Michael Jackson died on this day

[Hekate]

79. Immensely gifted. Emotionally broken. Yes I believe his accusers.

Last edited Wed Jun 26, 2019, 04:14 PM - Edit history (1)

The circus took place in my County, and I question the decision to have the trial moved to a more rural area 70+ miles away -- I think the jury was beglamored by his charisma.

My son was living at Midland School, across a narrow country road from the Neverland entrance, when the 24/7 news frenzy hit. TV trucks, helicopters, extremely bright lights, all but the helicopters parked along the fence of the school. You can't actually see Neverland from the road, as it's tucked behind a hill, and Jackson was a reclusive neighbor.

My own memory is from later, during the trial. A certain child actor (by then he must have been 20; I don't keep up) had been dragged into it, and I recognized him sitting alone in a coffee shop. Very, very alone. Such a look on his face. At my end of the County we see celebrities from time to time walking about like normal people (Costco!) and we let them be. But I've never forgotten that face -- in my heart I said, "This is not your fault."

Because my own father was an abuser and it broke something in me to have my childhood love betrayed, it's been a long road for me to be able to say, "No man is all one thing."

So with Jackson. He is all these things at once. Immensely gifted. Broken. Abused child. Child abuser. Broken. Immensely gifted.

Oh, and one more thing: the cartoonist Darrin Bell (who writes the daily strip Candorville) did a weeklong tribute when Michael Jackson died. A midnight train takes him away. Lamont, the hero of the series, is along and talks to Jackson. I don't remember the dialog, only that a series of masks come off, until at the end in the very last panel, a young boy in an Afro disembarks to the afterlife. I cried and cried.