Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary
Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures as a single father who lost his perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he has met hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all over the world. Meeting new people and listening to their ones through the formal encounter groups or being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr. Jedidiah’s monologue that has left him with some food for thoughts in life…. or a fodder to justify his own mistakes in the past.
Episode 79. Rana, the Moonwalk Dancer that MJ Should Have Met
My son looked a bit flabbergasted and seemed to find it hard to hold his giggle back when he heard me saying to friend Rana that she was so charming. Well, actually I didn’t mean it when I said that to her. I thought she might need some therapy if she had been getting around wearing such thick makeup and chintzy leather jacket that must have been found in a salvation army store. When she left, my son asked me if I really thought she looked pretty, and I gave him the “I-just-said-it-to-be-polite” kind of look and said that I hoped to see her dancing the MJ’s signature Moonwalk move. It didn’t take so long before I was lucky to have a chance to rethink about that interesting girl. At my son’s school talent show, I found myself awestruck by her skookum performance of MJ’s Moonwalk dance and couldn’t help but join all other parents, teachers, and students for shouting out her name “Rana! Rana!” as if I were cantillating words from the Bible when she was done with her show. She rocked the school auditorium just like the real MJ did at the show for celebrating the 25th anniversary of Motown back in 1983. Rana’s Moonwalk moves were just out of this world!
Rana was raised by a single mom who was always struggling to make ends meet and hustling night and day from the first work place to the second and the third. So had been Rana as well. She worked at a local dance studio as a part-time cashier at week nights and sold donuts and cookies at school cafeteria during her lunch hour. My son was close to Rana and her mom, so whenever they had some financial problems, I had been of small help for her family. Each time my son brought them a bunch of edible gifts, Rana’s mother deeply appreciate what they were given for free. My son said to me one day “Dad, I wish Rana would feel a bit closer to us, but it looks like she’s not interested in me or quite appreciative of your kindness. Have we been making a mistake or happening to make them feel too small?” Well, I somewhat agreed to what he said, but still wanted to share what we had with Rana and her hardworking mom so that Rana would be reaching her goal with fewer problems or worries about tomorrow. I wanted Rana to be more confident with her dance moves at every audition even in such a shabby knockoff leather jacket. She was too young to wintle over and give up her dreams even before the time had come for her to show what she’d been honing and perfecting all by herself in the corner of her cramped house.
The Christmas eve was very cold that year. My son and I were more nervous and stoked than Rana that night at the Showtime at the Apollo in Harlem. My son and I kept our fingers crossed, hoping that Rana would never going to be dragged off stage by the heartless Sandman. Contrary to our mind-boggling concerns, Rana flaunted her MJ’s Moonwalk moves so smoothly with flying colors! When her performance was over, the entire audience sprang out of their seats, giving Rana a tremendously huge round of applause and yelled “Sandman! Do not even think about coming on stage!” My son zoomed in on Rana’s flushed cheeks with his camera and said “Dad, look how far she is from me now! Am I still wondering around her orbit?” I smiled at my son and told him that he and Rana are at the point of Perilune by now. I might have sound so weird to my son, but I could tell he was totally moonstruck.
* Listen to Dr. J's favorite song sung by Christopher Cross "Arthur's Theme":
https://youtu.be/qqGWOxu_H4I uploaded by ok4602002
Expressions
1. flabbergasted: greatly surprised
2. chintzy: cheap or flimsy
3. skookum: strong and impressive
4. to cantillate: to chant or intone (a passage of religious text
5.. to rock (the house): to cause ean audience to be very enthusiastic about a performance
6. out of this world: extremely enjoyable and impressive
7. to hustle: to work very hard
8. knockoff: a copy or imitation, especially of an expensive or designer product
9. to wintle: to stagger/ to tumble over/ to reel
10. to be stoked (about…): to be very excited about something
11. Sandman (at the Showtime at the Apollo): Sandman was a legend of the Apollo Theater, chasing the bad acts off the stage after crowds boo'ed their performance
12. To flaunt: to display (something) ostentatiously, especially in order to provoke envy or admiration or to show defiance
13. Perilune: the point in the path of a body orbiting the moon that is nearest to the center of the moon
14. moonstruck: unable to think or act normally, especially because of being in love
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