why can't i be a 1980s black pop singer?
a comment i made in <a href="http://lay-c.com/hi/">shokufeh's blog </a>yesterday reminded me of a *mild* obsession i used to have with whitney houston.
i learned at a young age that whitney houston and i had a lot in common. despite the fact that she was a beautiful black woman with an amazing voice and i was a chubby 3rd grader with little to no talent, we were essentially twins because we had the same birthday. so you can imagine that when my school put on a "celebrate black history month" play, not only was i perfect for the role of whitney houston, as her chubby 3rd grade twin, i had the right to portray her. turns out my afghani friend (sara ashraf, i will never forget the name of the girl who stabbed me in the back), also felt that she was the perfect whitney houston. the only solution, of course, was to audition for the part.
naturally, being so close to whitney, i had a video of her music videos. i watched and studied her moves to "greatest love of all" and was fully prepared to blow sara ashraf away. to this day, i maintain that i was a better whitney, but sara moved her feet a little more and got the part. and who did i get to be? barbara jordan. do any of you even know who barbara jordan is? i didn't think so . you can imagine this wasn't much of a consolation. i was demoted from ultra pop star to first black female in the house of representatives. i didn't even get to sing and dance on stage.
i feel that this was a huge turning point in my life. who knows, maybe if i had gotten the part, i would be on stage today, singing with whitney.
if any of you know sara ashraf today, please tell her i have moved on with my life and am quite happy, but i will never forget what she did to me. (and that i still make a better whitney than her)
Comments
I found Sara!
You can find her too at:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/s/n/sna109/ist250/pictures.html
Looks like she is still dancing to this day!
Posted by: khalid | October 7, 2003 06:40 PM
I remember that - well, not the details as you recounted - but I remember your obsession with Whitney and your role of Babarbara Jordan.
I think you are selling Barbara Jordan and your readers(!) too short. Of course we know who Barbara Jordan was - and in the long run she has a more lasting legacy than Whitney
Posted by: Parviz | October 8, 2003 08:31 AM
I don't know, Meisa -- did you see the VH1 report on Whitney Houston? Um... I think it's a good thing you played Barbara Jordan.
But I have to admit, I was also obsessed with Whitney when I was a kid and always thought I'd grow up to do a duet with her.
Posted by: +mojan. | October 8, 2003 09:10 AM
i checked the sara website out. not as i remembered her, but maybe she has put on some poundage. there could be more than one of her out there.
but you all are right. i am more the barbara jordan type than possible coke addict whitney. but maybe, just maybe, my role as barbara jordan molded me into this personality. maybe if i had been whitney i would be a coke addict today.
i guess overall it was a good thing that sara ashraf ousted me for the part.
Posted by: meisa | October 8, 2003 09:39 AM
Thanks for the laugh. This beats trying to figure how to have my students overcome 5,000 years of training and raise their hands.
Meisa-jan, I'd never heard the full story. Knowing your fanaticism regarding Whitney I was surprised and mighty impressed that you were playing the role of Barbara Jordan. I think that was past the time of "42-5"
Posted by: Terimom | October 14, 2003 05:40 AM
It is worth returning from the grave to comment on how personally offended I am by this thread.
Posted by: barbara jordan | October 16, 2003 03:11 PM
EMAIL: pamela_woodlake@yahoo.com
IP: 62.213.67.122
URL: http://hosting.1st-host.org
DATE: 01/20/2004 10:23:57 AM
The meaning of life is that it stops.
Posted by: Boroson Bram | February 4, 2004 11:24 AM