the awe and the aw
MICHAEL JACKSON
by
YAHIA LABABIDI
__________________
Yahia Lababidi, aphorist, essayist and poet, is the author of Signposts to Elsewhere, selected for ‘Books of the Year’ in 2008 by The Independent (UK).
It was the summer of 1984 and I was 11, ripe for the ravages of fandom -- not very sure who I was and prepared to project onto a pop idol all sorts of unsorted energies, investing him with a love that I could not direct at myself.
We would camp out, my younger brother and I, in front of a posh hotel in Mayfair, London where Michael was staying, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the beloved.
Yahia lababidi biography of michael jackson for kids
And we were not alone. There were other near-hysterical, breathless adolescents huddled there. There was also a look-alike, who simulated the act for us (twirling, pouting and executing those peculiarly abrupt signature movements), helping while the hours away, as well as a couple of cooler, older girls that tried to get me to join