Power to My World

On occasion, Michael's appearance raises questions.

EXHIBIT A.
Britney and Angie told John W. and Michael that the New Year's dance was a "Forget Your Decade" dress up dance. John had this horrible looking '60s plaid suit. We can't quite figure out what decade Michael's ensemble heralds from, but they both showed up to the dance as the only ones dressed up. (His friend Joe M. didn't even recognize him.) "I still can't decide if that was a prank," Michael says.

  When he worked at a call center for a couple of months between college and his mission, his co-workers, who were African American, asked him, "Do you have some flava in your line?" to which Michael replied, "Flavor? What do you mean?" (Michael rebelled when I read this to him because this explanation sounds too white. Keep reading to see why that bothers him.) They proceeded to point out his afro hair and even said his nose and lips looked like he should have some African ancestry somewhere. Michael only has that "flava" in his dreams.

EXHIBIT B.
(We had enough "exhibits" to fill a museum,
but we narrowed it down to the best three.)

During Michael's freshmen year of college, he lived in Heritage Halls (the dorms). He had some great roommates, including roommate Dave, who shared a room with Michael. One night, Michael had gone to sleep and Dave was going to bed, also, but before he fell completely asleep, Dave heard Michael sleep talking, saying, "I wish I could talk like a black man. It would bring power to my world." Dave was laughing so hard that it woke Michael up, but Michael says, "I knew I had done something stupid, so I pretended I was still asleep." He found out the next morning what he had said. It's one of his funniest college memories.

It happened again the other day at work. An African American co-worker that he sees often said in passing, "Are you mixed?"

"What? Because of my red afro?"

"No, just ALL your features. I thought you were an albino black guy or something."

He's not, but if he was, that might bring power to his world.



EXHIBIT C.
This really was "Forget Your Decade" Day. Michael says, "Why am I standing like that?!"