The obligatory Susan Boyle post
So I finally sat down and watched the Susan Boyle video on YouTube. In case you've been living under a rock, Boyle is a contestant on 'Britain's Got Talent', the british version of American Idol. She's 47, overweight, thick eyebrows, short, crazy greying hair. She walked on the stage, and you could see in people's faces that they were getting ready to laugh their asses off at some huge failure. She had to know that, but she had the courage to stand there, anyway.
And then she opened her mouth, and the audience went nuts.
... As a singer, Susan Boyle is very good, but not great. She couldn't hit some of the low notes, and I heard her straining a bit towards the end. You know how some people will, as passengers in a car driven by a crazy person, make a move like they're braking with one foot? I'm like that with singing sometimes. When she started straining, -my- abdomen contracted, like I was trying to give more power to her voice. So there was some straining there, causing her to go a tiny bit flat. Her vibrato was also very heavy, and I felt like the song could have had more pathos to it.
Nevertheless, the clip left me in tears. Because for a couple years of my life, especially when I was 12, -I- was Susan Boyle. I went through less than one year of Junior High before I broke down completely -- I had no friends. Even the school nerd didn't want anything to do with me. My teachers looked the other way when I was taunted, right up to a teacher who did nothing when people started hitting me right in front of him. When my father complained about the behavior to my homeroom teacher, her reaction was about one step removed from 'she deserves it'.
I tried to keep my head down, but I was a little overweight, I had acne like you wouldn't believe, chapped lips, messy hair. I had no idea how to take care of my appearance. People got started teasing me, and it never stopped. And I saw the looks on people's faces when I tried to rise above that, and those were the looks I got. Seeing the way people looked at her before she started singing brought it all back.
It was good to hear people cheering for Susan Boyle, even if it doesn't erase the same ugliness in their hearts that made my life a living hell for that one horrible year. What the hell is wrong with us that we make the ridicule of people who have the courage to chase their dreams a national ratings winner?
(How many of the people who smile at me and get along with me now would look at me that way if I still looked and acted like I did when I was 12?)
And then she opened her mouth, and the audience went nuts.
... As a singer, Susan Boyle is very good, but not great. She couldn't hit some of the low notes, and I heard her straining a bit towards the end. You know how some people will, as passengers in a car driven by a crazy person, make a move like they're braking with one foot? I'm like that with singing sometimes. When she started straining, -my- abdomen contracted, like I was trying to give more power to her voice. So there was some straining there, causing her to go a tiny bit flat. Her vibrato was also very heavy, and I felt like the song could have had more pathos to it.
Nevertheless, the clip left me in tears. Because for a couple years of my life, especially when I was 12, -I- was Susan Boyle. I went through less than one year of Junior High before I broke down completely -- I had no friends. Even the school nerd didn't want anything to do with me. My teachers looked the other way when I was taunted, right up to a teacher who did nothing when people started hitting me right in front of him. When my father complained about the behavior to my homeroom teacher, her reaction was about one step removed from 'she deserves it'.
I tried to keep my head down, but I was a little overweight, I had acne like you wouldn't believe, chapped lips, messy hair. I had no idea how to take care of my appearance. People got started teasing me, and it never stopped. And I saw the looks on people's faces when I tried to rise above that, and those were the looks I got. Seeing the way people looked at her before she started singing brought it all back.
It was good to hear people cheering for Susan Boyle, even if it doesn't erase the same ugliness in their hearts that made my life a living hell for that one horrible year. What the hell is wrong with us that we make the ridicule of people who have the courage to chase their dreams a national ratings winner?
(How many of the people who smile at me and get along with me now would look at me that way if I still looked and acted like I did when I was 12?)