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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

WTnotthebadFword Wednesdays: FAME!


This, kids, is my lunch box from first grade. As you can see, it features Cocoa, Leroy, the teacher played by Debbie Allen and the whole Fame Gang. I proudly carried this lunch box as an expression of who I was as a six-year-old, just struggling along, waiting for my big break on Broadway, trying to rise above the gritty streets by devoting myself to my craft.

Or, you know, as a white kid in some homemade knickers and mongrammed sweater, going to a Christian school in Paragould, AR.

Along about the 4th grade, I was in a talent contest at the fair. Well, I should clarify that this was actually the Northeast Arkansas District Fair, not just some piddly county fair, and, for further clarification, it was a preliminary competition for the Mid-South Fair. For this big moment (my big break?!?), no other song but "Fame" would do. So there I was, in the sweltering September heat, wearing a tuxedo shirt, red sequin bowtie and cummerbund, and some lycra pants on which my Mom had sewed a red sequin stripe all the way down the side of both legs. Oh, and my hair in a side ponytail with a sequin scrunchy---because how else would I wear my hair when I am up there belting out, "Baby, remember my name" (remembah, remembah)?

I am rather on a roll of self-disclosure here, so I will go ahead and tell this part, too: There comes a point in the song (karaoke tape) that is the height of 80's synthesized musical breaks...and being a gal who does not like to waste a moment on stage, I decide that this is the perfect opportunity for me to show off some of my other skills, namely, doing a back handspring, followed by a toe-touch. Oh, yes I did. And then I ran back to pick up the mic off the floor and close with a rousing, one-step-higher-for-effect chorus. Remembah, remembah...Fame! (aaaaaaaaaand....jazz hands!)

I am pretty sure that my mom went to bed that night wondering why she had been stuck with the most ridiculous child on the face of the earth.



7 comments:

Hannah said...

Please tell me that this whole event is on video! You are hilarious!

Polly said...

I am laughing out loud! I might even pee my pants!

Brian, Jamie, Molly & Sarah said...

Wow, I don't know that I knew that story, and I thought I knew EVERY embarrasing story about you. Great story, I needed a belly laugh today.

Jamie

Danna Ramsey said...

I'm going to bed tonight wondering why that didn't lead to a Disney contract...

Redhead Rambles said...

FAME was the best -- don't doubt yourself!

Jenn said...

You could have been on the Micky Mouse club with Brittney and Justin...what were they thinking?? I really think that this post deserves a picture...don't you?? :)

Danielle Balentine said...

Oh my goodness!! I'm right there with Polly. I'm about to pee my pants! You have such a gift of writing so that your readers can imagine in detail what's happening. Listen, I've got my own very embarrasing talent show story that I might indulge in private sometime. Your sooo brave!!