We are all SPECIAL
by JS
What's going on JTRIBE? I wanted to take some time and explain why Janet Jackson has such an immense place in my life, as well as help you understand what has brought me to be who I am today.
As a young boy I had to deal with a nasty divorce, domestic violence and addiction, more from my mom and dad. My dad was a hard working man and would always come home to my mom who would be drinking or worse. Once out of that situation I met my stepmother who has grown to be a powerful woman in my life.
Once in middle school I was aware I was significantly different from most boys my age. I was into female singers, loved to dance, loved art, and had been looking at boys a bit different than usual. Yeah... I was gay. I just didn't know it. Now by this time I had two cassettes that I listened to, Control and Paula Abdul FOREVER YOUR GIRL. Janet was on the verge of her RN1814 movement. I loved her look, dance, and all round performance factor.
I had really been dealing with demons inside at this point. All through the Middle School years I would feel out of place and unwanted around my own family and friends. This followed me into High School. High School itself was about to be the defining years that would really show me who I really was.
My first year in high school was torture. I remember being smacked in the back of the head with history books, hit with trapper keepers, spat on, called every name you could think of, and much more. I hated who I was at that time. I was so confused with all the feelings going on inside. During one summer I had taken my vacation alone to WV to see my family. The parents and my siblings would come up a week later. Well, long story short, they found out I was gay and that was the breaking point in my life. I ran away with a guy I knew for about a week (crazy right). We went all the way to DC where I met my first boyfriend.