I’ve gotta confess something: I only wanted to be an actress because you came with it. The idea of knowing virtually everybody and everyone knowing me no matter where I went was like… the GREATEST thing in the world to me. At just 7 years old, my goal in life was to acquire as many friends as I could and by age 10 bask in my fame forever. I’d have options of who I wanted to play with, and would ultimately set the world record for the largest sleepover in America. My service would be to people, making them laugh and pretty much making their lives better. I’d be their reminder that life wasn’t that bad after all using comedy as the elixir for healing. At 7, my life’s summation was that I was a pretty dope person and the world would be a better place if they knew me.
But that was before I was privy to all the bullshit that you conveniently hid and could potentially come with you…
I was under the impression that all I had to do was be uber talented and nice to folk, and then you’d come for me. You’d put me in a position to display these gifts and the rest would be history. The samples in your store showed me people who came from years of hard work strengthening their gifts to get where they were and there wasn’t much negative feedback going on about any of them. Some seemed to float on their success for extended periods of time without putting much work out as there wasn’t many people who were employed by the Fame department.
Present Day: Now? You are something else. I’ve decided that you must be a woman. You HAVE to be! And one with some pretty low standards because you take what you can get and make it popular enough to generate revenue. Have you seen the things that have gone viral lately? Oh, Lord Jesus! From that alone I’ve concluded that you must be decent looking enough because people tend to chase you and do just about anything for you. In today’s society, you probably possess a fat-ass; an epidemic that seems to be spreading like wild-fire.
C’mon now, Fame. Don’t act like you haven’t seen it. Ratchet TV featuring washed-up stars and their family members. Men acting as the local-area hoodrat…I’m sorry, “thot”, for 15 seconds. And exceptionally beautiful women pounding make-up on their faces, blowing up their private parts, magically growing hair to their ankles, losing more layers of clothing by the second, and using a vertical metal bar are their profession. The taboo has come out of hiding to entertain the world. It’s no secret anymore! How am I supposed to compete with that?!
This idea of who you are has changed drastically over the years. The people who were apart of you seemed happy and had mind-blowing talent that took years of sacrifice to build in order to receive recognition from millions. The representative I spoke to assured me that my gift would benefit the world. It seems now you’ve made it harder for me to give my gift away with all the saturation that I live amongst.
So, there seems to be a problem with the brochure I received some 20-something years ago. You see, no one mentioned that you’d have to work twice as hard to stay famous for a 1/4 of the time for what you became famous for. Perhaps the sales agent could’ve informed me that this life came equipped with subjecting yourself to the judgement of others from every little thing you do or don’t do at any second of the day. Instead of applauding those who you’ve put out in front, all I hear is criticize, criticize, criticize. Oh, and the stress! Can’t forget that. The young people that you’ve employed are looking awfully aged these days.
These days I’m not too confident in your product. I’m honestly afraid to use it for fear of wasting even more time than I have waiting on it. From the events I’ve witnessed, it’s not looking too good out here for you.
I have to say, Fame, you’ve kinda let me down. The things I’ve seen from you have made me second guess this dream of mine a lot as of late. In fact, thinking about it so much has instilled so much fear in me that I’ve wasted time just debating on taking the first step, which was relocating. I’ve often found myself chasing you like the rest just for the attention, however short-lived it was, willing to stoop to the level of ignorance just to get you to notice me; but whenever Reality decided to intervene, I’d quickly come to my senses realizing how “not about that life” I was at maintaining whatever momentum I’d gain from it. It’s too much!
And since we’re on the subject, how’s about that longevity feature you told me about? Yeah. That doesn’t even show up in the new brochures you give out now. Seems that the value of this feature has diminished greatly from years to weeks. Thousands of people are here today and gone by this afternoon because you’ve over-sold spots of stardom to keep yourself in business. It seems you lack judgement now and the requirements for obtaining longevity are almost impossible to attain. Then again, those people are cool with the little wave they do get. X amount of followers equals longevity on the ‘gram.
But there’s no craft. Just trends now. Look what you’ve done!
Don’t make me stoop to the minimum to get you. From the things I’ve seen you do, you’re worth more than that. And quite frankly I don’t want the part of you that’s been whore’d out. I want the good part of what’s left of you to do something with. See, I’m not in this for a short time. You interrupted a dream I’ve had for many years for a reason and now I’m expecting you to live up to my expectations. You played a part in my construction of these expectations.
So I’m holding you to it.
Meanwhile, I’ll get back to working on getting out of my own way. Just know that when you do come for me, you better come correct.
And you can keep that 15 minutes you been slanging, too. ‘Cuz I ain’t buying.
-Terrell
Tami, Absolutely! 