Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Natalie R. Collins–an extremely tenuous connection
I woke up today old. Not OLD old, as my kids would say, but still old. The “wow, Mom, you must have been around with the dinosaurs” kind of old. Of course, I didn’t realize it until I heard the astonishing news that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, and icon of my youth and era, had died.
I heard about Michael Jackson’s death shortly after I heard that Farrah Fawcett had passed away. Fawcett’s death was expected. She was seriously ill with cancer, and so, while sad, her passing was no surprise. But followed so closely by Michael Jackson’s death, I found myself looking face to face with my own mortality.
This week my baby, my youngest daughter, is off to drill camp. She is now a member of the SAME drill team where I marched, oh so many years ago. (Just FYI, they don’t really march anymore. Not like we did.) The first parade I ever performed in, as a member of this team, was a HUGE gigantic mess, because our drill mistress hadn’t had us practice with the music she had recorded, making it impossible for us to do our parade routine. We were scheduled to do yet ANOTHER parade that 4th of July, and we were all pretty upset about the music, when I popped in my Michael Jackson CD, and, as always, we danced. How could you NOT dance when MJ was on? We were dancers, after all.
And we discovered that every single song on that CD had a beat that was perfect. Michael solved our problem. We popped in the MJ CD, and finished the second parade without a hitch. MJ saved the day.
Of course, I marched in that parade with PERFECT hair, feathered back like no other, because we all had the Farrah hair in those days. And we KEPT our Farrah hair in place with a LOT of hairspray. I remember finishing my PE class one time, and another girl commented on how good my hair still looked. How did I do it?
Easy. Six quarts of hairspray. That hair could have made it through a tornado, and my limbs might have gone missing but those BANGS would have remained perfectly feathered. My homage to Farrah.
How sad that we have lost both of these icons of my youth, and that today I have realized I am old.
RIP Michael Jackson, 50 years old.
RIP Farrah Fawcett, 62 years old.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Because he was so controversial, I guess I never expected him to die…well at least not before me.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Oh and Farrah, rest in peace, thank you for sharing your road with us and letting us see it could and should be done with dignity.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Dear Friend,
Sorry! I would have written your screen name out but it was too darn long, no offense…
However, I love your comment and admire you saying this, as many (far too many) LDS church members who still to this day speak so much of their own persecution and Joseph Smith’s Martyrdom and such; those who embrace Christianity and “Judge Not Ye’ Be Not Judged,” do so banefully and very aptly in certain instances and especially here… Not certain if you live in Utah, maybe or maybe another state, though we share common ground here! For a religion to act as they did towards MJ was inexcusable and hopefully at some point will be spoken out against, likely in our next life if there is one, especially to the degree Mormonism claims (okay, right (lol)???
However I totally agree that this has been a tragic and all to abhorrently sad event, as we did lose a very talented icon, and someone who left not just a divit in society and it’s influences, yet, MJ, left a massive crater seen all over the world! Too bad and I take my hat off to you my friend and best of luck to you in all ways and hope to chat with you here later my friend… Much Peace, Rich
June 29th, 2009 at 8:59 am
michael jackson is a very very talented person to the point that he rose as a pop icon. he would live forever in our history books and memories.
June 30th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I know he saved my life. I grew up in RURAL Utah and if it weren’t for his music I’m not sure I would have made it through, literally.
This has been a sad week, and it has affected me more than I’d like to admit.
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Good afternoon, Natalie. I must say I find myself fascinated by your blog. I apologize for posting this here, but I couldn’t find an email link. I do a webshow called Irreligiosophy and I would like to invite you to be our guest speaker for the month of July. Please get back to me. I would love to discuss things with you further.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:15 am
well…so sad that after Farrah Fawcett had passed….next is Michael Jackson….let us all pray for their soul and they may rest in peace with the angels above…..