Black Like Me

ARTS AND CULTURE

By Jayson Scott Musson

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Oct. 3, 2007

Tell me your fondest memory.

"When I was really young, about 5 or 6, my family and I went on vacation to Florida and I nearly drowned in the pool of a family friend we were visiting."

That's your fondest memory?

"Yes. It was nice being under the water. Everything was quiet and the water was cool against my skin. As I sunk closer to the bottom of the pool, the sun grew dimmer and I felt like I was in a world made just for me."

What happened next?

"Eventually my father dove in to save me. When I fell into the pool, he'd been trying on his tuxedo for a wedding ceremony, so he ended up diving into the pool with the tux on."

What a hero.

"I'd say so. After my father pulled me out of the pool we both sat on the poolside catching our breath. The image of my dad in a soaking wet tuxedo has never left me. It made me feel special because I felt like I'd just been rescued by a wet West Indian James Bond."

What's your second fondest memory?

"When the space shuttle Challenger exploded."

That's considered a national tragedy. Why is that your second fondest memory?

"My third-grade teacher canceled class because she was so sad."

Perhaps she was particularly troubled because one of the astronauts who died was a school teacher as well.

"Maybe. It was enough to make her bring a TV into the classroom and let us watch news coverage of the explosion. Sure, it was just footage of the families of astronauts crying and the shuttle exploding over and over again, but it was the third grade and you never got to watch TV in school back then. On that day I also realized it pays to be dumb. Teachers were always telling us that astronauts were so good at math and science, and that if we wanted to go into outer space we should be good at math and science too. But now look at those astronauts. Exploded in the sky with body parts floating in the ocean. Comic books and video games didn't seem so bad after all."