You hate mimes.
Ever since Junior high when it was a class assignment to be a mime for a day. You had to slap on white greasepaint that you had an allergic reaction to. Your skin turned the color of a tomato for a month and you broke out in a rash that made you look like the surface of a Pepperoni Pizza. You died of embarrassment when the guy you had a crush on called you Pizza Face at lunch in front of everyone within earshot. You were Pizza Face for the rest of your Junior High School life.
Ever since then you hated mimes and everything they stood for. They were creepy and you had dreams you became one and the White Greasepaint didn’t wash off – you were stuck with black circles for eyes and gigantic red lips with a Tophat and crowds of people chasing you all over the city yelling “Pizza – Pizza – Pizza”.
It took years to get used to the idea of Pepperoni – but you were never going to get used to the idea of Mimes – anywhere. Ever.
So when your Drama teacher had the brilliant idea to do “Pippin” prominently featuring Mimes, you melted down – total hysterics – running out of class and down the hall yelling “Not that!!”.
The School nurse said you had PTSD and there was therapy. She gave you the name of a shrink at UCLA and you went three times a week – slowly becoming used to a portrait of Marcel Marceau without shaking violently and breaking into a sweat. Still – they made you nervous and you started to imagine you were seeing Mimes everywhere, even though the shrink swore up and down they were only in your imagination.
You got used to repeating the phrase “all in your mind” to yourself all hours of the day, everywhere you went. Didn’t help much, but it got you distracted.
Fortunately your Drama teacher decided not to do Pippin, but instead something simple like Our Town – no mimes, not even sets – hardly any props. You were fine.
You started to get back to your pre-Mime self. The constant mantra of “all in your mind” was beginning to work – life was slowly returning to normal.
You were relieved.
And to go along with being relieved, an hour and twenty minutes of MC Kelly at KOST-FM from October 30, 1985
