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Brandon J. Poplar

Dr. Phyliss Collins

Intro to Liberal Studies

October 11, 2022

Intellectual Autobiography: Brandon’s Story

Curiosity, as defined by Meriam Webster Dictionary is the “desire to know”, a nine-letter

noun with a three-word definition albeit, it exists as an embodiment of freedom and the antithesis

to ignorance and intellectual injustice. It is through that curiosity and eighteen years of

instillment that I often pride myself in testifying the against harrows of ignorance and the

irreverence of the truth. Hailing from Metro Detroit, the home of the Motor City and the Coney

Island restaurant, I, Brandon J. Poplar was born Friday September 3rd, 2004, in Pontiac,

Michigan to a world of who, what, when, where, and how’s. Inquisitive by nature and as my

father would describe me “nosey and rebellious”, I find that there exists a divinity in wanting to

riddle the earth of the unknown and discover it all for that I can see, hear, and feel.

As a child the world seemed so much bigger through my youthful eyes as I had not yet

grasped the idea that its grandness was based on my ignorance and lack of understanding. How

would I have known the depth and complexities of what seemed so simple if I had not been

curious? When we are born, we are seemingly confronted with truths to which we are exposed

and come to accept as reality. It was those initial truths that I personally never came to assimilate

with and wished to deconstruct and analyze. Although I personally could not formulate that I was

practicing the idea of intellectualism, this quality of questioning and urning to understand stuck

with me as a foundational reason for wanting to study the American Legal System. For the
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greater good of those struck as victims to the ignorance that simmers within our legal system, I

want to apply inquisitive action towards the current state at which the American Legal System

operates. I would like to note that I am not accustomed to detailing perspectives and theoretics

based on my own opinion as I would like to draw conclusions from evidence not conducive to

my own narrative. Beyond constructing my intellectual development, there is a value held in

understanding where my perspective and personal growth stems from and its contribution to my

current way of thought.

Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? Who are they? The first realization I have ever

had in establishing this idea of intellectualism was when I began to understand that who I am

could not be defined by the labels thrown at me nor the situations I was faced with. Within

growing intellectually and personally establishing myself, I had to become secure in knowing

who Brandon was and knowing that I hold the power in defining myself, not the world. It was in

my intrapersonal discovery that I also had to understand others beyond what I see them as.

Although I could construct my own opinion based on the truths to which I was exposed, the only

way for me to truly grasp who they were was by being interdisciplinary and constructing

conversations with those whom I could not understand. I could not allow my ignorance to define

who I thought they were, I had to use my curiosity to understand who they knew they were. A

moment that stands as the epitome of this very realization was in elementary school during our

annual culture appreciation festival. Attending Sheiko Elementary School, an extremely

culturally and religiously diverse school in the suburbs of Metro Detroit, there existed many

moments of youthful curiosity and confusion. It would be at our annual culture appreciation

festival where I would observe the other children and the cultures and traditions they considered
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“normal”. At the time I could not grasp that others could exist believing in a different god,

observing different holidays, and enjoying different meals with their families that looked

different and wore different clothes. I could not grasp that although they lived through a

difference in culture and tradition, they were living in their truth that was indifferent from the

way I felt about the life I was accustomed to. Sparking my curiosity, I had to use my voice to

initiate conversations with students as I passed their booths to understand who they were and the

truth they lived by. This very moment was the catalyst in me fundamentally understanding there

was no distinct and correct truth of which is a foundational part in being intellectual.

Although it exists in a negative connotation, the word rebellious to me offers itself as a

synonym of justice and upholds the idea of egalitarianism in our society as defined by “the action

or process of resisting authority, control, or convention”. When we conceive the idea of justice

being served in America, we think about consequential figures such as Harriet Tubman, Martin

Luther King, and Malcolm X whom used anti-normativism and rebellious ways to prove and

eradicate the ignorance and hatred that was very prevalent in American society. Since a young

child and my matriculation through life into adulthood I have always been considered a rebel

through my ways of questioning the societal normal. Standing as another one of my most

consequential reasonings to study and practice law studies with a minor in political science, I

want to show to the world that fostering developmental conversations and serving due justice is

based in being rebellious and differentiating from the given societal standard. I want to fight for

the misunderstood and those whoms truths are not accepted nor given the ability to be

assimilated with in American culture. As I too had to initiate a conversation with the people of

different cultures in elementary school and intellectually immerse myself in their truth, I believe
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it is crucial in my practicing of law to serve as a catalyst of intellectual conversation and making

the United States public question their truth rather it be a culture appreciation fair or through

rebellious acts.

Upon matriculating through university and graduating, I plan to use my Law Studies

degree to attend Howard University School of Law in Washington D.C. as I thrust myself into

the political atmosphere and serve as an advocate for marginalized groups of people in American

society. It is through hundreds of years of oppression, thousands of lives lost, and a million

wishes from the people whom have fell victim to the ignorance of American society that their

prayers of being understood and accepted come to fruition. Through a life of questioning and

basing my formal truths off the ventures of my curiosity, I want my story to serve as

representation of those whom seek the divinities of wanting to discover the who, what, when,

where, and how’s of life.