I just got my Good Housekeeping in the mail and there is a nice article about Michael. Forgive me if there are any typos, I'm on my phone since my computer is being fixed.
Explaing Michael Jackson
His talent wowed my sons. His appearance bewildered them.
Two years ago, in December 2007, my husband brought home a magazing featuring Michael Jackson on the cover. Our city is home to many celebs, but my immediate reaction was to hiss, "Hide that thing before the kids see it!" My husband instantly understood and tucked it into his bag.
Let me explain: A few months earlier, I was watching VH1 Classics with the kids when Jackson's "Beat It" video came on. My sons, then 4 and 6, asked "mommy, who is THAT?" "That's Michael Jackson" I replied. "Michael Jackson" they breathed reverently. I knew how they felt. That "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" era IS amazing. When I told my younger son I couldn't just make the channel replay the video, he threw a tantrum. Later, I heard him chanting "I'm Michael Jackson!" and "Beat it! Beat it!" My husband was thrilled to dig out his dusty VHS tapes of Jackson videos as well as footage of the TV show where Michael first moonwalked.
By the time my boys viewed his 1987 video "Smooth Criminal", they were confused. "Are you sure that's him?" my elder son asked. O told him yes, but he insisted it couldn't be. His brother agreed, proclaiming, "Michael Jackson looks like me!"
I never imagined I'd need to strategize on how to talk to my Aferican-American sons about Michael Jacksons transformation. I didn't want my kids to think their looks needed to be changed,too. When they asked me to rewind "Beat It", I was happly to comply; happy to go back to a Michael who resembled a black man.
And so, for a few months in our home, Michaels features became frozen in time- until that magazine got left in the bathroom. When my elder son asked who was on the cover, I felt like a parent finally telling her child Santa Claus doesn't exist. buy my son started laughing and declared, "Michael Jackson's not a white lady!"
I wished I could tell him I was joking. Instead, I shared what Michael had said, that a disease had made him lose his skin color. I said he'd done what a lot of people do when they're unhappy with the way they look: altered his appearance with makeup, wigs and surgery. My son wistfully touched the magazine, " Do you think he wishes he could still be brown like me?" I told him what I hoped was true:"yes"
A week after Michael's death, our family visited the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where my elder son voiced what so many feel: "Ehat he looked like doesn't matter any more, does it?" It will always matter- as a lesson on what racism and self-hatered can do to someone. But, Michaels passing brought us back to his essence.
"It doesn't matter as much" I said. "Besides, we'll always be able to enjoy his music and creativity".
Gazing at the flowers and notes laid around Michael's star, my don said, "And love his spirit."
written by blogger: Liz Dwyer and in Octobers Goodhousekeeping
Explaing Michael Jackson
His talent wowed my sons. His appearance bewildered them.
Two years ago, in December 2007, my husband brought home a magazing featuring Michael Jackson on the cover. Our city is home to many celebs, but my immediate reaction was to hiss, "Hide that thing before the kids see it!" My husband instantly understood and tucked it into his bag.
Let me explain: A few months earlier, I was watching VH1 Classics with the kids when Jackson's "Beat It" video came on. My sons, then 4 and 6, asked "mommy, who is THAT?" "That's Michael Jackson" I replied. "Michael Jackson" they breathed reverently. I knew how they felt. That "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" era IS amazing. When I told my younger son I couldn't just make the channel replay the video, he threw a tantrum. Later, I heard him chanting "I'm Michael Jackson!" and "Beat it! Beat it!" My husband was thrilled to dig out his dusty VHS tapes of Jackson videos as well as footage of the TV show where Michael first moonwalked.
By the time my boys viewed his 1987 video "Smooth Criminal", they were confused. "Are you sure that's him?" my elder son asked. O told him yes, but he insisted it couldn't be. His brother agreed, proclaiming, "Michael Jackson looks like me!"
I never imagined I'd need to strategize on how to talk to my Aferican-American sons about Michael Jacksons transformation. I didn't want my kids to think their looks needed to be changed,too. When they asked me to rewind "Beat It", I was happly to comply; happy to go back to a Michael who resembled a black man.
And so, for a few months in our home, Michaels features became frozen in time- until that magazine got left in the bathroom. When my elder son asked who was on the cover, I felt like a parent finally telling her child Santa Claus doesn't exist. buy my son started laughing and declared, "Michael Jackson's not a white lady!"
I wished I could tell him I was joking. Instead, I shared what Michael had said, that a disease had made him lose his skin color. I said he'd done what a lot of people do when they're unhappy with the way they look: altered his appearance with makeup, wigs and surgery. My son wistfully touched the magazine, " Do you think he wishes he could still be brown like me?" I told him what I hoped was true:"yes"
A week after Michael's death, our family visited the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where my elder son voiced what so many feel: "Ehat he looked like doesn't matter any more, does it?" It will always matter- as a lesson on what racism and self-hatered can do to someone. But, Michaels passing brought us back to his essence.
"It doesn't matter as much" I said. "Besides, we'll always be able to enjoy his music and creativity".
Gazing at the flowers and notes laid around Michael's star, my don said, "And love his spirit."
written by blogger: Liz Dwyer and in Octobers Goodhousekeeping
