Mickey McCloud teaches in the English Department at MCC - Penn Valley. Those who have taken his course describe him as vibrant, enthusiastic, and always up for some fun. Spectrum was able to sit down and pick his brain on a variety of subjects.
Spectrum: Rumor has it that you were the first black Free Mason in the state of Missouri. Any details?
McCloud: I was not. Apparently, there were a couple of guys who were not very public about joining, and joined small local lodges with about six or seven members. I was the first one in a mainstream lodge, and a part of the Grand Lodge. So I was the first one to be known to be a member. Missouri is coming into the "new world" as far as Masonry goes, but Free Masonry has been split since the American Revolution between what is called Free and Accepted Masonry, which is almost all white, and what is called Prince Hall Masonry, which was mostly freed slaves. So black and white did not cross very much, if at all, until the '70s, when a few northern states took it upon themselves to start to fix that problem. There are still a few old guys that left my lodge, that didn't want to be around me, but that’s just sad that such things still exist. But it's just a function of how the world works.
 Mickey McCloud |
McCloud: It's not so much benefits as it is a worldview. A lot of guys do it for the connections, but I believe in the tenets of Free Masonry and do it for the ideology more than anything else. There are not many people who think like me outside of education, that have the same sense of society and individuality. Yet, in Masonry, I find a lot of guys who look beyond what I look like, and beyond money, and see if you are a good person and a stable part of the community. What I discovered in a fraternity in college is that there is not a lot of that in the world. Most people are in it for themselves, and a lot of people don’t stop to think if they could help another person, or care really. I like being around people that do.
Spectrum: Let's talk about your college experience. You said you went to Iowa State and played football?
McCloud: I did attend Iowa State for all four years. The football didn’t go that well. I was good in high school, and had a lot of offers, but was only seventeen when I graduated, so my mom had to sign off on any scholarship that I could take. She was not into the idea of me playing, because I had other relatives who had gone to school on athletic scholarships and not made it past their second year. She was really worried about it. So what she agreed to was for me to be partially academic and partially athletic, and I was lucky enough to have the grades and the standing academically to do that. I enjoyed the first couple of years, and then my coach got fired, and the new coach came in with a completely different philosophy, and a different set of statistics he looked for in a guy. Being a six-foot guy who was fast suddenly wasn’t good enough. He needed guys with a few more pounds and inches to play my position, and he pretty much told me that I could stay on the team, but wasn’t going to play. So I quit, and went completely academic and graduated.
Spectrum: What kind of degree did you earn?
McCloud: I have a B.A. in English, with an emphasis in English Education. A minor in Health and Human Performance.
Spectrum: Are you still in school?
McCloud: I am. I am at UMKC right now. Still working on my doctorate, and hopefully will be done in two to two-and-a-half years. It never really ends. I think I have taken a year off since I graduated high school in 1993, but it was the year I applied for a bunch of Ph.D. programs, which takes a while to process.
Spectrum: What brought you to Kansas City?
McCloud: My wife. She wanted to live near her folks and as fate would have it, her dad had been transferred to a management position in Kansas City. As things went on, there were a couple of school districts in Kansas City that came up to campus every year, and I got a job offer. It was between here, Des Moines, and Las Vegas. But she wanted to live near her folks, so we wound up here.
Spectrum: How did you end up at Penn Valley?
McCloud: It was more chance than anything. It just so happened that I was at a reception talking about using the community college as a bridge to four-year institutions. I was just standing around talking about education, and struck up a conversation with a lady I didn’t know. Turns out it was Jackie Snyder, who was president of Penn Valley at the time and is now Chancellor of MCC. I hadn’t thought to apply, and was going to wait until I had finished my Ph.D. to apply for college positions, but I was interviewed basically on the spot, met the head of the English Department, and here I am.
Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College