mental health counselor and work with adolescents and adults, but I had an underdog life and some people believed in me and gave me second chances. I believe in second chances. I believe pain can make you grow. That is what I love about the Mississippi Delta, there is twistedness and wrong but there is also beauty in people healing from the pain. That is why I am a counselor because it is an honor to be beside that kind of pain and help it transform.  I came from a family with a lot of dysfunction. Alcoholism and mental illness and everything that could go wrong did. My dad had an optimistic soul but he had a stroke when he was 52. I watched him make it through and find a way to believe in good even though he never got better. I came to school here and got into drugs and alcohol and had my own downfall and hit my bottom. At 22, I got sober. Things changed for me. I found hope again. Having second chances felt like breaking the cycle of dysfunction in my family. People came along and believed in me. This world has to be that. Our presidential race is so awful but I can’t quit believing in the good. In Mississippi, I have to keep believing in the good. Maybe if I were born somewhere else, I wouldn’t work so hard to do that.  We can’t let negativity break our hearts. I can’t let politics break my heart. I can’t let fear build and buy into it. A hope barterer keeps trying to put hope out there and change the perspective. Negative behavior is usually to cover up and protect hurt. What hurt needs more is love and belief and empowerment. Empowerment doesn’t always happen when you win. It happens when you believe. I figured out there are two emotions in life, fear and love. When fear meets fear, fear grows. When love meets fear, fear changes. When love meets love, love grows. That is what this is all about bringing love to fear, not just to football or work or home. I am not perfect at it and I do a lot of fear myself. But in the places where I can intentionally do love, it is good. I want to help replace fear with hope and love.”